LINK 2.0 Koha

Printing Pay Fines or Account screens may crash Firefox

2012-05-24T10:17:23-05:00

If you are trying to print a patron's Pay Fines screen or Account screen using the Firefox Print option, you may crash Firefox. Tests show that this will happen if the patron has more than one screen of transactions. The work-around is to take screen shots of the pages, using Alt-PrtScn, and pasting the screen shots into a Word document. (SCLS Support ticket 42096)

News Summary for 4/30/2012 through 5/11/2012

2012-05-14T13:13:28-05:00

News

For the most current news, see the ILS Support Main page.

5/11/12 Read about the 4.12 upgrade on LINK2.0Koha.
5/11/12 The May ILS Committee minutes are now available online.
5/9/12 We now have a toll-free number for the ILS Help Desk (855) 545-7435. We do ask that if you are local, please continue to use our local phone number to dial the ILS Help Desk (608) 242-4720.
5/9/12 We are looking for Koha testers using the Koha sandbox. (See "The sandboxes" under the Testing column.) Testing should by completed by May 18. Follow the directions on the Koha Testing page.
5/4/12 The new home for Koha Development information is the Koha Migration page. This page will eventually be renamed Koha Development. On this page, you will find the 2012 Development plans and other documents pertaining to development.
5/3/12 Since the sandboxes have been unavailable this week, we have extended the trial of Syndetics enhanced features to Sunday, May 13. We will begin the trial of Library Thing features on Monday, May 14.

Update on 4.12 Upgrade

2012-05-11T16:55:50-05:00

If all goes well, we are planning on doing the upgrade to LibLime Koha 4.12 the week of May 28. It will most likely occur on the evening of May 29 due to the Memorial Day holiday. Testing is underway and so far we have identified one bug that will need to be fixed prior to the upgrade. We are working on the Release Notes and will make them available next week so that you can prepare for the fixes and new features that will be included. At this time we do not expect substantial workflow changes.

We do expect that there will be a fix to Talking Tech (Harriet) so that patrons are not called for holds they have picked up (SCLS Support Ticket 40862). There is really no way for us to test this ahead of time, so we may want to be prepared for some tweaking to occur to this process on the day of the upgrade.

Hold notices via text-messaging - bookmarks and workflow.

2012-05-09T15:35:09-05:00

Bookmarks are being printed and sent out so that libraries can advertise this new hold notification option. Each library will receive a packet of 50 bookmarks; we will supply more when requested.

Text hold notices take the place of telephone hold notices in Koha. It provides an option for patrons who prefer to receive texts rather than a phone call.

If a patron activates text hold messages, they will not receive any kind of email notices.
If a patron activates text hold messages, they will receive print overdues and no pre-overdue notices.
Patrons can receive text messages on phones with a non-Wisconsin area code. Text messages are sent via the internet, not telephone lines.
Any normal text messaging charges apply.
Patrons will receive one text message for all holds trapped per day (digest format). The message will be sent around 9am the day after the holds are trapped.

WORKFLOW - How to edit a patron record to receive hold notices via text messages:

Access the patron record in the Koha staff client.
Make sure that under "Patron messaging preferences", the Hold filled/email checkbox is checked.
Remove any email address from the Email (Home) field. (You can store it in the Email (Work) field.)
Modify the phone number in the Phone (Home) field as follows:
- Phone number should start with a T, followed by a 1, followed by the area code, followed by the phone number. Ex.: T1-608-xxx-xxxx
Save the changes.

Using a Manual Invoice as an informational note

2012-05-09T11:02:02-05:00

If you are adding a Manual Invoice to explain a payment for a Lost Item, do not enter the item barcode. Adding a zero amount Manual Invoice (with item barcode) to a patron record subsequent to payment for that Lost item will prevent a Refund being generated for that Lost and Paid item if it is returned. If you want to include the item barcode in the note, enter it in the Description field. The barcode will be searchable using the CTRL+F function.

Only create a Manual Invoice/Lost Item, including the barcode, when the patron is not otherwise charged for a lost item.

Stop using Manual Credit button

2012-05-02T12:38:32-05:00

When staff use the Manual Credit button to create a credit on a patron's account, the patron's balance is credited. However, we are unable to apply the credit to a specific debit in order to resolve the amounts, which leaves the amounts Outstanding in the patron's record. The amounts also display in the patron's PAC account. The CSC recommended and the ILS approved banning the use of the Manual Credit button.

If you have a question on how to resolve a debit amount without using the Manual Credit, please contact Heidi O. and she will assist you. If you have patron records with manual credits and debits that you would like to see "resolved", email the patron barcode and the specific line numbers in the patron's Account screen to Heidi O. with a request to clear the Amounts Outstanding.

News Summary for 4/23/2012 through 4/27/2012

2012-04-30T14:42:31-05:00

News

For the most current news, see the ILS Support Main page.

4/27/12 The monthly batch delete of withdrawn items was done today. 13,353 items were deleted, along with 1228 bib records (when the last item on the bib was deleted).

4/26/12 The Linking I: Searching and Matching Webinar is now available online.

4/25/12 The auto-calculation for the Expiration date when adding new patron records has been fixed. Please read the blog post for more details.

4/24/12 We are conducting a trial of additional Syndetic Solutions features from April 24 through May 6. To find out how to participate, go the the PAC Support page and scroll down to the Enhanced Content Trials section.

4/24/12 The minutes from the April Circulation Services Subcommittee have been posted online.

4/24/12 Reminder to check all items for damage and missing parts: a Circulation Best Practices blog post.

4.10 Problem Log

04/25/2012 Fixed: 02-15-2012 Update: this is also true if you are creating a new patron record using the "Copy Patron" option and manually change the expiry date. You have to save the new record first, then go back into it and manually change it again. 02-07-2012 New Problem: Expiration Date for new patron records-auto-calc is broken. The auto-calculation for the Expiration date does not work when you add new patrons. You can manually enter an expiration date and it will be saved/retained when you save the patron record. The date must be entered in the format xx/xx/xxxx. (SCLS Support ticket 41777) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)

Expiration Date for new patron records - auto-calculation is fixed.

2012-04-25T09:28:27-05:00

A patch was applied to the production database last night that fixed the auto-calculation of the patron expiration date when adding a new patron record. Tests for different patron categories show that the auto-calculation assigned a correct expiration date based on the enrollment period in each Patron Category code. This fix is also true when creating a new patron record using the "Copy Patron" option. If you do encounter any problems please submit a problem report.

News Summary for 4/2/2012 through 4/20/2012

2012-04-23T16:39:36-05:00

News

For the most current news, see the ILS Support Main page.

4/16/12 A change to the Refund Charges screen now provides separate Refund buttons for each refund amount a patron may have on their record. Please read the blog for more detailed information.

4/13/12 The ILS Committee Minutes from the April 4th meeting are available online.

4/13/12 New release notes for fixes applied to Koha since the 4.10 upgrade have been posted. Most of the fixes listed in this document were announced separately, but now they are all compiled into one document.

4/10/12 The registration for the Linking 1 Webinar scheduled for April 26th at 9 am is now open. You can register online here.

4/6/12 A new workflow for printing the Holds Queue report (aka pick list) in Firefox is posted on the Circulation workflow page.

4/3/12 The Baker & Taylor Content Cafe trial is ready for testing. Please see the PAC page of this web site under "Enhanced Content Trials" for instructions on participating in the evaluation.

4/2/12 We now have Baker & Taylor Content Cafe features in the sandbox PAC. This is the beginning of a two week trial. We have test documents ready to go, but we are waiting for one bit of information from B&T first. In the mean time, you can see the features by searching a title in the sandbox PAC and clicking on the " Enhanced Content:Content Cafe" link from the full title screen. The images are also from Content Cafe.

4/2/12 The minutes from the March PACC Subcommittee Meeting are now available online.

4/2/12 13,680 withdrawn items were deleted on Friday, March 30. The next monthly delete of withdrawn items will be Friday, April 27.

4.10 Problem Log

04/17/2012 New: Problem changing several items to Trace status on Holds Queue report: Libraries have reported that if they are marking more than two items to Trace on their Holds Queue report, some of the status changes will not succeed and they have to go back and re-set the items to Trace. This has been reported to LibLime. Here are optional ways to set items to Trace on the HQ report:

Change only two items at a time. Confirm the number of items on the report has been reduced by two.

If you change more than two, confirm the number of items on the report has been reduced by the number you attempted to change. If all items were not removed from the report, refresh your screen, re-set the (remaining) items to Trace and submit the report again. Confirm the numbers again.

We don't know if the size of the report or other activity on the report (at the same time) has anything to do with the problem. We are unable to duplicate this in the Sandbox. (04/18/2012) (SCLS Support Ticket 42102) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)

04/11/2012 Fixed: Not for loan status: As of today, April 11, when you check in an item with a "Not for loan" status of On Order ACQ, On Order Non-ACQ, Received ACQ, In Processing, or Current Issue/NO CKO the status will clear upon checkin. 04/04/2012 New problem: The "Not for Loan" status does not clear upon checkin. This means that when you check in items with an In Processing or On Order status, the status does not revert back to "Available," instead it stays on In Processing or On Order. To process new items, you will have to first clear the status, and then check the item in to trap holds. You can clear the status using the Batch Edit Items tool. This problem has been reported to LibLime (4/4/12) (SCLS Support Ticket 42035) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)

04/04/2012 Update: Some patrons receive Internal Server Error when placing holds: LibLime delivered a patch last night that should fix this problem. New problem: Some patrons are receiving an Internel Server Error when they try to place holds from home. This has happened in the past and was fixed by LibLime but it is now a problem again. The same patrons who had problems before are having problems now. It has been reported to LibLime. (4/3/2012) (SCLS Support Ticket 42029) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)

04/03/2012 Update: Sort arrows in list of checked out items: Some patrons do not have sort arrows in their list of checked out items in their patron account in the PAC. Also, the most recently checked out items appear by default at the top of the list rather than the bottom of the list. We have found that if the patron has at least one active hold, then the list is sortable. But if all holds are suspended, then the list is not sortable. Also, patrons who do not have any hold do not have sort arrows in their list of checked out items. (7/6/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40448) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)

Reminder to check all items for damage and missing parts

2012-04-23T08:45:24-05:00

Checking the physical condition of items is very important. The physical condition of items should be checked at Check Out, Check In, when processing to fill holds and when processing incoming delivery items. If an item is checked in before the damage is noted, or seen to be missing a part, current and/or previous patron information may be removed from Check Out History.

What to look for:

Books:
Binding.
Torn pages.
Stains.
Odors (mold…etc).
Wet or damp.
Chewed corners.
Cover damage.
Patron markings (highlighter, pen, pencil).
Loose or peeling barcodes.
Missing parts (discs included with book…etc).
Remove old date due slips or holds slips and all bookmarks.

DVDs and CDs:
Cracks or deep scratches.
Patron writing on discs.
Discs that are not barcode labeled.
Broken hubs in cases.
Cases that do not stay shut.
Missing booklets or contents pages.
Match multiple TV series discs by barcode (last four digits); match the barcode on the cases with the barcode on the disc.

BODCs, BOCCs, GAMES, PLAYAWAYS, CHILD KITS:
Check for obvious damage and missing parts.

Submitted by G. Hanson, McFarland Public Library