by Jessie Zairo on Dec 30, 2024

This blog post breaks down upcoming Koha 24.11 features and enhancements.

All ByWater Solutions Upgrade Information can be found in the Koha 24.11 Upgrades Hub.

In this blog post, we break down upcoming Koha 24.11 features and enhancements.

Click for each module specific notes:

• Acquisitions

• Authentication

• Cataloging

• Circulation

• Course Reserves

• ERM

• Fines and Fees

• ILL

• Holds

• Patrons

• OPAC

• Reports

• Notices

• Staff Interface

• Searching

• Tools

Acquisitions

New features

• 34355 Automated MARC record ordering price
  • A parallel to EDI Ordering for MARC-file-based ordering systems.
  • Sponsored by ByWater Solutions & Cuyahoga

Enhancements

• 8855 Link from receipt to invoice

  • This enhancement links the invoice number on the receiving orders page to the invoice page.

• 33363 More specific permissions for purchase suggestions

  • Breaks out suggestions permissions to create / delete / manage.

  • Sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library

• 34159 Remove plan by AR_CANCELLATION choice in aqplan

  • Sponsored by Chetco Community Public Library

• 34805 Add order search form to acq start page

  • Fixes confusing terminology when staging or adding a new file to a basket in Acquisitions.
    Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 36767 Add a hint to the EDI account form that the SFTP/FTP port will fall to port 22 if not defined

  • This fixes an error when creating an EDI account if you don't enter the upload and download ports. The port numbers should have defaulted to port 22, but didn't - this generated an error when saving. It also adds a hint for the input fields to say that the port will default to 22 if not set.

• 37081 Add order confusing when ordering from a staged file

  • Changes “add order” to “new order”

• 37109 Don't provide old claims fields when duplicating acquisitions orders
  

  • This patch stops the unused fields claims_count, claimed_date, received_on and placed_on from being initialised while duplicating an order. The fields no longer exist in the aqorders table and no longer need to be set or passed on.

• 38204 Add GET /acquisitions/baskets

  • This enhancement adds a new API endpoint to list baskets for acquisitions.

  • Sponsored by PTFS Europe and ByWater Solutions

Authentication

Enhancements

• 17729 Replace IsItemOnHoldAndFound with $item->holds->filter_by_found->count

  • Architecture fix, no impact on staff client experience

• 17976 TT syntax for notices - Add an equivalence for items.fine

  • This patch adds an easy accessor method for fetching a checkouts overdue fines. This is of particular interest to notice template authors as you can now use the following snippet in your notices:
    [% overdue.overdue_fines.total_outstanding | $Price %]

• 24471 Rename ILL method handle_commit_maybe

• 30856 Remove CanReserveBeCanceledFromOpac

• 34088 Schema upgrade should short circuit faster if no upgrade needs to be done

  • This change makes koha-schema-upgrade use an optimized check if a database upgrade is needed before attempting the usual slower upgrade process. This makes Koha upgrades, which don't need database updates, much faster.

• 35026 Refactor addorderiso2709.pl to use object methods

• 36694 Remove HC Sticky library in favor of CSS

  • This enhancement removes the hc-sticky.js assets from Koha which were used to make certain HTML elements "sticky". The functionality is now accomplished using only CSS.

• 37380 Move GetMarcControlnumber to Koha namespace

• 37480 Make C4::Serials::addroutingmember use Koha::Objects

• 37495 Add ability to use metadata to filter plugins to run for plugins_nightly.pl

  • This enhancement allows the plugins_nightly.pl cronjob to execute the nightly cronjob plugin hook for one or more specific plugins. This allows greater flexibility in scheduling the nightly cronjobs for various plugins and allows a single plugins cronjob hook to be run without trigger other plugins cronjob hooks.

• 37511 Add option to place the currency symbol before or after the amount

  • Adds the option in currencies to define whether the currency symbol should appear before or after the amount in displays.

  • Sponsored by Ignatianum University in Cracow

• 37657 Improve speed of koha-preferences CLI tool (by using minimal dbh)

  • This change refactors the koha-preferences CLI tool to use different internal database libraries in order to gain a speed performance improvement.

• 37682 Improve speed of koha-preferences CLI tool (by lazy-loading modules)

  • By lazy-loading modules needed for some functions of the koha-preferences CLI tool, other functions which do not need those modules now run much faster.

Enhancements

• 37691 Password expiration reset not clear enough

  • This enhancement alters the style of the error message shown to a staff member who tries to log in to the staff client with an expired password. This change makes the message more visible and rewords the link text to read "Reset your password." Creates a clear button rather than a link.
    Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

Cataloging

New features

• 35659 OAI harvester

  • This change adds the ability for library staff to define OAI repositories in Koha, which are harvested for metadata using a cronjob configured by the system administrator. An email report of the harvest can be shared via using an email address defined in the system preference OAI-PMH:HarvestEmailReport
  • Sponsored by Association KohaLa and KohaLa

Enhancements

• 29560 Add option to create MARC links when adding items to bundles

  1. This enhancement to the bundle functionality adds the option to create 773 MARC field links between the bundle host and its constituent parts.

