NExpress Shared Catalog

A wise man suggested that I put some simple instructions up here about creating a “New Arrivals” page for your Web site. I’m going to keep it vague, as many NExpress libraries do not (yet) use KLOW.

1. Open the OPAC
2. Select Advanced Search
3. Use the functions on this page to create the search you want.
4. Limit by Collection Code
5. Limit by Library
6. Sort by Acquisition date to get all items ‘new to your collection’
7. Click OK to complete the search
8. If you like the results…
9. Highlight the URL and Copy it
10. Go to your Web Editor
11. Create a New Arrivals Web Page
12. Create a hyperlink that describes the search you just completed using the URL on your clip board (paste it).
13. Add a Link to that New Arrivals Page near your NExpress search button (suggestion)

Example:

You created a search for new Westerns
(keyword: NEWBOOK, Collection: Western, Location: Your Library, Sort by: Acquisition Date Newest to Oldest)
Click OK

Review the search results and decide if they are what you wanted, if so:
Highlight and copy the URL

On the Web page, write:
“New Westerns - See what new rough riders have wandered into the library.”

Make “New Westerns” a hyperlink, using the URL saved on the clip board.

Hint: You can search using any of the Item types by typing them in the Keyword Search box.  Example, search by “NEWBOOK” for new books if that’s how you catalog them or “NEWMEDIA” for new movies.

Hint: Your advanced searches depend on how you catalog your materials - if you do not have a Romance collection or do not use the Romance CCODE, you won’t get any search results for YOUR library.

**However, you can select “All Libraries” as the location and create a list for your patrons that shows what is available elsewhere in the Shared Catalog - if you own a copy of the book, it will appear as an item attached to the title!

We’ve moved past issues and we are on to enhancements, tweaks and suggestions for improvement!

Clone patrons - We would like to be able to clone an adult account, making it easier to create spouse accounts.

Pick List - Two suggested enhancements - the first is to have item type/collection code listed and the second is for the author/artist to be listed.

Available - Some have noticed that is on hold, shows up as ‘available’ on a search list in the Staff client. We learned that ‘available’ means that it’s a circulating copy, as opposed to a non-circulating copy that happens to be checked out, missing, lost, etc. We may want to sponsor the creation of a 3rd status of “on hold” or just “unavailable”.

Current Location v. Permanent Location - The ‘location’ that shows in the record detail refers to the current location of the item, not the permanent location. The current location changes depending on where the item is on hold. We are investigating changing the wording in the table from “location” to “current location.”

“NEW” Collection Code - When cataloging items in Koha, you have two options for new materials. You can use the Item Types of Newbook and Newmedia, which do not allow renewals OR you can select the collection code of “New” and whichever item type has the circulation policy you need for your library.

Search by Item Type in the Catalog - When setting up the Advanced Search pages in the OPAC and Staff Client, we were given the option of choosing EITHER the Item Types OR the Collection Codes. We selected the Collection Codes, as these seemed to be more useful from a patron point of view. You can still do a keyword search by Item Type (”newmedia” for example) to ‘limit’ or search by Item type. This is a workaround, we need to convince Koha to allow search limiting by Item Type, Collection Code, AND Shelving location.

Linking the OPAC to ipages - Did you know you can have an “OPAC” button in your Ingram iPages account, linking your book searches to the Koha catalog? This is a fast and easy way to check for duplicates when creating orders. Other jobbers, like BWI, also have this option.
In ipages, under “Change Settings” > “ipage Settings” there is an OPAC section.
Your library’s Internet OPAC address:
http://nekls.kohalibrary.com
ISBN-specific search index:
/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?&limit=branch:BONNERSPGS&idx=nb&q=

You will need to replace the library branch with yours, from this list:
ATCHISON :: BASEHOR :: BONNERSPGS :: CENTRALIA :: HIAWATHA
LYNDON :: MERIDEN :: NEKLS :: NORTONVLLE :: OTTAWA
SILVERLAKE :: TONGANOXIE :: WILLIAMSBG :: WINCHESTER

Issue: When entering a manual invoice for Fines, if one accidentally inserts a “$” before the amount, there’s an error and it shows as $0.00, even if you typed in $8.00.

Explanation: Kudos to Duane in Atchison for discovering this issue. Inserting a $ in the amount entry box gives an error and it shows as $0.00 in the records, even if you typed in $8.00.

Solution/Work Around: This has been submitted as an official bug to the Koha developers. Additionally, we changed the wording around the field to indicate that no $ should be used in the box.

