Monday Minutes: Booking Enhancements

by Jessie Zairo on Jan 13, 2025

In this week's Monday Minutes, Nick and Jessie show off some booking enhancements in 24.11.

Booking Administration

• Bug 35906 - Add bookable option on itemtypes
• Bug 34440 - Add warm-up and cool-down periods to bookings

• Bug 36915 - Send email notification when a booking is cancelled
• Bug 37204 - Add a booking has changed notice to update a patron should a booking be updated
• Bug 37803 - Add patron notification when a new booking has been created successfully

Booking Management

• Bug 38193 - Add cancellation_reason field to bookings table
• Bug 38222 - Let staff pick a cancellation reason when canceling a booking
• Bug 37141 - Add option to display completed bookings from patron page
• Bug 37574 - Add visual indicator that bookings are expired

Booking Circulation Report

• Bug 33736 - Add bookings to collect circulation report

Booking Administration

Administrators will now have options to make itemtypes bookable within itemtype administration and add warm-up and cool-down periods within the circulation and fine rule administration.

To enable these features navigate to Administration.

1. Add bookable option on itemtypes
   1. This allows to configure on item type level if an item is bookable or not. Note: The item type level setting can be overwritten on item level.
   2. In itemtype administration, staff will now see a checkbox for Bookable:
      1. If checked, all items of this type will be enabled for future bookings unless overridden at the item level.
2. Add warm-up and cool-down periods to bookings
   1. This enhancement allows libraries to define a lead-in and trail-out period to be prepended and appended to bookings.
   2. These periods prevent checkouts or bookings from taking place too close to each other and allow for things like transfers and maintenance to be carried out.
   3. Navigate to the Circulation and Fines section of Administration
      1. Scroll down to Default holds and bookings policies by item type
      2. Two new columns have been added to reflect the time before a booking leaves the facility and when the booking returns.
      3. Booking pre-processing (days)
      4. Booking post-processing (days)

Booking Tools

1. Send email notification when a booking is cancelled
   1. This enhancement sends a notice to a patron when a booking is cancelled using the new BOOKING_CANCELLATION notice.
2. Add a booking has changed notice to update a patron should a booking be updated
   1. This enhancement introduces a notice to inform patrons of changes to their bookings, such as updates to the pickup library, start date, or end date, ensuring clear communication regarding any modifications.
3. Add patron notification when a new booking has been created successfully
   1. This enhancement adds a patron notification for successful booking creation, aligning it with existing notices for booking modifications and deletions.
      

Booking Management

Staff will now see options to filter both expired and canceled bookings within the booking and have the option to add a note for the cancellation reason when canceling.

1. Add cancellation_reason field to bookings table
   1. This enhancement adds a `cancellation_reason` field to the bookings table, allowing users to specify a reason for cancellations using either free text or an authorized value, and integrates this information into the cancellation process and notices.
2. Let staff pick a cancellation reason when canceling a booking
   1. This enhancement introduces a combobox component for booking cancellations, allowing users to select from authorized values or enter free text, ensuring consistent input handling and improved user experience across booking management modules.
   2. When staff select cancel under the actions column in a booking, they will now be prompted with a modal box to enter the reason for the cancelation. Staff can enter free text, or administration can connect o the new new authorized value for BOOKING_CANCELLATION.
      1. To set the Authorized Value, navigate to Authorized values
         and selected the category BOOKING_CANCELLATION.
      2. Add values as your policy matches.
3. Add the option to display completed bookings from the patron page
   1. This enhancement to bookings now shows completed bookings for patrons on their checkout and details page. There is now a filter to show expired and hide expired bookings (similar to what is shown on a record's bookings page.)
   2. Staff will now see that the bookings tab includes more robust filtering options.
4. Add a visual indicator that bookings are expired
   1. This enhancement adds a visual indicator for expired bookings in the bookings table by displaying a status column with 'Expired' and 'Active' labels, making it easier to identify expired bookings when viewing or filtering them.
   2. labels now display for staff to easily location active, pending, expired, and canceled bookings.

Booking Circulation Report

The Circulation Module now includes a bookings to collect circulation report! The enhancement adds a new 'Bookings to collect' report into the Circulation module. It parallels the 'Holds to pull' report allowing staff to easily report against upcoming bookings and collect them from the shelves ready for collection by the patron who has the item booked.

1. Navigate to Circulation and select Bookings to collect from the center screen
2. Staff will now have a list of items required for bookings between selected dates
3. Staff can Refine results by using the filtered on the left-hand side to select the holding library, pick up library and dates.

Booking Videos

Monday Minutes: Item Bookings

Monday Minutes: Item Bookings Kohacon 24

Additional Resources

Koha 24.11 Release Notes

Monday Minutes: 24.11 Preview

The Koha Community Announces 24.11 Release

Koha 24.11 Upgrades Hub