  2. Optionally creates a 773 link - may be easier or more complex

  3. Sponsored by PTFS Europe

• 36054 Don't mark MARC21 005 as mandatory in frameworks now that AddBiblio and ModBibilio will set it no matter what

  1. This change makes the 005 tag in MARC bibliographic frameworks no longer mandatory, because every time a bibliographic record is added or modified, Koha will set the content of 005 to the current time. Existing installations are not affected by this change, but should feel free to make the same change to their installed frameworks.

  2. Transaction date/time added automatically

  3. Touch all script will update them when it runs

  4. Edits the only default framework

  5. TEST edit record in advanced editor>save error if 005 is not added?

• 36496 Inventory results table needs an export option

  • This enhancement adds the CSV export options to the inventory results screen. Previously the CSV export had to be selected before running inventory.
    

• 36498 Allow ability to set display order when adding an item group from item editor, backported to 24.05.02, has not been hyped yet.
  This enhancement to item groups allows you to set the order for item groups created when adding a new item. To do this:
  

  1. Scroll down to the 'Add to item group section' at the bottom of the add item form.

  2. For the options field, select 'Create new item group'.

  3. Add a new group name.

  4. Add a number to the new 'Display order' field to set the order. Previously, the order of the groups could only be changed from the item groups tab on the record details page. (To use the item groups feature, enable the EnableItemGroups system preference.)

• 36515 Amend MARC modification templates so control fields can be copied to subfields

  • With this enhancement it's now possible to copy the content of MARC control fields to MARC subfields. Example: copy 001 to 035$a.

  • Sponsored by Education Services Australia SCIS

• 36821 Authority type text for librarians and OPAC limited to 100 characters

Circulation

New Features

• 33736 Add bookings to collect circulation report

  • The enhancement adds a new 'Bookings to collect' report into the Circulation module. It parallels the 'Holds to pull' report allowing staff to easily report against upcoming bookings and collect them from the shelves ready for collection by the patron who has the item booked.

  • Sponsored by PTFS Europe

  • Also updates bookings table to make this reportable

  • Very similar to holds to pull on circ page

Enhancements

• 14180 Make "Always show checkouts immediately" a global setting

  • This enhancement adds the ability for libraries to have checkouts always show immediately. To turn on this new feature, set the new system preference 'AlwaysLoadCheckoutsTable' to 'do. If you find that checkouts are slow do load, you can add a delay to the table so the rest of the page can load and checkouts can proceed using the new system preference 'LoadCheckoutsTableDelay'.

• 14787 Allow confirm/continue option to circ warnings at checkout (i.e. OverduesBlockCheckout)

  • This patch adds functionality that will remember whether an action has been confirmed for a particular patron for the session. While acting on that patron, if the same checkout confirmation message keeps appearing the user can now select to remember their confirmation while they are still working on that patron. When the user moves onto a new patron the confirmations then reset and accumulate again for the new patron.
    

• 23781 Recalls notices and messaging preferences
  • This enhancement for recalls adds two new patron messaging preferences and associated circulation notices when UseRecalls is enabled:

    • Recall awaiting pickup (new notice - PICKUP_RECALLED_ITEM)

    • Return recalled item (new notice - RETURN_RECALLED_ITEM)

    • Sponsored by Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, New Zealand

• 27919 Split claims return from LOST

  • Monday Minutes: Claims Return and Lost Improvements
    

  • Sponsored by ByWater Solutions and PTFS Europe and Cuyahoga County Public Library

• 28924 Allow checkout fine limit to be determined by patron category
  • This allows to set charge limits for checkouts by patron category. If the patron category level option is not used, the global system preferences will be used instead.
  • The new options available are:
    • Checkout charge limit (`noissuescharge`)
    • Guarantee checkout charge limit (`NoIssuesChargeGuarantees preference`)
    • Guarantors with guarantees checkout charge limit (`NoIssuesChargeGuarantorsWithGuarantees`)
  • Sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library
• 33292 Claim return doesn't refund lost item charge when MarkLostItemsAsReturned includes "When marking an item as a return claim" and "Refund lost item fee" is on

  • This allows a refund of the lost charge when a return claim is resolved. A new checkbox labeled 'Refund previous lost fee' is added to the return claim modal.

  • Sponsored by ByWater Solutions and Cuyahoga County Public Library

  • Monday Minutes: Claims Return and Lost Improvements

• 34440 Add warm-up and cool-down periods to bookings

  • This enhancement to the recently added bookings functionality allows libraries to define a lead-in and trail-out period to be prepended and appended to bookings.

  • These periods prevent checkouts or bookings from taking place too close to each other and allow for things like transfers and maintenance to be carried out.

  • Sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library

• 35906 Add bookable option on itemtypes

  • This allows to configure on item type level if an item is bookable or not.

  • The item type level setting can be overwritten on item level.

• 35931 Pre-select items with due date today in the renew column on details page and on checkout page

  • Will this mess with the jquery to show all checkouts by default?

  • This will be new behavior, so be sure to test and show what Partners can expect at upgrade.

  • This enhancement selects items that are due today on the patron checkout and details screens, allowing librarians to renew items due today without additional clicks. This mirrors the behavior for overdue items on the same pages.

• 36476 Add holds priority column to patron summary print

  • Adds a holds priority column to the "Pending holds" table when printing the patron's account summary.

• 36547 Add 'Checked out on' column to overdues table

  • This enhancement adds a "Checked out on" column to the report found at Circulation -> Overdues.
    

• 36915 Send email notification when a booking is cancelled

  • This enhancement sends a notice to a patron when a booking is cancelled using the new BOOKING_CANCELLATION notice.

  • Check the default notice template for BWS standard
    Sponsored by BibLibre

• 37023 Filling a hold should update the timestamp

  • With this change the timestamp of the hold is updated when it is filled and moved to the `old_reserves` database table.

  • Sponsored by Koha-Suomi Oy

• 37126 Provide link to patron account when checking out to statistical patron ends checkout

  • This enhancement links the patron details in the message displayed when checking out an item to a statistical patron, where that item is already checked out to another patron. Previously, the patron details in the message did not link to the patron. This now makes it easier for staff to check the patron's details, for example, to check for any incorrect charges.

• 37204 Add a booking has changed notice to update a patron should a booking be updated
  • This enhancement introduces a notice to inform patrons of changes to their bookings, such as updates to the pickup library, start date, or end date, ensuring clear communication regarding any modifications.
  • Sponsored by Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstein

• 37354 Bookings should respect circulation rules for max loan periods

  • This enhancement builds on the bookings functionality added in the last cycle. We now prevent a booking from exceeding the maximum period laid out by the circulation rules for that item.

  • We highlight the loan period and renewal periods in the bookings calendar upon selection of the booking start date and disallow bookings that exceed the loan period + renewal period * max renewals rules.

  • Sponsored by PTFS-E

• 37592 Add a record of creation and modification to bookings

  • This enhancement adds `created_at` and `updated_at` fields to the bookings table, providing institutions with the ability to track the creation and modification timestamps of bookings.

  • Sponsored by Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstein
    

• 37601 Add status field to bookings table

  • This enhancement adds a status column to the bookings table to track the state of a booking, including 'new', 'cancelled', and 'completed' statuses. Future statuses will be handled dynamically for improved API response handling and search functionality.

  • Sponsored by Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstein

• 37803 Add patron notification when a new booking has been created successfully
  • This enhancement adds a patron notification for successful booking creation, aligning it with existing notices for booking modifications and deletions.
  • Sponsored by Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstei
• 38175 Improve bookings behavior with new status field

  • We opted to move away from deleting bookings on collection/cancellation and instead use a status field to signify booking state.

  • This allows for future reporting against fulfilled bookings

• 38193 Add cancellation_reason field to bookings table
  • New Authorized Value for BOOKING_CANCELLATION
  • Sponsored by Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstei
• 38222 Let staff pick a cancellation reason when canceling a booking
  • This enhancement introduces a combobox component for booking cancellations, allowing users to select from authorized values or enter free text, ensuring consistent input handling and improved user experience across booking management modules.
  • Sponsored by Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstein

Course Reserves

Enhancements

• 35978 Extend breadcrumbs course reserves with sections

  • This enhancement adds the course section field into the breadcrumb for course reserves. This makes it easier to distinguish where you are.

ERM

New Electronic Resource Management Module Features

Monday Minutes: ERM Enhancements

New Features

• 35287 - Add additional fields support to ERM licenses

  • This enhancement adds "Additional fields" support to ERM licenses.

  • Sponsored by PTFS Europe and UKHSA - UK Health Security Agency

  • Monday Minutes: ERM Enhancements

Enhancements

• 37274 Standardize the toolbar in Vue components

• 37491 Remove duplicate asset import from KBART template

• 37576 Add additional fields support to ERM agreements

  • This adds the option to add additional fields to ERM agreements. The fields can be either free text or linked to an authorized value for a pull down list. They be set to repeatable and made searchable.
    

• 37577 Add additional fields support to ERM packages

  • This adds the option to add additional fields to ERM packages. The fields can be either free text or linked to an authorized value for a pull down list. They be set to repeatable and made searchable.
    

• 37856 Some SUSHI providers require the platform parameter

  • This enhancement adds a new "platform" field to ERM's usage data providers, allowing the harvest of SUSHI usage data from providers that require this parameter.