Re: Books on Your Pick List That Are Checked Out to KCLC Patrons - Some of you have discovered items on your pick list that show as “available” in Koha, but are actually checked out to KCLC patrons. We are working on getting a list of all those items from KCLC so we can issue overdue notices, etc. but for right now, just ignore those items on your pick list. Stay tuned for a workaround until we get this issue resolved…

Solution: Bruce has run those reports for us and each library will be receiving a list of items checked out to KCPL patrons. Here’s what to do: create a patron account for KCLC, (your library). Check the items on the list out to that account. Then they will no longer show up as available in Koha.
Since these items will all be overdue, NEKLS will take care of sending out overdue/replacement notices. It will give us a great “opportunity” to test out our overdue notice procedures.

Start with a Clean Slate - After completing a circulation transaction, you might want to get into the habit of clicking the “Koha” button that returns you to the main page that allows for a quick search, quick check out and/or quick patron search.

Issue: When scanning in a barcode during patron registration, many scanners have a built in carriage return that Submits the form before all off the data is in put.

Explanation: Barcode scanners are often set up to scan the number with a built in “Enter” or “Return” character, facilitating check in and check out procedures.

Work Around: Liz has rearranged the patron registration form in the test environment, moving the Library Management section to the end and the barcode as the last element to complete. Liz has also added wording to the OPAC log in, indicating that ANY user name and password can be used by the patron. The library card numbers and 4-digit pins migrated from Sirsi, but these can be changed.

The new wording by OPAC login (not yet live)

The barcode number is the last thing you would enter on the Patron Registration Form.

Status: This change has been approved and is now live on the production server.

Post questions in the comments.

Thursday, August 21

Printing the Pick List - Open your staff client in Internet Explorer, open the pick list and print it to a non-receipt printer. To facilitate receipt printing, Firefox and the receipt printer have a one-to-one connection.

Local Use Recorded - Tonganoxie ran across a patron who was marked VISITOR because the state was listed as K not KS. When they circulated items, they saw the message “Local Use Recorded.” Once the patron was changed from Visitor to Adult and the address was corrected, this message went away.

Problems with holds? - Diane Trinkle in Nortonville has noticed that some of the items that were in transit to her library at the time of migration did not retain their holds. Anyone else notice this?

Solution: It seems that Sirsi did not migrate the hold status for those items that were “In Transit” at the time of migration. Good thing we still have access to Sirsi (until Sept. 30). If you get items in your next courier delivery that the system doesn’t tell you who they are on hold for when you check them in, log into Sirsi and find out. This is only a temporary problem because items that were on hold at the time of migration, but were not yet in transit, seem to be fine.

Work-Around for Retaining Local Hold Availability
As you know, the Koha system does not at this time limit any holds for any reason. If there are items you want to limit to local holds, create a dummy card for your library. Then check the items you want out to the dummy account. When a patron brings the item up to check out, just check it out as you normally would. You will get the message “Item checked out to : (dummy card) Check in and check out?” Click Yes. When the item comes back, don’t check it in. Just check it back out to the dummy card. Any holds on the item will not be affected.

Director Permissions - We discovered this morning that the granular permissions for TOOLS in the Director Accounts did not migrate. Heather is in the process of fixing this issue.

Return to List when placing holds in the staff client - When a patron is placing a “HOLD” can there be a “return to search list” button somewhere on the page so that back-button doesn’t have to used when patron wants to return to original book lists?

A New Collection Code - Atchison Library requested that a new Collection Code be added for their software collection. So if you are cataloging software, use item type Media Collection, and if you want, select the collection code of Software.

NEKLS is excited to announce that NExpress, the shared regional integrated library system of the Northeast Kansas Library System, has gone live today, August 21st, on a new Koha open source software platform. NExpress is a joint partnership of the Northeast Kansas Library System and participating libraries, with partial funding through a Library Services and Technology Act grant from the State Library of Kansas. NExpress/Koha will be hosted and supported by Liblime, a leading provider of library open source software.

Libraries going live on NExpress/Koha on August 21st include:

Atchison Library
Basehor Community Library
Bonner Springs City Library
Northeast Kansas Library System Headquarters
Centralia Community Library
Hiawatha/Morrill Public Library
Lyndon Carnegie Library
Meriden Community Library
Nortonville Public Library
Silver Lake Library
Tonganoxie Public Library
Williamsburg Community Libray
Winchester Public Library

Access to the new NExpress/Koha online catalog is now available at http://catalog.nexpresslibrary.org/.

Find out more information about this exciting project at www.nexpresslibrary.org.

Today we find ourselves in the happy position of being ready for Go Live!

Please post your thoughts and comments here!

Issue: If a search contains a : (colon), you will get no results even if there are records that match the search terms.

Explanation: This is a known bug.

Solution: Re-execute the search without the : (colon).

Update:

From the bugzilla report:

Fixing this properly will require a refactor of the search API, and ultimately
a query parser. It might be best accomplished by 1. integrating SRU and CQL
support into Index Data's Pazpar2 tool, and then using that as the front-end
search API for Koha 3.2. I'm changing the Version to 3.2, and keeping it open
as a blocker.