Koha Upgrades
19.11 Questions and Answers
by Kelly McElligott on Jun 4, 2020
We had a successful two "What's New" Webinars! Whether you joined us live for either of our webinars or watched the recorded versions, you know that a lot of exciting questions were asked!
Link to Recorded Webinars can be found on our 19.11 Upgrade Page.
We have broken out the questions by new feature and you will find all the questions and answers below!
If you have thought of questions since our webinars, please remember that we will be hosting two Q&A sessions in June, see here to register. In addition, send us an email with a question prior to this event at 19.11upgrades@bywatersolutions.com and we will answer those questions also!
We have included questions that were discussed in our Q&A Session- these questions can be found at the bottom of the page.
[19618] Add ‘Club Holds’ feature
Q: Will that club tab show up by default when placing a hold?
A: The club tab will appear when placing a hold. By default, it will be for a patron hold, but the next tab over will allow for club holds.
Q: What if the patrons are at different branches?
A: The pickup location defaults to the logged-in staff user's library. There is a bug about this in the community currently:
Q: Is there a limit to the number of patrons in a club?
A: Not that we are aware of.
Q: What determines the order the patrons in the club get the holds?
A: The order will be random.
For more information about Patron Clubs, see this blog post.
For more information about the new feature for Patron Club Holds, see this blog post.
Show Last Patron
Q: I don’t recognize that “Last patron” button in the upper right corner - is this new?
A: This is a system preference from a few versions ago. Here is a link to a Monday Minutes that shows off this handy feature.
Also, one of our partners shared a link to Donna's presentation at the Kohathon that discusses this feature and others!
Note: The placement of the "Last Patron" button has been moved in 19.11 to be within the breadcrumb bar.
[14697] Extend and enhance “Claims returned” lost status
Q: When changing the item to claims return, will the patron still be able to check out items or will it restrict them?
A: Something that is claimed returned will function like any other lost item that is on a patron's account. No immediate restriction is placed on the patron's account if they have a claim returned- Koha will still follow the rules of number of checkouts and fines, and/or overdues for restrictions. A library can manually restrict a patron if they would like.
Q: Do Claims Returned still show up in Items out
A: Yes, at this current time, if an item is claimed returned, it will remain on the patron's account. A new feature will be coming at a later point to add Claims Returned to the system preference, MarkItemsLostAsReturned.
Q: Could you show us how that claims returned item looks in the OPAC?
A: When setting up the Lost value for Claims Returned under the Authorized Value: LOST, the OPAC description will be used when displaying the item on the OPAC.
Q: Does claimed returned status clear automatically when the item is checked in or do you have to manually resolve the status?
A: At this time, Koha will alert the staff upon check-in that the item was "claimed returned", and the staff will need to manually resolve the claim. An enhancement has been started to change this process, however, will not come with this version of Koha.
Q: Is the list of resolutions built from a list of authorized values.
A: Yes, by default there are two values listed in the Authorized Values under, RETURN_CLAIM_RESOLUTION. A library can certainly change these values and/or add new ones.
Q: Can the customer see the Claim Returned notes?
A: No, these notes are purely for staff.
Q: Will patrons still get overdue notices for items in claims returned?
A: No, Claimed Returned items act as Lost items would.
Q: Can ClaimReturnedLostValue accept more than one value?
A: The system preference, ClaimReturnedLostValue can only accept one value.
Q: Once the patron returns the claims return item or if it is found in the library, will the history of this stay in the patron's account?
A: All resolved claims will continue to stay on the patron's account under the Claims Returned tab.
Q: Do Claims Returned show on Print slip?
A: They do show, however, will not display as "Claimed Returned", they will show just the title and original due date.
Q: Can you demonstrate how to change the options in a drop-down menu? Auth values - return_claim_resolve?
A: This was demonstrated during the webinar, but here is a link to the steps that can be found in the manual.
Q: What will happen if a claimed return is found and checked in later (and not resolved through that dialogue)?
A: The item will be removed from the patron's account, but it will still be an unresolved claim.
Q: Can you charge the lost fee on the resolution, only the initial setup?
A: Currently, it is only on the initial claimed step, not at checkin.
[14697] Make it possible to add multiple guarantors to a record
Q: Is it possible to enter more than one guarantor without linking them to an existing Koha patron?
A: Right now, Koha supports any number of guarantors who are Koha patrons, but only one guarantor who is not a patron. We've filed a followup enhancement request to change this, which you can see here.
Q: Do the settings for viewing fines and checkouts apply to all the Koha patron guarantors on the record?
A: Yes, the same setting applies to all the guarantors on the record.
[17168] Add a command-line script for updating patron category based on status
Q: Can this cron do a date comparison like "60 days before today" instead of a specific date?
A: Yes, that is something we could make work in you cron setup.
Q: Can you do multiple option? Such as patrons with X thing and specific branches?
A: Yes, all the parameters we set in the cron are combined into a single search. So, for example, we could set it to update all patrons with fines over $10 and from a specific brach.