Fines and Fees

New Enhancements in Fines and Fees

• 34325 On the manual invoice and credit forms rename "Barcode" to "Item barcode" for clarity

  • This enhancement changes the form labels and error message for the manual invoice and credit forms for patrons (in the accounting section). This is to clarify that this field is for an item barcode, and not a patron card number barcode.

Holds

New Hold Enhancements

Monday Minutes: Holds Queue Improvements

• 28833 Speed up holds queue builder via parallel processing
  • This enhancement adds the ability to increase the amount of parallel calculations used to create the Holds Queue. The amount of calculations or "loops" done in parallel is set in the new system preference 'HoldsQueueParallelLoopsCount'. This enhancement will allow faster holds queue building for libraries with a very large amount of holds. Note that increasing the value in the system preference also causes Koha to use more resources when building the holds queue.
• 29079 Make bibliographic information in holds queue customizable
  • This enhancement adds two new columns to the holds queue table - Author and Publication details. It removes this information from the title column. Libraries can use table settings to hide this information, for example, if you only want to show the title in the holds queue.
• 30411 Add separate shelving location column to holds queue
  • Adds shelving location as its own column in the holds queue. This makes it easier to sort the holds queue by shelving location. (goes with 29079)
• 36595 Add patron email to the holds queue table
  • This enhancement adds a patron's email address (when it exists) to the patron column for the holds queue table (Circulation > Holds and bookings > Holds queue). (This requires setting the HidePatronName system preference to 'Show'.) (goes with 29079)
• 36064 Add information about holds with cancellation requests to staff start page
  • This enhancement adds a "Holds with cancellation requests: X" link to the staff interface home page. This makes it more visible to librarians that patrons have made cancellation requests, and action them (where patrons have the ability to cancel holds).

ILL

New features

• 35570 Add a generic master form in ILL

  • This incorporates the ILL backend previously known as "FreeForm" (https://github.com/PTFS-Europe/koha-ill-freeform) into core Koha, now labeled as "Standard". This allows the ILL module to be used as soon as the ILLModule system preference is enabled, without the need to install additional third-party backends, although the option to do so still exists.

  • Upon upgrading, all prior "FreeForm" ILL requests, attributes, and comments will be transferred to the new "Standard" backend.

Enhancements

• 36118 ILL request log does not display patron information

  • With the ILLlog system preference enabled, the actions logged for each ILL request lacked details about which patron user performed the action. This enhancement addresses this.

  • Sponsored by PTFS Europe and UKHSA - UK Health Security Agency

• 36221 Improve styling of Standard backend create OPAC form

Lists

New List Enhancements

• 30955 Send a notice to new owner when transferring shared list

  • This enhancement adds a new notice, TRANSFER_OWNERSHIP, under a new module, Lists. When a list is transferred to a new owner, this notice is triggered, containing a short paragraph detailing the list name.

  • In the Lists module, if you create the notice with the TRANSFER_OWNERSHIP code, this feature will be enabled. Click View Default and then copy/paste into notice content. Adding the default text into Thistlepong asap.

• 37177 "item" should be "record" in list page

  • This patch corrects some areas in the lists and carts so that the term 'record' is used instead of 'item' when referring to a bibliographic record.

  • Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

MARC Authority data support

New Enhancements

• 35305 Add XSLT for authority details page in staff interface

  • This enhancement enables using custom XSLT stylesheets to display authority detail pages in the staff interface.

  • Enter a path to the custom XSLT file in the new system preference AuthorityXSLTDetailsDisplay (or use an external URL). Use placeholders for multiple custom style sheets for different languages ({langcode}) and authority types ({authtypecode}).

  • (Note: This ability is already available for the OPAC. It was added by bug 21330 to Koha 23.05 and 22.11.07).

  • Overrides what’s set in the MARC frameworks - know for troubleshooting what’s visible or not

• 36603 UNIMARC: automatically copy the ISNI number over when linking authorities with authorities

  • This enables the automatic copying over of authority subfield 010

  • a[akaINTERNATIONALSTANDARDNAMEIDENTIFIER(ISNI)]intothecorresponding5xxa [aka INTERNATIONAL STANDARD NAME IDENTIFIER (ISNI)] into the corresponding 5xxa[akaINTERNATIONALSTANDARDNAMEIDENTIFIER(ISNI)]intothecorresponding5xx

  • o subfield when linking authorities with other authorities in UNIMARC instances. It only applies to the Personal Name, Corporate Body Name, and Family Name authority types.

• 37122 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 30
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 30 (May 2020).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.

• 37123 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 31
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 31 (December 2020).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.

• 37124 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 32
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 32 (June 2021).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.

• 37125 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 33
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 33 (November 2021).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.
• 37128 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 34.

  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 34 (July 2022).

  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.

• 37132 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 35
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 35 (December 2022).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.

• 37133 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 36
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 36 (June 2023).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.

• 37134 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 37
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 37 (December 2023).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.
• 37135 Update MARC21 authority frameworks to Update 38
  • This enhancement updates the MARC21 authority frameworks for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 38 (June 2024).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.

