Cataloging Arabic Script in Koha: IAIS Library Experience

Cataloguing Arabic Script in Koha:IAIS Library Experience

Amzari Abu BakarKalsom SharifMohammad Nasaie Nor RodinHistory of LibraryEstablished on last quarter of 2008Library were called IAIS LibraryDec 2009 until Feb 2010 appointment of 2 new LibrariansLibrary adopted LCSH and LCC Scheme as Library standard

Library CollectionIAIS Library need to be very selective and cautious in its acquisition & related activities.Concur with the institutes subject concern and niche areas basically an Islamic Collection, with approximately 50% in Arabic language.Collection focus :The Qur'an, Hadith, Islamic jurisprudence, Islamic economics, policy studies and governance, modernity, globalization and selective related topicsCollection categorized as books , journals, and non-prints.

Integrated Library SystemMain ChallengeTo acquire and implement the most suitable system, which supports Arabic cataloguing and searching; at the same time handles roman text.Software to be selected must be within the budget constraint of the parent organisation.

Integrated Library SystemBased on the mentioned requirement the choice was limited to :inexpensive but reliable system open source ILS as opposed to proprietary ILS. Finally, based on specific users requirements, budget and availability of local support, KOHA Open Source integrated library system was selected.The ImplementationOctober 2010 official implementation of KOHA ILS version 3.02 at IAIS Library.1st. Step - formulate implementation strategy, identify technical requirements, and setup the systems parameters.2nd. Step - data migration of the existing records.3rd. Step input new catalogue records [a third party free catalogue editing tools namely MarcEdit used to speed up cataloguing].

Currently IAIS library has 2,709 titles.

IAIS library OPAC can be accessed at http://office.iais.org.my.Arabic Cataloguing Implementation StrategyOnly title and author in Arabic to be transliterated.Language of the catalogue is English - e.g. bibliographic description such as tag 260 and 300 are in English.

KOHA customisationDatabase is set to UTF-8 (UCS Transformation Format8-bit) Customisation done in zebra configuration file (words-icu.xml) using ICUCHAIN method. (note: The customisation work originally done by Karam Qubsi)

Search test before applying Arabic transliteration indexing

Search test after applying Arabic transliteration indexing

Search test before and after applying Arabic transliteration indexing Test NoSearch TermResult Hits (Before)Result Hits (After)1Author: 215512Author: 425513Title: 432434Title: 42943ReferenceCorrecting search of Arabic Records (2013). Retrieved November 15, 2013 from http://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/Correcting_Search_of_Arabic_recordsIAIS library OPAC (2013). Retrieved November 10, 2013 from http://office.iais.org.myLibrary of Congress (2013). MARC 21 Format for Bibliographic Data. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/Qubsi, K. (October 26, 2012). Arabic Character Search and Improve in Koha. Retrieved November 16, 2013 from http://arkoha.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/blog-post_26.html

THANK YOU!&WASSALAM