Koha Calendar Features

by Jessie Zairo on Feb 13, 2022

Calendars play a part in our everyday workflow. From events to who is covering the desk and more. This blog covers everything from the staff interface to the OPAC. The calendar plays a centerpiece of the Koha Administration. Everything from circulation, overdue, notices, fines, and more. Below we will talk about everything that ties into the calendar in Koha. As a bonus, we will talk about how patrons can tie in their calendars.

System Preferences that control the Calendar

There are several Calendar System Preferences that can determine how your circulation and fine rules use the Koha Calendar.

• OverdueNoticeCalendar: asks if you want to use the calendar or ignore the calendar when working out the period for overdue notices.
• CalendarFirstDayOfWeek: allows staff to pick the first day of the week in the calendar.
• finesCalendar: Use the calendar or don't use the calendar when calculating the period for fines.
• SuspensionsCalendar: use the calendar or ignore the calendar when calculating the period for suspension expiration.
• ExcludeHolidaysFromMaxPickUpDelay: use the calendar or ignore the calendar when calculating the period for a hold's max pickup delay.
• useDaysMode: this preference controls how scheduled library closures affect the due date of the item. You have 4 options when selecting this preference.
  • Use the calendar to skip days the library is closed
    
  • Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open day
    
  • Ignore the calendar
    
  • Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open matching weekday for weekly loan periods, or the next open day otherwise

The calendar is defined on a branch-by-branch basis.

Adding a Calendar to Staff Client

Koha allows through the news feature to add a library’s calendar to the Staff Client. In this example, we will use google calendar.

• First, you need to get the HTML code from your calendar
• Open Google Calendar
• In the top right, click Settings Settings and then Settings
• On the left side of the screen, click the name of the calendar you want to embed
• In the "Integrate calendar" section, copy the iframe code displayed
• Under the embed code, click Customize
• Choose your options, then copy the HTML code displayed

Koha Staff Client:

• Get there: More > Tools > Additional tools > News
• To add your calendar to the staff interface click ‘New entry’
• Select Librarian Interface
• Create a title
• Add the iframe to the news section
• Click Submit

Calendar Feature for Patrons

Patrons have access to the ical feature on the OPAC! Patrons can download the item’s due dates to their calendars through the OPAC. Once the patron is logged into their account, they can go to their account summary and click the link “Download as iCal/ics file”. This will download a file to their computer. The patron can then open the download and it will open the event into their calendar.