Koha Question of the Week: What's the difference between Notes and Messages in Patron Accounts?

by Kelly McElligott on Feb 3, 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: What's the difference between Notes and Messages in Patron Accounts?

Answer: Both Notes and Messages are two options for free text to be added to the patron's account in Koha.

Notes

Messages

These notes and messages can be used for internal (staff) purposes and also be patron directed. There is some differences between Notes and Messages, however, both serve the purpose of leaving information for either staff or patrons. Let's expand on each one:

Patrons

The staff has the ability to place either/or both notes and messages on a patron's account. These notes and messages will be visible to the patron once they log into their account in the OPAC.

The OPAC Message can be used by staff and this message will be time-stamped and also indicate which library branch left the message. A patron message can be created from the Patron Account - there is an option for "Add a Message".

The OPAC Note can also be used by staff to share information with the patron. To place a note on a patron account, the staff will need to edit the patron's account to place an OPAC Note.

With both staff and patron notes/messages. Notes are seen as more permanent to the message. However, messages can be useful since they are time-stamped and indicate which branch left the message for further clarification.

OPAC view

Patrons will see an indication that there are notes or message on the OPAC Summary from the main page of the OPAC. Also, from the patron's account summary, they will see the notes and messages appear.

An OPAC message is bolded.

Staff can also use a drop-down of 'pre-defined' options for messages. See below for information about creating "pre-defined" messages.

Staff

The staff has the ability to place either/or both notes and messages on a patron's account. These notes and messages will be visible to staff members accessing the patron's account through the staff interface.

A Circulation Note can be added to a patron's account upon registration or at any time by editing the patron's account. This note will be visible to all staff. This note will appear on the patron's checkout page to the right of the checkout box and also on the detail page of the patron. A staff note (circulation note) will be in Red Font. In addition, the staff note will appear when searching within the Patron Database.

The Staff Message can be used by staff and this message will be time-stamped, staff name of who added the message will show and also indicate which library branch left the message. A staff message can be created from the Patron Account - there is an option for "Add a Message". From this pop-up box, the staff member will indicate that this message is for staff.

Staff can also use a drop-down of 'pre-defined' options for messages. See below for information about creating "pre-defined" messages.

Pre Defined Values

Within Koha, any drop-down menus can be customized. These drop-down menus are called Authorized Values and can be found in the Administration Module. The category for this purpose is called BOR_NOTES. Within this category, BOR_NOTES, a new value can be added in this category. In the screenshot below, a new value was added for SLIP. The description is what will display to the staff when they choose this choice. These values in the BOR_NOTES category can apply to either staff/OPAC messages.

For more information about Authorized Values, see here:

Monday Minutes: Authorized Values

Permissions

A system preference linked to messages in Koha, AllowAllMessageDeletion, and decides if the staff should be able to delete messages added from other libraries.

Being able to delete messages is tied to the Add, Modify and view patron information edit_borrowers permission in Koha.

Libraries Using Aspen with Koha

There is another very helpful blog post outlining how these Notes and Messages interact with Aspen, if your library uses Aspen with Koha, click here for more information.

Additional Resources

More information can be found here:

Patrons- all blog posts related to the Patron Module

Self-Paced Learning in Koha: Patrons