Release Notes (bits and pieces)
(Complete set of Release Notes in .pdf from May 2010)
Patrons and Holds
Borrower History Retention – Under the Circulation History tab, there are sections for Reserves (Holds) and Sent Notices history. This will begin working once we upgrade, rather than retro-actively.
Place Hold Option on Checkout Tab – There will be a new “Search to Hold” section with a search link that opens a popup window for searching and placing holds. A silent video demonstration.
Copy Patron Record – So, you have a family who needs 6 separate cards? No problem! This feature takes an existing patron record and copies most of the information, except for First Name, date of birth and barcode. This is an alternative to using the Set Guarantor feature or Add Child function, which assumes the new patron is a child.
To use: Find a patron, select More > Copy Patron
Then, update the record and save.
Fines
Partial Fine Payment - Patrons are now able to make partial payments of fines! Click on the “Pay” button, insert the amount collected from the patron and Koha will automatically calculate the amount remaining.
Billing Notice and Debt Collection – We are still investigating this new feature, especially the new option for printing patron billing notices. The Debt Collection piece is designed to work with Unique Management Inc, but could be adapted to work with other collection agencies.
Other Fines features worth looking into: Pre-Defined Fee Types (p. 34) and List Fines by Type on Checkout Tab (p. 36)
Circulation
Print Option for Hold and Overdue Notices - “PTFS has added an option to print hold and overdue notices for patrons who have no email addresses in their records.” We will need to create a new notice template, then Koha will generate the notices and send the file to a web-accessible directory (that we’ll need to work with PTFS to get set up).
Renewal Source - Curious to know if an item was renewed by the Patron via the OPAC or by a staff member? It shows up now! An example…one guess who read all those romance novels…
Cataloging
Batch Item Edit – This new Tool allows you to select and edit Library, Item Type, Location, Permanent Location, Current Location, Not for Loan, Damaged, Lost status, Withdrawn status, Use Restrictions, and Collection Code. So, say you want to find “Books” from Bonner Springs with a Collection Code of “New” and update that to “Fiction,” you can do that as a batch (all 610 of them).
Oops: Make sure you know what your search criteria is because this tool makes the changes to the item records without letting you preview the results and some of those 610 books should have been changed from “New” to “Nonfiction”…
Note: You can also scan the barcode numbers into a Text file, set the criteria you want to Change, upload that file, click Proceed and be done! That was easy.
Other Cataloging Features that you might want to explore: Other Item Statuses (p.46), In Processing/Shelving Cart (p. 48) and Save Import Profiles (p. 49)
OPAC
Bestseller’s Club and Email Notifications – This is an expansion of a feature developed by Kyle Hall. The part that I think is great is where patrons can self-enroll into a ‘club’ and then receive an email notification when a new item, for example by a favorite author, is added to the collection. More information on pages 52-55. Definitely something we will need to explore and probably discuss at an upcoming Users Group meeting.
Clear Reading History - Patrons can Opt Out of the Reading History, if we turn on the system preference “AllowReadingHistoryAnonymizing.”
OPAC and Staff Advanced Search Changes – PTFS moved the subject, title and call number search options higher int he pulldown list and added a Search button near the top of the screen. Good thinking.
Sorting of Item Holdings in Staff and OPAC – The default sort order for items is accession date in the Staff Client and item type in the OPAC. This new feature “forces the primary sort in both staff and OPAC to be by branch library description, so that a library’s holdings display together.”
