News summary: weeks of 11/28/2011, 12/5/2011 and 12/12/2011

News

• 12/19/11 Please check the Recently Added section of the Known Problems page for updates on several problems that have occured since the Amazon server maintenance on 12/12/11.
• 12/16/11 Items with a status of Withdrawn will be deleted on 12/22/11. See the blog post for details.
• 12/13/11 The Purchase Alert reports have been reworked and changes have been made based on the feedback from the earlier reports.  (Thanks Greg!)  The new reports are split out by agency with the holds in one column and the number of copies in the next.  The reports are current as of 12/07.  Please take a look and let us know what you think of the new reports. These will go into production soon. http://www.scls.info/ils/reports/Purchase/12-07-2011/
• 12/8/2011 Read the Annual Reports blog post for all the details on how this will work on Koha.
• 11/29/2011 LibLime is applying a fix to Koha tonight. It should resolve the problems with drop-box checkin and may address some issues with Lost and Damaged items and the Holds Queue Report. We will provide more details tomorrow.
• 11/29/2011 We have created a check-list for staff to test and try out the new holds management feature in the Koha sandbox. Before proceeding, it may be helpful to read the document called Holds Management in Koha which can be found on the Training page under Testing.

Recently Fixed

• New items/bibs not searchable: New items and bib records that have been added since 12/13 (after the server work overnight on 12/12) are still not searchable as of today. (12/15/2011) (SCLS Support Ticket 41630) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet) (Fixed 12/16/2011)
• Dropbox checkin and the Override check in date options are fixed: Items checked in using the Dropbox option credited one day of overdue fines and recorded the return date as yesterday.  Items checked in using the Override option credited overdues and recorded the return date based on the date set.  The system retained both options throughout the process.  IMPORTANT: You must uncheck the Dropbox option to get out of it and you must use the Clear screen button to remove the setting for the Override option.  Just leaving that screen will not 'turn off' those check in options.  If you are still having problems or notice that fines are not being credited correctly, please submit a Koha Problems and Questions form. (Fixed 12/1/2011)
• Subject searching: "Corporate names" are not included in the subject or subject as phrase searches in both the staff client and PAC. (A corporate name is a name that represents a group, not an individual. It can be a band name, such as "Red Hot Chili Peppers" or a corporate name, such as "General Electric Company.") You can still do a keyword search for corporate names. (10/31/2011) (SCLS Support ticket 41342) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet) (Fixed 11/30/2011)
• Damaged items appear on Holds Queue reports. (8/23/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40836) (Fixed 11/30/2011)
• If an item appears on a Holds Queue report, and its status is later changed to a status in the Lost status category (Mending, AV Repair, etc.), the item does not automatically drop off the Holds Queue report. If there are other Available items to fill the hold, try Passing the item to remove it from the Holds Queue report. This includes items that are marked Trace from the item record. Items should be marked Trace from the Holds Queue report, not from the item record. (10/7/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 41024) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet) (Fixed 11/30/2011)

New Problems Identified

• "Not found" message when using Search to Hold: Sometimes when using the Search to Hold button from a patron's Check Out screen, after clicking the Search to Hold button, you get a mostly blank pop-up screen with the header Search to Hold" and the words "not found" in the body of the screen. This as a sporadic occurrence that can be "resolved by exiting the "Search to Holds" pop-up screen, refreshing the Check Out screen and retrying the Search to Hold button. It has been reported to LibLime (12/16/2011) (SCLS Support Ticket 41636) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet)
• Odd display problems: Sometimes Koha displays with the wrong font or with icons out of place. This has occurred since the system maintenance overnight on 12/12 and has been reported to LibLime. The problem occurs in both the staff client and the PAC. Refreshing the screen or clicking on a link to get to another page usually clears the display problems. (12/16/2011) (SCLS Support 41637) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet)
• Problems checking in items on the Holds Queue report: Since the Amazon maintenance occurred 12/12, various libraries have reported problems checking in items on the Holds Queue report. Staff pull up the report, click the Check in hyperlink for the item to fill a hold and they get a mostly white screen superimposed on the report with the header Check In Item and "not found" as the info on the screen. If you have a large report, you may have to scroll down to find this screen. This does not happen for very item.
  If this happens to you, close the Check in Item screen, and check in a different item and then go back to the 'problem' item. The second check-in of the 'problem' items usually succeeds. You can also try checking in from the checkin screen rather than the Holds Queue report.  (12/14/2011) (SCLS Support 41627) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet).
• Clear Date button for the Override Check In Date Check in option is not clearing the date: If you select an Override check in date and check in some items, the system properly assigns the backdated date as the return date.  You can click the Clear Date button and the date is 'cleared' from the field but, unless you perform a check in transaction or click the "Submit" button with the date field cleared, the first backdate you 'selected' will return any/every time you go back to the Check In screen, regardless of which hyperlink you use. Libraries have also reported that sometimes they do not get the Clear Date button unless they click the "Submit" button or until after the first item is checked in. (12/12/2011) SCLS Support Ticket 41619) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet)
• Problem with mis-matched hold pickup locations: On Friday, December 2 a post was made to the status wiki that staff should not shuffle holds on titles with a large number of holds. Several titles were reported as having an incorrect pickup location after a hold had been shuffled. It is OK to continue to shuffle holds (aka change the priority). However, it is important that you not interrupt the process as this may be what causes the corruption. When there are a large number of titles, it does take more time to process changes to the holds queue. Be sure that it is finished before clicking on something else on the screen, or trying it again. ILS Staff have checked over 100 titles that have more than 50 holds with pickup locations that do not match home agency and have only identified the 3 titles mentioned above. LibLime has cleaned up the pickup locations on these titles: Social Network (DVD), Thor (DVD) and The Adjustment Bureaud (DVD). There may have been some holds sent to the wrong library, so you may want to check to see if any of these are at your library and send them to the correct location. Please let us know if you find any other titles with large numbers of holds with mis-matched pickup locations via the Problems and Questions form. This problem should be completely resolved by the new holds management feature which will be available with the next upgrade. (12/8/2011) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet)