Koha How-To
Koha Question of the Week: Can We Add Fields to the Item Search?
by Hebah Amin-Headley on Oct 13, 2023
Each Friday, we will bring you a new Koha Question of the Week. We will select real questions that we receive and share the answers with you!
Question: Can We Add Fields to the Item Search?
Item search is a powerful tool for libraries to run reports on their collections by facets like shelving locations, number of circulations, and item statuses, to name just a few. However, sometimes libraries have local fields in the MARC data that they would also like to search. Or, for example, item search has options for filtering by lost and not for loan statuses, but not damaged statuses.
Luckily, there is a way to add fields to item search. Under Administration -> Catalog settings is an option for Item Search Fields. From there, libraries can add the fields they want to add to item search. Here is an example of how to add Damaged status to item search, adding a drop-down selection of available damaged statuses by connecting the search to the DAMAGED authorized value.
Once additional fields have been added, they can be searched as 'is' or 'is not' operators beneath the built-in search options.
In the above example, I've added non-public notes and damaged statuses as additional search fields. Because I connected the damaged field with an authorized value, that search field has a drop-down menu to select a damaged status, but the non-public notes field has no connected value, leaving it a free-text field.
These are two common fields that partners ask to be able to search in item search, just looking at item holding data, but the search can query for items on records with any MARC field like a 650$a subject heading or a local 5xx note field, giving libraries a great way to customize a powerful tool.
Additional Resources
Monday Minutes: Custom Searches in the Item Search
Monday Minutes: Exporting Items in Item Search
Read more by Hebah Amin-Headley