Video Tutorial on Using the News Feature in Koha

by Kelly McElligott on Jan 18, 2018

In this Koha tutorial we will show you a short video on using the News feature in Koha.  There are three ways that the News Feature (found in the Tools module) can be used.

1. The library can communicate information to the staff through the News feature.  The news will appear on the left hand side of the Staff Client main page.
2. The library can communicate information to the patrons through the News feature. The news will appear on the OPAC main page.
3. The library can communicate information on Circulation receipts through the news feature.

The video will go through all three of these ways that the library can use the News Feature in Koha to communicate information.  

Notes from the Video:

• I did mention one system preference during the video:  opacnewslibraryselect.  This system preference can be set to display or don’t display to show a branch selection list for news items in the OPAC.

Here are some tips on setting up your news to show up on your library’s circulation receipts.  

• The ISSUESLIP is the notice you can adjust to display your library’s news.
• In setting this up, you can choose from these options under —OPAC_NEWS—from the message body: <<opac_news.idnew>><<opac_news.branchcode>><<opac_news.title>><<opac_news.content>><<opac_news.lang>><<opac_news.expirationdate>><<opac_news.number>><<opac_news.borrowernumber>>
• Adding any of these tags will first need to have an opening and closing <news> tag.

Example:

<h4> Library News</h4>

<news> <<opac_news.title>><<opac_news.content>>

</p>

</news>

This piece of code tells Koha to have the heading “Library News” and include both the OPAC news title and content.  It is important to include the highlighted tags both before the desired tags and after.  For more information about customizing notices for your library see this Koha Wiki link.

The ISSUESLIP is the middle slip option when printing. Here is a screen shot of that particular part of the receipt.  Note: My printer is not set up for receipts, so the structure will look different on a receipt printer.

For more tutorial videos- visit or subscribe to our Bywater Youtube Channel!