by Kelly McElligott on Jun 10, 2024

Upgrade Webinars coming in July

Webinars will be held on Thursday, July 18th, and Tuesday, July 24th. Registration is required; the same content will be featured at both webinars. Both webinars will be recorded and available to view from our ByWater Solutions YouTube page.

What's New Webinar
Thursday, July 18, 2024
1:00 p.m. Eastern/ 12:00 p.m Central/ 11:00 a.m. Mountain/10:00 a.m. Pacific

Register here for the What's New Webinar

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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What's New Webinar 2
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
3:00 p.m. Eastern/2:00 p.m. Central/1:00 p.m. Mountain/ 12:00 p.m. Pacific

Register here for the What's New Webinar

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Below is the content from the 24.05 Upgrades, visit our 23.11 blog post for more upcoming features and enhancements!

Koha 23.11 Release Notes

In this blog post, we break down upcoming Koha 24.05 features and enhancements.

Click for each module specific notes:

• Acquisitions

• Authentication

• Cataloging

• Circulation

• Fines and Fees

• Patrons

• Holds

• OPAC

• Reports

• Notices

• Staff Interface

• Searching

• Self-Checkout

• ERM

• Tools

• Serials

Acquisitions

New Enhancements in Acquisitions

• 10758 Show bibliographic information of deleted records in acquisition baskets

This makes the title of a deleted bibliographic record visible on the basket summary page.

Test Plan:

1. Find a completed order line
2. Cancel one biblio record
3. Go back to the basket, see that the title is visible

• 18360 Allow deletion of cancelled order line

This patch set allows you to delete cancelled order lines from an open acquisition basket.

1. Pick an open basket with canceled lines.
2. The Cancelled Order area now has an option to delete the order.
3. Try to do this on a closed basket, no option exists.

Staff Permission for this: order_manage

• 30070 Performance issues with edifactmsgs when you have a large number of messages

This enhancement converts the EDIFACT messages display table to an API driven asynchronous data table greatly improving the performance of that page when large numbers of messages exist.

• 33171 Add coded_location_qualifier, barcode, and enum chron to MarcItemFieldsToOrder
  
  This enhancement allows the use of coded_location_qualifier, barcode, and enumchron fields in the MarcItemFieldsToOrder preference.

• 33393 Modify sentence above the order table in English 1-page order PDF Sponsored by Pymble Ladies’ College
  
  

This is a feature that will work with libraries using Basket Groups. This enhancement adds the new 1PageOrderPDFText system preference allowing librarians to customise the output of PDF orders.

• 35724 Define non-standard port numbers for SFTP upload/download in EDI accounts
  
  This adds configuration options for the upload port and download port to the EDI account configuration page. If no port is added, it will keep using the default port 22.Sponsored by Waikato Institute of Technology, New Zealand

Authentication

New Enhancement in Authentication

• 36503 Add a plugin hook to modify patrons after authentication Sponsored by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
  
  This plugin hook allows the user to change patron data or define the patron based on the authenticated user.
  
  

Cataloging

New Cataloging Features

• 31791 Add the ability to lock records to prevent modification through the Koha staff interface. Sponsored by ByWater Solutions
  
  This feature adds a way to lock records from being manually edited, if their defined source is marked as such. The record source can only be set (so far) when adding records using the API (or a dedicated plugin using the new code). A future enhancement (bug 36372) will allow privileged users to set the record source manually, as well.
  
  

New Cataloging Enhancements

• 30554 Use XSLT in authority search cataloguing plugin Sponsored by Écoles nationales supérieure d’architecture (ENSA)
  
  This fixes the authority search cataloguing plugin so that the search results when adding an authority term to a record are customisable when using the AuthorityXSLTResultsDisplay system preference (for both MARC21 and UNIMARC).
  
  

• 32435 Add resolution types to catalog concerns Sponsored by PTFS Europe
  
  This enhancement adds a new TICKET_RESOLUTION authorized value type. You may use it to add new resolution values to the catalog concerns workflow optionally.
  
  

• 33494 Catalog concerns – Toggle ‘Hide resolved’ and ‘Show all’ Sponsored by PTFS Europe

• 35628 Add optional statuses to catalog concerns Sponsored by PTFS Europe
  
  This enhancement adds a new TICKET_STATUS authorized value type. You may use it to optionally add new statuses to the catalog concerns workflow.
  
  

35657 Add ability to assign tickets to librarians for catalog concerns Sponsored by PTFS Europe

This enhancement adds to the ability to assign tickets to librarians in the catalog concerns feature.

