We were looking closely at the “Tranfer to” slips that KOHA generates and wondered if the group thought there was too much private information printed on them. Do you feel this is too much? If so, how should we anonymize the slip?
-Sharon
Current slip shows:
Transfer to Library X
Last Name, First Name
Reserved item:
Title and Author
If you want to search for a specific barcode in the catalog from the staff client, you need to put an “*” before the number.
Why?
Because, the catalog search looks for the presence of the barcode numbers and ignores the sequence, unless you use the “*” first.
For example, when I searched for 0003008001138 (Amazon Hacks) - I got 4 results. Of those results, the three that were not Amazon Hacks had the following barcodes:
0003008001113
0003000011138
0003008001118
The sequence of those 0s, 3s, 1s, and 8s was ingored by Koha. This is great when you are searching for a title by keyword, but is not as helpful when looking for a specific item by barcode.
Another use for the “*” is to search for a partial barcode or ISBN number.
-sharon
The new and improved Pick List was launched this morning, and so far we have received positive feedback about this change.
As we learn more about how Koha can be ‘edited,’ we will share that information with you and develop a process for identifying and addressing future ‘edits.’ Some changes are simple, but may have unexpected consequences…some changes are more difficult, but can be completed in-house by Liz…and some changes are more complicated and will require a LibLime Enhancement (Enhancement with a capital “E” means we have to pay for it).
This Just In!!!
In the Staff Client, when you are looking at the details of an item, the Holdings Table has been upgraded to show the PERMANENT location in the Home Library column, with the CURRENT location in parenthesis beside it, if the item is out of your library on loan to another! We hope this ‘edit’ helps with collection development, as you can easily see what you already own!
We would like to implement this enhancement. What say you?
The old list gave you: Title, Call Number, Patron, Phone Number, Date and Send To
You requested a few tweaks and the upgrade last week allowed us to update this report to include:
Call Number, Title, Author, Collection, Shelving Location, Date, and Send To
We hope that this order and type of information makes pulling holds easier and faster.
The report is ordered by: Collection (nothing is first, then alphabetical by genre/Collection Code) and then by Call Number. This means, if your library does not have a collection code assigned to every book, there may be titles appearing in two or three places on your list.
Future upgrade: Sorting by column!!!
Current Pick List:
Revised Pick List:
One cool thing about Koha is that you can download records using a z39.50 target instead of always having to go to CatExpress. But, there are going to be times you will have to use CatExpress and it is very IMPORTANT that you change the default matching rules before you click Stage for Import. To help remind us all of what to change, Liz has added instructions right on the screen:
In other words: Record matching rule = ISBN
Action if matching bibliographic record found = Ignore incoming record (its items may still be processed)
Action if no match is found = Add incoming record
How to process items = Add items only if matching bib was found
Please remember to change these three options before clicking Stage for Import!
A new sub-project has come up - Overdue Notices!
We knew the overdue notices would be emailed automatically, and we knew that accounts without email addresses would have messages generated and compiled in a text file, but we did not know who would receive that file:
1. The e-mail address associated with each individual library in Koha or
2. The “NExpresshelp” Koha administrative e-mail.
We have discovered that answer is 1.
As Kim in Bonner Springs and Cathy in Hiawatha discovered, their patrons received overdue notices directly from the Director! Personalized, but perhaps not the best solution. We can and will change that email address to a generic account, if you wish.
For now, you can contact these patrons either by phone or by mail, or add an email address to their account so that future notices will be sent via email. We have tweaked the notice text a little to add the patron’s borrower number, their street address and zip, and their phone number. You can either mail or phone the overdue patrons based on the text file information.
Sharon has talked about creating a mailmerge template in Word so that the text file can be printed out in formatted letters, postcards, or self-mailers. If you decide to use Strahm or another mailing service, this text file is also what will be the basis of the customized notices. We need to work with Koha to get this data in a .csv file, which will work easily with a mailmerge template.
Right now, as a default, there are three notices, and they are triggered on this schedule: 7 days after overdue, a REMINDER is sent; 21 days after overdue, an ALERT is sent; 35 days after overdue, the account is SUSPENDED (debarred).
We can set different triggers for each individual library, depending on patron type. Let us know.
The wording on the notices has to be coordinated globally.
We look forward to a discussion on this issue.
On Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 8:30 am, we discovered that an upgrade to the Koha system made at LibLime overwrote our customized templates. Liz quickly contacted customer support and by 10 am, we had our old templates back. This should NOT happen again when upgrades are installed on a bi-weekly basis.
From an August 29 email:
Q: How often does the Holds Pick List regenerate?
A: It runs hourly, at 52 minutes past the hour between 6 am and 7 pm.
Some libraries have talked to me about doing two holds picks a day, morning and evening. Feel free
