I think you will agree that one of the most tiresome, repetitive tasks you can do as a librarian is cataloging. Inventory is a close second but nothing saps your energy on a Monday morning quite like a pile of books on your desk waiting to be processed before they can be made available to your patrons. If this hits home then one of the modules you will appreciate and use the most in Koha library system is the copy cataloging module. 

It works by matching and importing ready-made MARC (MAchine Readable Catalog) records of books and items from a trusted source directly into your catalog, saving you a lot of time. Cataloguing a single book properly can take anywhere from 10 – 15 minutes, and even longer it’s a particularly old book. Considering that you will catalog anwhere from hundreds to thousands of books a year, those minutes add up to hours and then days that flow into months. Fortunately, with Koha you can walk on water easily catalog a book in less than 2 minutes using the copy cataloging module. I made a video on how to do that so go check it out! But before you can do that, you first need to add a z39.50 server from which your library can import the MARC records. 

Koha comes with a z39.50 client that can receive the records (and server, so you can also allow others to import your MARC records if you want) – all you have to do is enter the configuration details for each server you want. There is no limit to how many z39.50 servers you can add, however, you want to be careful to only connect to trusted, high quality sources. In this example we will be connecting to the Library of Congress, the biggest library in the world and defacto authority on anything to do with libraries and books. I made a list of other z39.50 servers you can connect to here – some may require authentication details which may be public or available on request.

Enough with the intro, read on for a detailed step by step explanation of how to add a z39.50 server to Koha, complete with images!

I think you will agree that one of the most tiresome, repetitive tasks you can do as a librarian is cataloging. Inventory is a close second but nothing saps your energy on a Monday morning quite like a pile of books on your desk waiting to be processed before they can be made available to your patrons. If this hits home then one of the modules you will appreciate and use the most in Koha library system is the copy cataloging module. 

It works by matching and importing ready-made MARC (MAchine Readable Catalog) records of books and items from a trusted source directly into your catalog, saving you a lot of time. Cataloguing a single book properly can take anywhere from 10 – 15 minutes, and even longer it’s a particularly old book. Considering that you will catalog anwhere from hundreds to thousands of books a year, those minutes add up to hours and then days that flow into months. Fortunately, with Koha you can walk on water easily catalog a book in less than 2 minutes using the copy cataloging module. I made a video on how to do that so go check it out! But before you can do that, you first need to add a z39.50 server from which your library can import the MARC records. 

Koha comes with a z39.50 client that can receive the records (and server, so you can also allow others to import your MARC records if you want) – all you have to do is enter the configuration details for each server you want. There is no limit to how many z39.50 servers you can add, however, you want to be careful to only connect to trusted, high quality sources. In this example we will be connecting to the Library of Congress, the biggest library in the world and defacto authority on anything to do with libraries and books. I made a list of other z39.50 servers you can connect to here – some may require authentication details which may be public or available on request.

Enough with the intro, read on for a detailed step by step explanation of how to add a z39.50 server to Koha, complete with images!