Gathering Data for the New Server

Last week I ran the MARC export reports to create the first set of "item record" files to be sent to ByWater Solutions (BWS). We have a total of 160,745 records, so I configured the report to include 50,000 records in each of 3 files and the remaining 10,745 records in the fourth. I clicked the check boxes to include the "999 holdings tags", the "local and junk tags" and to export the Symphony catalog key to MARC tag oo1". The files were very large, 190 mb in total, but they are the bibliographic records for every item in our catalog.

This week, using PSFTP (PuTTY's secure FTP utility) on my workstation and the remote connection instructions from Brendan, I was able to "put" (that is the Linux command to copy files from my local location to a remote location) all the files into a folder on a BWS server. BWS will convert the data into a format that is usable in Koha and then will import that new data format onto our server.

In the mean time, BWS has connected remotely to our new server and installed the remaining components for Debian server and the Koha software. It is an empty shell at the moment, without any profiles, properties, patron data or item records, but it is exciting to watch each step of this project unfold.

Cathi