• 37349 Use cache for authority types when linking bibs to authorities

MARC Bibliographic data support

New Enhancements

• 36055 Simplify MARC21 fast add framework
  • This enhancement updates the fast add framework (FA) to remove unnecessary fields (which defeated the purpose of having a way to quickly add a minimal record). Important note: This update only affects new installations. See the bug details (comment #2) for a list of changes if you would like to update your existing FA framework.
• 37114 Update MARC21 default framework to Update 38 (June 2024)
  • This enhancement updates the default MARC21 bibliographic framework for new installations to reflect the changes from Update 38 (June 2024).
  • NOTES: For existing installations, manually updating the default and other frameworks with the changes is required.
  • NOTES: For new installations, only the default framework is updated. Manually updating other frameworks with the changes is required.
• 37120 Add heading subfields for 647 (MARC21)

  • This enhancement updates the default MARC21 bibliographic framework to add subfields a, c, d, and g to field 647. NOTE: This does not affect existing installations. If you are upgrading and wish to have the subfields in your bibliographic framework, add them via Administration > MARC bibliographic framework.

• 37121 MARC21 Addition to relator terms in technical notice 2024-05-14
  • This patch adds new relator codea in the list of MARC21 relator terms in Koha:

    • wfs - Writer of film story

    • wft - Writer of intertitles

    • wts - Writer of television story

  • Note: this is added in the installer files. It will not affect existing installations. For existing installations, add the new relator code in Administration > Authorized values > RELTERMS.

Notices

New Enhancements

OPAC

New Features

• 14670 Add 'cite' option to detail page in OPAC

  • Sponsored by Orex Digital and Regionbibliotek Halland / County library of Halland

• 26777 Give the user the option to display their patron card barcode from the OPAC

  • This adds the option to display the patron's library card as a barcode within their library account, so it can be scanned at the circulation desk or a self check machine.

  • The feature can be activated using the new system preference `OPACVirtualCard`.
    

New OPAC Enhancements

• 26933 Improve handling of multiple covers on catalog search results in the OPAC

  • This enhancement adds the slider widget for multiple cover images on the OPAC search results page (when multiple sources enabled), matching the way covers display on the detail page.

  • Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 30873 "Libraries" link on OPAC should be hideable by system preference

  • This enhancement adds a system preference which allows the Koha administrator to hide the "Libraries" link which appears under the main search bar in the OPAC. The preference is enabled by default because that reflects the previous default behavior.

  • Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

  • New system preference, OPACShowLibraries

• 33317 Add system preference to set meta robots for the OPAC
  • This enhancement adds a new system preference, OpacMetaRobots which allows libraries to tell search engine robots how to crawl and index OPAC pages.
• 34486 Hide more OPAC holdings table columns when they are empty
  • This patch updates the OPAC bibliographic detail page so that in the holdings table, the following columns are hidden if they contain no data: Call number, date due, materials, checkouts, barcode, and item-level holds.
  • Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries
• 36141 Add classes to CAS text on OPAC login page

  • This enhancement adds classes to the CAS-related messages on the OPAC login page. This will make it easier for libraries to customize using CSS and JavaScript. The new classes are cas_invalid, cas_title, and cas_url. It also moves the invalid CAS login message to above the CAS login heading (the same as for the Shibboleth login).

• 36453 BlockExpiredPatronOpacActions should allow multiple actions options
  • This enhancement improves the BlockExpiredPatronOpacActions system preference to allow the specification of which OPAC actions are blocked for expired patrons. Prior to this enhancement, this system preference functioned as a simple "on" or "off" switch, where having it 'on' blocked both 'placing holds' and 'renewing an item' for expired patrons on the OPAC.
  • Changes existing system preference from yes/no to multiple options
  • Default selections: placing a hold, renewing an item.
  • On upgrade: not selected> empty. Selected>default selections.

• 36651 Add placeholder text to the search bar in the OPAC

• 37046 Use template wrapper for OPAC curbside pickup tabs

  • This enhancement makes structural changes to the way the OPAC curbside pickups page is generated for more consistency and ease of upgrade to new Bootstrap versions.

• 37048 Use template wrapper for self checkout page

  • This enhancement makes structural changes to the way the self checkout page is generated for more consistency and ease of upgrade to new Bootstrap versions.

• 37221 No way to turn off Overdrive integrations without removing all syspref values

  • Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

  • Adds a new system preference OPACOverDrive

  • Turning off this system preference will affect all branches in a system; something to keep in mind for consortia

• 37391 QR code for bibliographic record in OPAC should use canonical link
  • This patch updates QR code creation from a bibliographic record in the OPAC to use the canonical version of the URL to the bibliographic record, making the shared URL much shorter and the created QR code less complicated. Note that the system preference OPACDetailQRCode must be set to 'Enable' in order to show the QR code in the bibliographic record's detail page in the OPAC.