• 35034 Add a link to the bibliographic records when they are selected for merging

• 35062 Allow a framework plugin to add class to prevent submit during ajax call

• 35768 Show ‘Used in’ records link for results in cataloguing authority plugin Sponsored by Education Services Australia SCIS

• 36156 Don’t duplicate selected value when a field or subfield linked to an authorized value is repeated

When a field or subfield is linked to a list of authorized values and repeated in the cataloging editor, the selected value was repeated in the copied field. This makes it so the copied field will be empty.

• 36370 Add ContentWarningField to UNIMARC XSLT
  
  This enhancement enables UNIMARC installations to pick a note field to use to store ‘Content warnings’ about bibliographic records, using the ContentWarningField system preference (added in Koha 23.05 by bug 31123, but only for MARC21 installations).To use this feature, add a tag and subfields to your bibliographic framework(s), and update the ContentWarningField system preference with the tag to use. A ‘Content warning:’ label will then be displayed in the OPAC and staff interface, on both the detail and results pages. If a $u subfield for a URL is added, the $a subfield will use this as to create a clickable link. Other subfields will be displayed after the $a subfield.

  
  

MARC Authority Data Support

• 13706 Deduping authorities script (dedup_authorities.pl)
  
  This new command line script (misc/maintenance/dedup_authorities.pl) is a tool for helping to automatically remove duplicate authority records.
  

Enhancements

• 29825 Preview of authority record on edit mode as MARC formatted view

• 35328 Add a notes pop-up for authority records to authority search results Sponsored by Education Services Australia SCIS
  
  This enhancement makes authority record notes (6xx) more accessible in a special Notes pop-up, available in all authority search result lists.

• 35903 In cataloguing authority plugin using autocomplete should set operator exact after selecting an entry

• 35993 AddBiblio should add 005 just like ModBiblio updates it

Circulation

New Features in Circulation

• 6796 Overnight checkouts taking into account opening and closing hours Sponsored by Auckland University of Technology, Catalyst and PTFS Europe
  
  This feature adds the ability to set opening and closing hours for your library and for these hours to be considered when calculating due dates for hourly loans. If the due date for an hourly loan falls after the library closes, the library can choose for the due date to be shortened to meet the close time, or extended to meet the open time the next day. This feature adds a new table ‘branch_hours’ for storing the open and close times per day for each library, and a new system preference ‘ConsiderLibraryHoursWhenIssuing’ to choose which behaviour should be followed when calculating due dates.
  
  

• Add ability to book items ahead of time (29002) Sponsored by PTFS Europe
  

This new feature in Koha will allow items to be 'booked' ahead of time. This will be a help to libraries that have book clubs or book discussions. An item can be made ‘bookable’ via the item modification screens. Once at least one item is bookable, a new “Place booking” button will appear as an option on the bibliographic record detail page and a “Bookings” tab will be available from the side menu to allow management of bookings. Bookings cannot overlap, and circulation will detect when an item has a booking on it and notify the librarian appropriately.

• 33737 Add bookings to patron details Sponsored by PTFS Europe and ByWater Solutions
  
  This enhancement exposes a patron’s bookings in their details page in the staff interface.

• 36120 Add pickup locations to bookings Sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library
  
  This enhancement adds the requirement to pick a pickup location when placing a booking.

For more information about the Future Booking feature, see this Monday Minutes blog post!

New Circulation Enhancements

• 16122 Item record needs to keep local use count
  
  This patch adds a new separate field for recording local use to the items table. It will be hidden from the holdings table by default but can be made visible using the table configuration settings. This includes a new CLI script to update the update_localuse_from_statistics.pl that can be used to set the new items.localuse field with information from the statistics table.

• 27753 Automate resolution of return claim when checking in an item Sponsored by Altadena Library District
  
  This patch adds two new system preferences, ‘AutoClaimReturnStatusOnCheckin’ and ‘AutoClaimReturnStatusOnCheckout’, to allow automatic resolution of return claims on checkin and/or on checkout of the item claimed as returned. Both system preferences allow choosing between “Found in library” or “Returned by patron” as reasons for the resolution. The default value for both preferences is empty, meaning automatic resolution on checkin/checkout is turned off by default.
  

• 27595 Place holds for patrons on accepted purchase suggestions

Sponsored by Bedford Public Library
Sponsored by Altadena Library District
Sponsored by St. Paul’s School

This patch adds a new system preference “PlaceHoldsOnOrdersFromSuggestions” that allows accepted suggestions to automatically be put on hold for the suggesting patron as soon as the suggested item is ordered.
The default value is “Don’t” automatically place a hold when ordering from a suggestion.

This process is specific to libraries using the acquisition process. Once this system preference is turned on, the hold will be placed for the patron once it has been set to ordered within Acquisitions.

