Monday Minutes: Koha to Koha ILL

by Kelly McElligott on Jan 13, 2020

A Look at the ILL Module

Jessie and Kelly are joined this week with Nick and Andrew. Nick will give us an introduction to the ILL module in Koha and how it works with another Koha library.

First Stages of this Process

Backend set-up:

1. The system preference for the ILL module, ILLModule, needs to be set to enabled.

2. The plugin for the Koha to Koha integration needs to be installed. This is currently not in a public URL- if you are a partner, please reach out to us for assistance.

Here when configuring the plugin, the target library will be added, ZID (number in the system of the z39.50 target of Andrew's site), ILSDI is the URL to access the other library's interface, the username and password of the patron that has been created to access and place holds (this patron does not need permissions), and finally the framework code of the records that will be created.

3. The library/libraries that you would like to connect to will need to be an open z39.50 target. If this library is one of ByWater's partners, they can reach out to us and our systems team can make this happen.

4. Once the library is an open z39.50 target, this z39.50 information will need to be entered into the library's Koha site. Setting up z39.50 targets are found in the Admin Module.

5. ILS-DI is another system preference that can be turned on. ILS -Discovery Interface is a standard for retrieving information from another library, placing holds, etc. If that library wants this to be allowed- for example placing holds directly on their site. (This was enabled for Andrew's site, so we could place holds on that site).

Next Stages of the ILL process

Once the back-end configuration has been completed, the actual ILL process can begin!

On the main page of the staff client, there is an ILL Module button that will show up (the account will need ILL permissions).

Create an ILL Request

There are two areas of the New Request to be filled out- Search Koha Partner and Borrower Options.

Search Koha Partner will allow the library to enter a keyword, ISBN, ISSN, Title and Author search. This search will be performed on the library that we will be borrowing from.

Borrower Options will allow the library to enter the cardnumber, username or surname of the patron that will ultimately receive the ILL material. In addition, a pickup branch is also an option here.

Once this information has been entered in this form, the search will be performed on the library's z39.50 catalog and a lists of results will appear.

The results will show which library (partner) has the items, the title, author, ISBN - and then an option to select the desired item.

The final step to finishing this request process would be to "Confirm Request". This will place the hold on the item on the library's site. If this library doesn't have ILS-DI enabled, this request could be processed through email. The option "Place Request with Partners" will provide an email template on which Koha will send the email to request the item.

To see all ILL requests, choose List Requests.

The list of requests will display the title, author, Patron requesting, Bibliographic Record, Branch, Status, and more.

Clicking on the Bibliographic Record link will bring up a newly created bib record that Koha has created in preparing for this item to be received from the lending library. The record is created in the Framework that was configured in the plugin and automatically suppressed from the OPAC. The item has not been created yet and will need to be created when the library receives it.

Lending Library

The lending library will need to set up a Patron which will be the core of this process. A recommendation would be this patron's name will be the Borrowing Library's Name. Any holds for this Borrowing Library will appear on this patron's account.

Once a request has been completed on the Borrowing Library's side, the lending library will retrieve this book either when it is returned by a patron or found on the Holds to pull / Holds Queue report. The same process for triggering holds applies, check-in the item and the pop up will announce that this is headed to the Borrowing Library (Patron account that was created for this process). One last step before actually mailing it to the library would be to check it out to the Borrowing Library's account- to keep track of this item in the Lending Library's system.

Borrowing Library

Once the borrowing library has received the item, an item will be created on the existing biblio record with a barcode. A helpful step would be to add text on the item's $3 (materials specified) field to indicate that this is an ILL loan.

Now, the item is then ready to be checked out to the patron!

Koha to Koha ILL

Yay! This feature although new is a great start to allowing Koha libraries to lend to other Koha libraries. A few ByWater partner libraries are testing this out for us as we continue to work on this feature.