Koha 20.05 What's New Webinar Questions and Answers

Thank you for joining one or both of our What's New webinars or watching our recorded webinars. If you have not, feel free to use this link to see our What's New Webinar for Koha 20.05. This blog post will cover all the questions that were discussed.

[17268] Advanced cataloging editor – rancor – macros are lost when browser storage cleared

Q: Do macros still only add fields and not delete any?

A: You can absolutely run a macro that would delete a marc field!

The delete command would look like this:

delete 942c

Adding a marc field would look like this:

new 942=

For more information- see this Wiki page!

[23349] Add batch operations to staff interface catalog search results

Q: ​Does that adhere to the tools permissions?

A: Yes, a staff member needs to have the following permission depending on the action that you would like to perform:

Staff members would need the following permissions to perform batch edit and deletion of records.

Edit catalog (Modify bibliographic/holdings data) (editcatalogue)

  • Edit catalog (Modify bibliographic/holdings data)(edit_catalogue)

Use all tools (expand for granular tools permissions) (tools)

  • Perform batch deletion of records (bibliographic or authority) (records_batchdel)
  • Perform batch modification of records (biblios or authorities) (records_batchmod)

[4461] Add a context-sensitive report a problem process

Q: Will the patron get a copy of the report?

A: Yes, the patron will get an email.

Q: So it will only be sent via the two emails?

A: Yes, the error report can be sent to either the Admin Email or Branch specific email.

Q: Are there plans to make a similar feature for staff to use to report problems to admin on the intranet side of things?

A: Not that we could find in Bugzilla, but this would be a great enhancement to file.

Q: Is there a way to respond automatically to the patron who reported the error?

A: Not currently. The most immediate place your staff will see this error report is from the bottom of the staff client- and the patron that has reported the error will be listed on this page.

[13388] Add library pages to the OPAC

Q: Can you choose which libraries/branches show up?

A: Not in Koha set up, but there was some jquery created by Lucas to assist libraries in hiding branches that they needed to hide. This jquery would be added to the system preference: OPACuserjs:

if ( $('#opac-library').length ) {
 let branches_to_hide = ['BRANCHCODE' , 'BRANCHCODE2'];
 branches_to_hide.forEach(function(item){
 $('a[href*="'+item+'"]').parent().hide();
 $('a[href*="'+item+'"]').parent().next('div').hide();
 $('a[href*="'+item+'"]').parent().prev('hr').hide();
 })
}

Input your branchcode where it indicates BRANCHCODE, if you have multiple branchcodes, enter them in between commas.

[25110] Allow patrons to add star ratings to title listed on their current checkouts and reading history pages

Q: Does this also work on "Your reading history"?

A: Yes, it works on both current checkouts and the reading history tab of the Patron's account.

Q: Is there a way to get a report on what books have been rated?

A: There is a table in the Koha schema called "Ratings". Here is a quick sample report finding ratings by a specific borrowernumber.

SELECT biblionumber, title, rating_value
FROM ratings
LEFT JOIN biblio using (biblionumber)
WHERE borrowernumber='9'

Q: What if you're not currently using star ratings? Can you add it with the upgrade?

A: Yes, this is a system preference, OPACstarratings, and can be turned on. The new option coming in Koha 20.05 with this system preference is: 'results, details, and user'.

[23354] Add a “Point of Sale” function to allow anonymous patrons

Q: Is there a way to cancel or reverse a point of sale payment if there was an error?

A: Yes! You can issue a refund under the "Register Details of the Point of Sale feature.

Q: Do I understand that a credit payment would not work in Koha?

A: Yes, the point of sale feature is tracking payments in Koha. If you are looking to use an outside service to take credit card payments, see our Ecommerce blog post linked at the bottom of the page.

Q: Can you have different default amounts per debit type per library?

A: Yes, a debit type can be assigned to a specific library and therefore have different default amounts.

[23051] Add ability to optionally renew fine accruing items when all fines on item are paid off

Q: What if the item has a hold on it?

A: No, Koha will attempt to renew but it will be unable to.

[24474] Lost items that are checked out are always returned, even when attempting to renew them

​Q: Is there a bug about adding the claim return option to MarkLostItemAsReturn?

A: It is a bug, 25552.

3137] Allow to collapse areas of the patron add form by default

Q: Can you add an arrow so they know it's collapsed?

A: That is not something Koha has created at this time.

[15668] Add column configuration to the items table in staff detail pages

Q: Do the column changes show universally or just by workstation and user?

A: If you make changes to the column configuration in the Admin area, then this is a universal change for all users.

[22880], [23794], [23795], [23796, [23797] Convert opac related system preferences to news block-

Q: Did you say that the customization will automatically migrate into the Tools from Admin?

A: Yes, the transition from system preferences to the News feature will be done automatically with the update.

Q: Is there a bug to break this out the form from the standard news, if you are heavily using News then it can be complicated to find the specific entry.

A: A partner shared this bug during this presentation about this very question: [24387].

[23975] Add the ability to search and install plugins from GitHub

Q: Where is the offsite database of koha plugins? What is this searching?

A: This is currently searching our ByWater GitHub site for ByWater plugins.

[8643] Add ability to mark some MARC tags and subfields as important and alert on saving the record if they are found to be empty

Q: Does this feature for the "important" field can be used in the advanced editor as well?

A: No, this currently only works in the Basic Editor.

Q: Ooh that might be nice for borrower records too!

A: Yes! We agree!

[18433] Allow to select results to export in item search

Q: Is the CSV just the barcodes?

A: No, this will do a CSV of the information in addition to a barcode file.

22284] Add ability to define groups of locations for hold pickup

Q: Will the hold groups affect the local hold priority system preference

A: Currently this is not an option with that system preference, but would be a logical next step to this feature!

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Batch Item Modifications

20.05

Visit our 20.05 Upgrade Note page where a lot of 20.05 is broken into Modules specific areas, blog posts, tutorial videos, and other helpful links!

Koha: 20.05 Upgrade Notes

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Tags 20.05