• 33174 Have a better indication when one is canceling multiple holds on a record
  
  This improves the confirmation message when multiple holds are canceled to include the number of holds to be canceled.

• 34668 Notify staff with a pop-up about waiting holds for a patron when checking out
  
  This enhancement adds a new system preference, WaitingNotifyAtCheckout, that generates a pop-up in the circulation module alerting staff that the patron they are checking out items to also has holds waiting for them.

• 36074 Make materials specified note easier to customize, part 2

• 36096 Add ability to select default sort and display length for tables on ‘Holds awaiting pickup’ page

Fines and Fees

New Enhancements in Fines and Fees

22740 Automatically change lost status when item is paid for Sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library

This patch implements two new system preferences, UpdateItemLostStatusWhenWriteOff and UpdateItemLostStatusWhenPaid that allow you to specify the status to change an item to when the outstanding balance of a lost item is paid or written off. These preferences are tied to the LOST authorized values set.

Holds

New Hold Enhancements

• 15565 Place multiple item-level holds at once for the same record
  
  Allow borrowers to place multiple item-level holds on a record in the staff interface and OPAC. Item radio buttons are replaced with checkboxes.
  This feature is enabled/disabled via the system preference “DisplayMultiItemHolds”.

• 23208 Ability to set default ratio in holds ratio report
  
  This patch adds the new system preference ‘HoldRatioDefault’ to allow setting a different default value for the holds ratio report found in Circulation -> Holds -> Hold ratios.The default value for the new system preference is 3.

• 30579 When placing item level hold, some options that are not used are not disabled
  
  This is part of improvements to placing holds from the record page in the staff interface.It improves the structure of the page to make it clear that the different type of holds (“Hold next available item”, “Hold next available item from an item group” (when enabled), and “Hold a specific item”) are mutually-exclusive options, including:

-Simplifying the hold details section at the start of the page

-Putting the information and options for each type of hold in their own selectable section of the page

• Note: additional improvements to the design were made in bugs 36864 and 36899.

• 35564 Add home library (homebranch) column to holds queue report

• 35576 Make the callnumber column easier to customize when viewing the holds queue report
  
  This adds the class ‘hq-callnumber’ to the call number column on the holds queue report. This will allow for easier customization using CSS or jQuery.

• 35826 Optimize building of holds queue based on transport cost matrix

36559 Transport cost matrix update helpers

With a lot of columns and rows the transport cost matrix got hard to edit. This patch makes it so that the header column and row are fixed and will always remain visible while editing.

• 35432 Clarify and simplify the workings of MapItemsToHoldRequests

• 31981 Add classes to each NEEDSCONFIRM message for easier styling in circ/circulation.tt
  
  This patch adds a unique class to each “needs confirmation” message shown in circulation. Previously the only selector for any circulation message needing confirmation was #circ_needsconfirmation, so CSS or jQuery targeting only a single specific message was not easy to do.With this patch you can directly target the new unique class selector for the specific message found behind the class element .needsconfirm.

Patrons

New Patron Enhancements

• 25996 Changes to restrictions should be logged Sponsored by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
  
  This adds logging of adding, updating and lifting of patron restrictions. It’s controlled by the BorrowersLog system preference.
  
  

• 26597 Transfer information from guarantor when adding a guarantor to an existing patron

• 31097 Patron restriction types should display in staff interface and OPAC
  
  This patch allows the display of patron restriction types and expiry dates directly in the checkout area and in the patron details as well as in the OPAC when patron restriction types are in use and also uses a newline for each restriction. Previously only the comment was displayed.

• 32610 Add ability to specify patron attribute as a date
  
  This makes it possible to add patron attribute fields as dates. The field will then display as any other date field including the calendar widget.

• 35474 Add icon for protected patrons

OPAC

New OPAC Enhancements

• 19768 Possibility to choose “Note” tab in OpacSerialDefaultTab. Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries
  
  This adds an additional option to the opacSerialDefaultTab system preference that allows to select the ‘Title information’ tab as default on serial records in the OPAC.

• 35346 ‘Accept essential cookies’ should always appear if CookieConsent is enabled

• 35347 ‘More information’ should always display in cookie consent bar

• 36138 Add cancellation reason to the status column on the OPAC hold history page

Reports

New Reports Enhancements

• 5920 Remove HTML from downloaded reports in CSV format
  
  When choosing the CSV option of downloading a report from the reports module, any HTML used for creating links etc. will automatically be removed from the exported file.

