KohaNA 2015 - Libki Integration

by Rocío Belén Dressler on Aug 7, 2015

Kyle Hall, Development Support Specialist at ByWater Solutions, presented on Libki and how to set up the parameters. Libki’sis an open source PC reservation software. You can name the PC clients, set time constraints, and manage client access.

There are two kinds of users, persistent users and guest users. Persistent users can be added using the new user screen. Additionally, ifLibki finds the username valid in the ILS using SIP, then the ILS reports back “yes”and Libki creates the same user in the database. Guest users can be created on a daily basis as needed, as these are deleted every night. These users will not get to choose their password, but will receive a machine-generated passcode.Guests can also be created in batches at the beginning of the day, so that the accounts are available.

The library can also set the time constraints. There is a daily allowance and a session allowance, so the library can specify x minutes and x minutes at a time. Patrons can access the computers by first come, first served or by reservation. Once reserved, only that patron will be able to use the machine and the reservation will go away once the patron logs in to the computer. Libki will support different groups of computers in different areas – for example a computer lab, language lab, etc. The reservation will be cancelled based on the time-out specification. A new feature is the “automatic timeout extension”, which allows libraries to select to extend access-time for patrons when the library is less busy.

Libki won’t allow patrons to reserve two computers at the same time, goes off of cardnumber or userid. Libki also allows libraries to specify closing times and holidays, so that patron login and access is measured against the time left for the library to be open. For more information about Libki, visithttp://libki.org/.