• 37412 Style placeholder text in the OPAC

  • Sponsored by Athens County Public Libraries

• 37972 Allow selection of tab in patron's summary table by query param

  • This enhancement adds the ability to direct links to specific tabs of the OPAC patron summary with the following syntax:

  • /cgi-bin/koha/opac-user.pl?tab=opac-user-hold

  • Behaves more like an anchored link in the patron account

• 38055 Space between label and value for MARC field 530

Patrons

New Patron Enhancements

• 23486 TrackLastPatronActivityTriggers should have an option for patron creation

  • This enhancement adds 'Creating a patron' as an option to the TrackLastPatronActivityTriggers system preference (for updating the last seen date). Previously, creating a patron was not an option for updating the last seen date - this could understate reports about active patrons.

  • Updates current system preference and simplifies reports

• 27123 Add messages to batch patrons modification

  • Adds another message to the message table, will not overwrite current messages

• 28633 Add a preferred_name field and an effective_name method to patrons

  • This patch adds a new column to the borrowers table, 'preferred_name'. This will be visible in staff and opac patron information forms by default. This column takes precedence in display and will show where patrons are displayed throughout Koha. If not populated or field is hidden, the firstname will be copied into the preferred_name field for display. Use of 'firstname' in notices and other templates will continue to display the firstname, switching to 'preferred_name' will display the new field.

  • When hiding this field, it should be hidden in all interfaces to avoid any discrepancies or confusion.

    • Overrides anywhere ‘First name’ would appear in notices

    • Database change

    • test!

• 33462 Force password change for new patrons entered by staff

  • Adds new system preference ForcePasswordResetWhenSetByStaff

  • In the patron categories page

  • Default is set to “Don’t force”

• 34608 Add sort1 and sort2 to patron search results

  • This enhancement adds the option of displaying patron "sort1" and "sort2" statistical fields in the patron module's main search results, using column visibility controls. The fields are hidden by default in the updated table configuration.

• 36085 Setting and unsetting the protected flag should be limited to superlibrarian accounts

  • Only patrons with superlibrarian permissions will be able to set or remove the "Protected" flag on patron accounts

• 36169 Add guarantee to patron categories with category type 'Staff'

• 36454 Provide indication if a patron is expired or restricted on patron search autocomplete

  • This enhancement adds the "Expired" or "Restricted" information badges in the patrons search autocomplete suggestions for patrons who meet these criteria.

• 36912 Add more spans/classes to member-display-address-style.inc for additional styling

  • This enhancement adds spans and classes for customizing the styling of a patron's main address when using IntranetUserCSS.

  • Example:
    
    .patronaddress1 { .streetnumber { color: blue; } .address1 { color: green; } .roadtype { color: pink; } }
    
    .patronaddress2 { color: lightgreen; }
    
    .patroncity { .city { color: orange; } .state { color: brown; } .zipcode { color: limegreen; } .comma { color: teal; } .country { color: red; } }

Reports

New Reports Enhancements

• 32413 JSON reports shows inaccurate results with repeated parameters
  • When creating reports with runtime parameters that use the same description, the form in Koha would present only one input field for them, but the JSON API required to send the value multiple times for each occurrence of the runtime parameter. This makes the behavior in Koha and the JSON API match in that the parameter needs to be only sent once.
  • Sponsored by Koha-Suomi Oy
• 37188 Batch patron modification from report results should be an option when borrowernumber is selected
  • This currently works with the inclusion of cardnumber in reports; it seems like the borrowernumber functionality broke with CSRF protections in 24.05

• 37508 SQL reports should not show patron password hash if queried

  • This enhancement on reports module prevents SQL queries from being run if they would return a password field from the database table.

  • Sponsored by Reserve Bank of New Zealand

Searching

Enhancements

Monday Minutes: Item Search Improvements

• 14322 Add option to create a shareable link for item searches

  • This enhancement adds a 'Copy shareable link' button to item search results in the staff interface. Previously, the only way to share a search with colleagues was by detailing all the search parameters - and they would then need to manually add these to the item search form.
    Sponsored by Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing

• 34481 Add IncludeSeeAlsoFromInSearches like IncludeSeeFromInSearches

  • This enhancement adds 'see also from' authority record headings (5XX) to bibliographic searches. This is enabled by using the new IncludeSeeAlsoFromInSearches system preference, and requires a reindex.

• 36991 Add ability to scan call numbers index/search field
  
  

• 37238 Add table settings to itemsearch results

  • The item search results table is now configurable via the table settings.

• 37969 Add missing language code nor (Norwegian/inclusive)

  • This enhancement adds the language code nor for the Norwegian inclusive language ISO 639-2 to Koha.

Searching - Elasticsearch

Enhancements

• 36725 Add "current publication frequency" to Elasticsearch index mappings (MARC21 310$a)

  • Sponsored by Education Services Australia SCIS

• 36727 Add incorrect ISSN to Elasticsearch index mappings

  • This enhancement makes changes to International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) related index mapping when using Elasticsearch or Open Search.