[15497] Limit item types by library
Q: In Cataloguing only item type limits is upgraded or any other things?
A: We are only highlighting a few features during this What's New webinar, however, check out this entire blog post to all new features coming in 19.11 for Technical Services.
[23435] Add multiple copies of an item when receiving in serials
Q: Do you have to assign a barcode when receiving the serials?
A: Yes, you do. However, you if use preprinted barcodes for instance, you could assign a barcode like "1" and then edit the items and enter the preprinted barcode number.
Extra Questions
Q: Will the call number browse be fixed in 19.11?
A: Yes! This bug: https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=25144 shows it will be coming to 19.05.10- so for ByWater partners, this will come in June with 19.11.
Q: Is 19.11 on the sandbox, or are they master?
A: Sandboxes are on master, however, the ByWater demo site is currently running 19.11. You can find access to our demo through our ByWater Solutions website.
Q: Is there an introduction to serials blogpost?
A: Not yet, but we are working on it and will have one soon. For now, take a look at the manual: https://koha-community.org/manual/19.11/en/html/serials.html
Q: Tell us more about the musical incept feature!
A: It's included in the OPAC blog post: https://bywatersolutions.com/education/19-11-opac-and-public-services-updates and this are the sites Andrew used https://www.verovio.org/pae-editor.xhtml and https://www.iaml.info/plaine-easie-code#toc-2
Q: Could you use that to link to author interviews or book reviews?
A: No, but you could use the 865$u to add a link to the bib record.
Questions from our Q&A Sessions
Q: Can you share the link to the newest release of Koha, 19.11.06?
Q: When you turn on the advanced editor is it on for everyone or can you set it per cataloger?
A: This is a permission-based option. So yes, it can be set up per cataloger. This permission is : "Use the advanced cataloging editor (requires edit_catalogue) (advanced_editor)". For more information about the Advanced Editor, we shared the Town Hall about the feature.
Bug 23390 - Add placeholder syntax for column names
Q: If you rename "itemnumber" does it still allow you to modify those things?
A: Andrew demonstrated how you can still use a placeholder if you would like to. Changing the SELECT statement to have this SELECT [[itemnumber|Number]] where Koha is being told to pull the itemnumber, but display the column name as Number. But if a library didn't want the ability to use the Batch Item Modification when running a report than they could use the regular SELECT statement such as SELECT itemnumber AS 'X", then yes, the Batch Item option will not be there.
Bug 23197 - Add more batch operation options to SQL report results
Q: What happens if login does not have permissions for batch edit or delete?
A: The staff member will see the box to use the Batch option, however, if they choose the box, they cannot go further. So the staff member cannot use this feature if they don't have the ability to batch edit/delete. Andrew filed a bug during this session for this! [Bug 25659]
Bug 22922 - Allow to modify hold and hold expiration date in staff
Q: If there is a blank expiration date, I'll be able to add one with this feature, right?
A: Yes, you can add an expiration date to holds that are not in the Waiting status.
Bug 14697 - Extend and enhance "Claims returned" lost status
Q: Is it correct that ClaimReturnedLostValue is the on/off switch for claims returned? if I leave it blank, the feature doesn't show at all?
A: That is correct. If you do not have this value set in the system preference, the feature will not show.
Q: I'm excited about the column adding to Z39.50, but haven't played with it on a demo site--would you be able to show us something about that?
A: We first thought we were being asked about the system preference, AdditionalFieldsInZ3950ResultSearch, which was a new system preference in 18.11. Here is a blog post and tutorial video about adding more fields into your z39.50 search.
However, the question was about the column configuration settings for the z39.50 search- Bug 23307 - Add columns configuration to cataloging/z3950_search.tt . There is now the ability to remove columns from the z39.50 search that a library may not need while using this search tool.
Q: Do the guarantors have to be patrons? We have a school where parents are guarantors but not patrons.
A: No, starting in 19.11 there is the ability to add a Guarantor that is not in Koha. For more information, see this blog post about Mulitple Guarantors.
Bug 15260 - Option for extended loan with useDaysMode
Q: This looks useful and would be really useful if you have a bookmobile going to individual locations on a weekly schedule.
A: Yes, a new value has been added to the system preference, useDaysMode, which will allow a library to push the due date to the next open day of the same weekday.
Bug 23219 - Show a warning about cancelling their holds before a patron is deleted
Q: This is a great new feature.
A: Kelly then tried to delete her own account in Koha, which gave a message that not many had seen before. Koha does warn you if you delete your own account, you won't be able to log back in.
Bug 20194 - Display both biblioitems.itemtype and items.itype in circulation screens
Q: Will this feature be useful to libraries?
A: Yes! This change was featured in a Monday Minutes.
Note: There was a moment where Kelly thought that the Reports Module pagination was changed. The options were First Page and Next Page, but the Last Page seemed to have disappeared. Andrew discovered later that if you are too zoomed into the page, the Last option does disappear!
Read more by Kelly McElligott