Koha How-To
Koha Question of the Week: How to Moderate Comments in Koha
by Kelly McElligott on Aug 26, 2022
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: How to Moderate Comments in Koha?
Answer: Libraries can allow patrons to make comments on titles within the Koha OPAC. If a library would like to activate this option, this is done through the system preference, OPACComments. Once this is set to allow, patrons, once they are logged in can make comments on titles.
After a patron has made a comment, this will be sent over to the Koha Staff Interface to be moderated. This comment will not be seen by other patrons until it has been approved.
How to Moderate
Any comments needing moderation will appear at the bottom of the Staff Interface. Staff with permission to access these comments will be able to click through and see the comments.
There are two tabs, one with approved Comments and one with Comments needing approval. It is good to note, any previously approved comments can be 'unapproved' at any time. After a patron has been removed from the system, the comments will go away also.
Staff will be able to click over to see the title on which the comment was made and also click on the patron that made the comment. From here, this comment can be approved or deleted. Once the comment has been approved, the comment will be visible to all patrons, when the full record is viewed. There are two other system preferences that libraries can control in the comment area of the OPAC. These other two system preferences do not use the word 'Comment' in it but instead use 'Review'.
These system preferences will control the information the patrons see about who made the comment.
In this image above, the library has opted to show the first name and the first initial of the last name of the patron that made the comment.
One final system preference about comments, OpacShowRecentComments, allow libraries to have a link to the most recent comments patrons have made from the main page of the OPAC.
Additional Resources
Here is a link to other features of the Koha OPAC!
Self-Paced Learning in Koha: OPAC
Read more by Kelly McElligott