  • A new issn-all search field enables finding all records with any ISSN related to that content. For example, you are able to find the online and paper version of a serial with one search.

  • The issn search field remains a precise search - you get the exact record with the ISSN in 022
    a(MARC21)or011a (MARC21) or 011a(MARC21)or011
    a (UNIMARC).
    • MARC21:

      • Adds these subfields to the new issn-all search field: . 022
        a(InternationalStandardSerialNumber).022a (International Standard Serial Number) . 022a(InternationalStandardSerialNumber).022
        y (Incorrect ISSN) . 022
        z(CanceledISSN).023z (Canceled ISSN) . 023z(CanceledISSN).023
        a (Cluster ISSN) . 023
        y(IncorrectClusterISSN).023y (Incorrect Cluster ISSN) . 023y(IncorrectClusterISSN).023
        z (Canceled Cluster ISSN)

      • Adds 022
        y,022y, 022y,022
        z, 023
        a,023a, 023a,023
        y, and 023$z to the identifier-standard search field

    • UNIMARC:
      • Adds these subfields to the new issn-all search field: . 011
        a(Number(ISSN).011a (Number (ISSN) . 011a(Number(ISSN).011
        y (Cancelled ISSN) . 011$z (Erroneous ISSN or ISSN-L)

        • Removes 011
          yand011y and 011yand011
          z from the issn search field

    • These changes will only take effect for existing installations if the index mappings are reset (caution: existing customizations are lost) and records are re-indexed.

    • Sponsored by Education Services Australia SCIS

• 36798 Add ability to search across all ISBNs using the ISBN-search

  • New System preference: SearchCancelledAndInvalidISBNandISSN

  • Sponsored by Ignatianum University in Cracow

• 36952 Add 370 to authority index (MARC21)

  • This enhancement adds field 370 (associated place) to the default MARC21 authority index mappings when using Elasticsearch or Open Search (it is already indexed if using Zebra).

• 36953 Add 678 to authority index (MARC21)

  • This enhancement adds field 678 (biographical or historical data) to the default MARC21 authority index mappings when using Elasticsearch or Open Search (it is already indexed if using Zebra).

Staff

New Features

• 33484 Ability to remember user's selected table configuration and search filters for tables

  • This new feature adds two new options to the table settings. When enable the state of the tables will be restore when the page will be opened.

  • "Save configuration state on page change": save the column visibility, length of the table and order in session.

  • "Save search state on page change": save the search and filtering in session.

  • A new button "Copy shareable link" is also added to the tables. It will copy a link with the current state of the table in the clipboard, to be able to send it to someone else.

Enhancements

• 2486 Show user comments in staff interface

  • This enhancement shows OPAC comments on the staff interface record, making it easier for staff to view comments on items when the "OPACComments" system preference is turned on.

• 20411 Remove StaffDetailItemSelection system preference and make the feature always on

  • Removes the system preference StaffDetailItemSelection which is no longer needed. The item selection column in the holdings table is now configurable via Table settings configuration.

• 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.

• 35153 Convert IntranetmainUserblock system preference to additional contents

  • This enhancement converts the IntranetmainUserblock system preference to an entry in Tools -> Additional contents. This allows the user to create content to be shown on the staff client home page in multiple languages or with custom content for each library.
    

• 35191 Make entries per page configurable for items table on staff detail page

  • Add an option, in the Tables page of the Administration module, to adjust how many items per page will display by default in the item holdings table on a bibliographic record.

• 35402 Update the OPAC and staff interface to Bootstrap 5

  • This brings us up to date with the latest Bootstrap library.

  • We use bootstrap for both the OPAC and Staff interface to aid in keeping our styling consistent and responsive.

• 36777 Create a new section for system preferences related to lost item handling

  • This enhancement moves lost item circulation system preferences from 'Checkout policy' to a new 'Lost item policy' section.

• 36941 Highlight that some libraries should not be available at login when StaffLoginRestrictBranchByIP is enabled

  • This enhancement changes the staff interface login form so that only valid libraries are shown in the dropdown list when the StaffLoginRestrictBranchByIP preference is enabled.

• 37004 Staff search results: Add a HTML class ( branchcode ) to each item entry in the results list

  • This enhancement to staff interface search results adds the library code as an HTML class to each item entry in the location column. This makes it easier to add custom CSS/JavaScript for libraries to the search results.

• 37141 Add option to display completed bookings from patron page

  • This enhancement to bookings now shows completed bookings for patrons on their check out and details page. There is now a filter to show expired and hide expired bookings (similar to what is shown on a record's bookings page.)

• 37309 Improve delete and modify items links on the bibliographic detail page

  • This enhancement improves the way batch operation controls are dynamically generated when the user checks one or more checkboxes under the holdings tab on the bibliographic detail page. The markup has also been updated in order to improve consistency in the way the controls are styled.