Notices

New Notice Features

• 29393 Ability to send emails from patron details page Sponsored-by Aix-Marseille University
  
  This new feature allows staff with appropriate permissions, send_messages_to_borrowers, to email patrons from the patron details pages.
  Notice templates can be defined, and used for defaults, using the new Patrons (custom message) module.
  

Enhancements

• 12802 Send notices using several email addresses Sponsored by St Luke’s Grammar School & Pymble Ladies’ College
  
  This enhancement allows libraries to select a list of email address fields to use when sending notices to patrons.
  The address fields used in the notices are selected using a new system preference, EmailFieldSelection – these address fields are then used for the notices when EmailFieldPrimary is set to selected addresses.
  

• 18397 Add recipient/sender information to notices tab in staff interface Sponsored by PTFS Europe
  
  This enhancement adds from, to and cc addresses to the ‘Delivery note’ column in the patron’s notices table, once the notice is sent.
  

For more information about this enhancement, see this Monday Minutes tutorial video.

• 31627 Add ability to embed the letter ID in outgoing email notices Sponsored by ByWater Solutions
  
  This enhancement adds two new email headers to notices sent by Koha.
  X-Koha-Template-ID to contain the ID of the template used to generate the notice, and X-Koha-Message-ID to contain the ID of the specific message as defined by Koha.
  This allows staff to easily trace issues with message content back to their source. Headers are not displayed to end users by default, but are easily accessible to support staff.
  

• 33478 Customise the format of notices when they are printed Sponsored by Colorado Library Consortium
  
  This implements a style field for each template to allow for advanced CSS customizations of printed notices and slips. There are links to insert selectors as helpers. Styles can be applied for an individual notice or all notices at once.
  
  

Staff

New Staff Interface Enhancements

• 30623 Copy permissions from one user to another

This enhancement makes it a lot easier to create staff users with similar or identical permission profiles by allowing it to copy the permission settings from one user to another.

• 35810 Add back to top button to the staff interface
  
  This adds a ‘back to the top’ button to the staff interface, similar to the one in the OPAC, that appears in the bottom right corner when scrolling down on pages.

• 35862 Display patron search result on the right of the form (modal)

Searching

New Searching Features

• 31652 Add geo-search Sponsored by Geosphere, Austria and ZAMG – Zentralanstalt für Meterologie und Geodynamik, Austria
  
  This lays the groundwork for geographical searching using Elasticsearch 7+. This includes:

  • New search types for Elasticsearch search mappings to store latitude and longitude values and index them (using values from 034$s and 034$t).

  • Extending the QueryBuilder to allow for building advanced Elasticsearch queries (for example, geo_distance) that cannot be represented in a simple string query.

  • To use this new feature now in the OPAC, install and enable the HKS3GeoSearch plugin (https://github.com/HKS3/HKS3GeoSearch).

• 35138 Enable configuration of facets with Elasticsearch Sponsored by The Research University in the Helmholtz Association (KIT)
  
  This new feature enables facets for Elasticsearch (and Open Search) to be managed from the search engine configuration page. Prior to this, the facet fields were hard-coded in the codebase.
  You can add new facets when the search field options for ‘Facetable’ and ‘Searchable’ are set to “Yes”.
  
  

20388 Ability to add search fields from UI Sponsored by The Research University in the Helmholtz Association (KIT)

This enhancement for Elasticsearch (and Open Search) lets you add search fields using the staff interface (Administration > Catalog > Search engine configuration (Elasticsearch)). Previously, you needed to edit a YAML file on the server to change the search fields.

• 34693 Add 035$a as Other-control-number index in authorities search indexes (MARC21, Elasticsearch)
  
  This patch adds 035$a in the default MARC21 Elasticsearch authority indexes.
  For existing installations, make sure you reindex with the option -r (reset mappings) to have this information in the index for existing records.

• 36396 Link facet with authorised value category Sponsored by The Research University in the Helmholtz Association (KIT)
  
  This new feature adds the ability to link an Elasticsearch facet to an authorized value category in order to display a description instead of the code.
  An example could be a code for the resource type (book, e-journal, database, etc.) if this code is in a local MARC 9xx field.
  This feature depends on Bug 35138 – configuration of facets with Elasticsearch.

• 26654 Add item number column to item search results and CSV export

• 35728 Add option to NOT redirect to result when search returns only one record Sponsored by Education Services Australia SCIS
  
  This enhancement to catalog searching enables choosing what happens for a single search result (for both the OPAC and staff interface): redirect to the record details page (the current behavour), or show only one result.
  New system preference RedirectToSoleResult is used to manage this (enabled by default to match Koha’s current behaviour).

