We did Galaxy RE: DRA or Galaxy to III migration assistance

["Ericsson, Paul" <PEricsson at onconcord dot com>]

Hi Eric --

We migrated from a character-based Galaxy system to III in the autumn of
2003. 

On the whole, both the III and the Gaylord/Galaxy staff were good to
work with. The typical challenges for me was working in-between two
vendors, and when there were problems, how to keep the two vendors from
their first reaction of pointing at the other vendor as the problem.
Know what I mean?  My biggest role was as a communicator, the next role
was as a data troubleshooter. I did not do the Gal extract myself - we
paid Galaxy to do that. I had vaguely heard about libraries that did it
themselves, but I imagine you'd have to be a programmer to get that done
yourself.

The MARC bibliographic database was the simplest of the four files. No
problems with the bib data, although we did not try anything like you
suggest of splitting files by material type.

The MARC authority file went fine also.

The item records went into 852 field format, according to a document we
got from Galaxy called EXIT SERVICES DATA DICTIONARIES. Actually, this
document contains all the MARC formats, with extra detail for the Galaxy
item record. It gave all the subfield definitions. Using that plus our
internal coding document, we created a cross-walk from Galaxy to III. I
think it may have been our library's original method (bmt) of defining
some of the Galaxy item records, that were a challenge to get a
one-to-one field relationship with III. Our Gal system had an item field
called FINE CODE (852 $r), that we had used sorta like a III SCAT table,
and sorta like a III material type. 

Also, I found after the migration, that our Gal system was inconsistent
with how it updated the 852 $b (Agency text format) and 852 $c (Agency
code format) subfields, when we moved materials from one location to
another. In our public library we continually move materials around ALOT
between the new book shelves and regular shelves, and regular shelves to
basement closed stacks.  Needlesstosay, I made generous use of the III
Create lists and III rapid update functions to clean up this stuff
afterwards. We had too tight a timeframe for me to spend time arguing
with Galaxy whether it was their system that had not made changes to
both fields consistently, or whether it was our staff that had not
updated item records properly over the years.  We eventually did the
cleanup ourselves, and it is now fine, but I've wondered ever since
whether the Galaxy system had a bug that did not update both agency
(location) subfields properly. A sampling and comparison of 852 item
records should tell you if your Gal systems had similar problems with
inconsistent agency (location) data. You will need to decide which
subfield to rely upon. And be sure to map ALL OF THE GALAXY 852 fields
into the III 852 field so you can get back to it later. Create lists
will allow you to do this for cleanup.

Our patron file migration was THE HEADACHE. We had major-league problems
with the format of data as it came off the Galaxy system. Date/time
stamps were a problem, zip codes were lacking leading zeroes so zip code
03301  came off Gal as 3301.  The basic formatting of the record/field
delimiters were a problem for III to read. I really do not remember all
the details, but it was something like a blank field on Galaxy came off
the system without a placeholder, so for example data in position 24
ended up in position 23, and on&on&on. (Picture that one?) Ugh, it was a
nightmare. The III staff hung in there, I really have to hand it to
them. And I will tell you, I never felt so stuck between a rock and a
hard place as I did during the patron file migration.

We did NOT migrate circulation data or holds.

That is probably more than the general list wants to read. Call me 7:30
- 4:30 eastern  if you have other questions about Galaxy. Its quicker to
talk about this than write about it.

Good luck, and buy your III data migration specialist a bag of M&M's (or
something nice) when it is all done.

Paul
	___________________________________________

	Paul Ericsson
	Adult Services Supervisor / Automation Coordinator
	Concord Public Library    http://www.onconcord.com
	45 Green St.     Concord, NH 03301     603 230-3697
	pericsson at onconcord dot com
	___________________________________________
		

 



-----Original Message-----
From: innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org
[mailto:innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org] On Behalf Of Eric Nudell
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 1:21 PM
To: IUG INNOPAC List
Subject: DRA or Galaxy to III migration assistance

All,

The University of New Mexico is a longtime I.I.I. site. We are in the
process of integrating three other NM state academic libraries into our
catalog and we have run into some snags off-loading their databases.

Specifically, two of the sites are DRA and the other is Galaxy. We would
like to off-load their bibliographic records with the item information
included as a MARC field. So far we have only figured out how to
off-load the bibliographic records.

We would also like to split their bibliographic databases into
monographic, serial, Marcive and electronic resource files. There does
not seem to be a way to off-load files by material type.

Are there any former DRA or Galaxy customers that could provide us with
some pearls of wisdom for our migration woes?

Please contact me by e-mail if you are willing. Your assistance would be
greatly appreciated.


Eric M. Nudell
Systems Administrator
University Libraries
MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131-0001

Voice: 505-277-5860
Fax:   505-277-1788



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