• 37452 The 'Compare matched records' diff view page is missing page-sections

• 37574 Add visual indicator that bookings are expired

  • This enhancement adds a visual indicator for expired bookings in the bookings table by displaying a status column with 'Expired' and 'Active' labels, making it easier to identify expired bookings when viewing or filtering them.

  • Sponsored by Büchereizentrale Schleswig-Holstein

System

New System Administration Enhancements

• 27490 Rename system preference language to StaffInterfaceLanguages

  • This enhancement renames the 'language' system preference to 'StaffInterfaceLanguages', to make the name clearer and more meaningful.

• 28575 Add ability to choose if lost fee is refunded based on when lost fee was paid off

  • This adds a new system preference `NoRefundOnLostFinesPaidAge` that allows the user to control how long after a lost fee has been paid a refund will be issued if the item is found and returned.

  • Sponsored by Rapid City Public Library

• 33731 Allow audio alerts to be used on SCO pages

  • Makes audio alerts accessible in the self checkout module by default. Staff can now pick sounds from the list in the Audio alerts configuration and no longer need a full path URL to make sounds available in the self checkout module.
    

• 35044 Additional fields: Allow for repeatable fields

  • This enhancement adds the "repeatable" option for additional fields.

  • For repeatable text fields there is now:
    - an "Add new" button for adding a new text field
    - a "Remove" button for the removal of a repeatable text field.

  • For repeatable fields using authorized values, the options are now shown as checkboxes instead of a dropdown list, and allows multiple selections.
    

• 37436 Move EmailPatronWhenHoldIsPlaced to holds policy system preferences

  • This patch moves the EmailPatronWhenHoldIsPlaced system preference from Circulation > Patron restrictions to Circulation > Holds policy.
    

• 37513 Disable 'Delete' button if the record source cannot be deleted

  • This enhancement to the record sources feature (added in Koha 24.05) removes the 'Delete' action from the record sources table if there are bibliographic records that use the record source.

  • Previously, if you tried to delete a record source that was in use, you would get an unhelpful error message "Something went wrong: Error: Something went wrong, check Koha logs for details.".

• 37888 Default filtering of background jobs could be improved

• 38053 Change section and description of DefaultLongOverduePatronCategories and DefaultLongOverdueSkipPatronCategories system preferences

  • This enhancement moves the DefaultLongOverduePatronCategories and DefaultLongOverdueSkipPatronCategories system preferences to the Lost item policy section of the circulation preferences, to be with the other DefaultLongOverdue system preferences.

  • It also changes the description of the system preferences to make it clearer it has to do with the **long overdues** process and not just the overdues process.

Tools

New Tool Enhancements

• 37103 Link log viewer options to corresponding system preference

  • This patch updates the log viewer interface to show a warning icon next to each module for which logging is disabled. If the user has the correct permissions, the warning icon links directly to the corresponding system preference for enabling the log.

Web Services

New Enhancements

• 31161 OAI-PMH - Honour OpacHiddenItems system preferences

  • This patch alters the OAI-PMH code to respect the OpacHiddenItems and OpacHiddenItemsHidesRecord system preferences when all items on a record are hidden. In this case, the server will now return the record as 'deleted' - this way if an item is changed in a way that marks it hidden, and it is the last item on the record, the next harvest will pickup this change and remove the record.

Z39.50 / SRU / OpenSearch Servers

New Enhancements

• 36996 Add a system preference to mark items unavailable in z9350 responder

  • This adds a new system preference `z3950Status` which takes a YAML block and marks any items matching the conditions as unavailable in Z39.50 results

  • It obeys the existing `AdditionalFieldsInZ3950ResultSearch` system preference settings, adding item status to field 952 $k.
    

New System Preferences

• AllowItemsOnLoanCheckoutSIP

• AlwaysLoadCheckoutsTable

• AuthorityXSLTDetailsDisplay

• ForcePasswordResetWhenSetByStaff 33462 (not set by default)

• HoldsQueueParallelLoopsCount

• IncludeSeeAlsoFromInSearches

• JobsNotificationMethod

• NoRefundOnLostFinesPaidAge

• OAI-PMH:HarvestEmailReport

• OPACItemLocation

• OPACShowLibraries

• OPACOverDrive 372221 (off by default)

• OPACVirtualCard

• OPACVirtualCardBarcode

• OpacMetaRobots - 33317

• ReportsExportFormatODS

• ReportsExportLimit

• RestrictPatronsWithFailedNotices

• SMSSendMaxChar

• SearchCancelledAndInvalidISBNandISSN

• StaffInterfaceLanguages

• SuggestionsLog

• z3950Status

Deleted System Preferences

• IntranetmainUserblock

• OpacItemLocation

• StaffDetailItemSelection

• language

More Documentation for Koha 24.11

24.11 Koha Manual

24.11 Koha Community Release Notes