• 36499 Add last checkout date column to the item search results

36545 Use select2 to improve multi-select in item search Sponsored by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

This patch modifies all multi-select fields in the item search to use the jQuery select2 framework. Previously selecting multiple values in the item search fields was unintuitive as you had to hold down Ctrl while clicking the next value. In libraries with a high amount of values (e.g. a library with hundreds of different branches or itemtypes), selecting multiple values from the long list was extra difficult and time consuming. Using select2 allows for fast selection of multiple values, better display of the selected values and even allows you to start typing the specific value you are looking for in order to find it much faster than previously possible.

• 36574 Canceled/invalid ISBN not indexed for MARC21
  
  This adds a new search index isbn-all to the default Elasticsearch search mappings that includes the valid, canceled and invalid ISBNs.

Self-Checkout

New Features in Self Check Out

32256 Self checkout batch mode Sponsored by Koha-US

This new feature allows more than one item to be scanned and processed at once in Koha’s self-checkout module. This feature uses the existing BatchCheckouts and BatchCheckoutsValidCategories system preferences to determine if batch checkouts should be allowed.
NOTE: The items in the batch are handled one-by-one, so if any item in the batch requires confirmation (for example, to be renewed or returned) or is impossible to check out, the process will stop at that item. Any items earlier in the list will be processed, but any items coming after in the list will be ignored.

ERM

New Electronic Resource Management Module Features

• 34788 Add the ability to import KBART files to ERM Sponsored by UK Health Security Agency
  
  This enhancement to the ERM module allows for importing KBART format files into the system. It also allows to optionally create linked bibliographic records from the provided data.
  
  

Enhancements

• 36618 Make creation of bibliographic records optional for ERM local titles
  
  Without this patch creating a local title would always create a bibliographic record in the catalog as well. Now this is optional depending on a checkbox. The checkbox is also available when importing local records form a KBART file.

Tools

New Tool Enhancements

• 25159 Action logs should be stored in JSON (and as a diff of the change)
  
  This is the first step to improve and standardize the way we log information in the action log tables. In order to achieve this a new column diff is added to the action_logs table. This is used to store a diff of the changes to an object in JSON syntax.

• 35648 Allow sorting of patron categories in overdue notice/status triggers

• 36443 Add ‘fax’ to batch patron modification tool

Serials

New Serials Enhancements

26567 Allow to limit subscription search to subscriptions with routing lists Sponsored by Bibliotheksservice-Zentrum Baden-Württemberg

This adds a new search option ‘Has routing list’ to the advanced search in the serials module. It allows to limit the search to subscriptions with linked routing list.

ILL

Enhancements

• 19605 ILL backends should be pluggable through regular Koha plugins

• 34431 Distinguish between status and status alias in ILL UI

• 35106 ILL – Add patron autocomplete to ‘Edit request’ Patron ID input

• 35107 ILL – Type disclaimer value and date should be visible under “Request details” in the manage request page

• 35108 ILL – “Manage request” page is too loaded
  
  This enhancement hides option fields that are empty when displaying ILL requests.

• 35151 Convert ILLModuleCopyrightClearance system preference to additional contents

• 36105 Add option to filter for “No status alias”

SIP

SIP Enhancements

• 25813 Enhance patron expiration in SIP display

• 36605 TrackLastPatronActivity for SIP should track both patron status and patron information requests

New System Preferences

New system preferences

• 1PageOrderPDFText

• AcquisitionsDefaultEmailAddress

• AutoClaimReturnStatusOnCheckin

• AutoClaimReturnStatusOnCheckout

• ConsiderLibraryHoursInCirculation

• DefaultLongOverduePatronCategories

• DefaultLongOverdueSkipPatronCategories

• DisplayMultiItemHolds

• ESPreventAutoTruncate

• EmailFieldSelection

• HoldRatioDefault

• OPACAuthorIdentifiersAndInformation

• PlaceHoldsOnOrdersFromSuggestions

• PurgeListShareInvitesOlderThan

• RESTAPIRenewalBranch

• RedirectToSoleResult

• SCOBatchCheckoutsValidCategories

• SMSSendAdditionalOptions

• SerialsDefaultEmailAddress

• StaffLoginLibraryBasedOnIP

• StaffLoginRestrictLibraryByIP

• UpdateItemLostStatusWhenPaid

• UpdateItemLostStatusWhenWriteoff

• WaitingNotifyAtCheckout

Deleted System Preferences

Deleted system preferences

• ILLModuleCopyrightClearance moved into HTML customizations

• AutoLocation replaced by StaffLoginLibraryBasedOnIP

New Authorized Values

• • TICKET_RESOLUTION

  • TICKET_STATUS

More Documentation for Koha 24.05

24.05 Koha Manual

24.05 Koha Community Release Notes