LINK 2.0 Koha

Update on 4.12 Upgrade

If all goes well, we are planning on doing the upgrade to LibLime Koha 4.12 the week of May 28.  It will most likely occur on the evening of May 29 due to the Memorial Day holiday.  Testing is underway and so far we have identified one bug that will need to be fixed prior to the upgrade.  We are working on the Release Notes and will make them available next week so that you can prepare for the fixes and new features that will be included.  At this time we do not expect substantial workflow changes.

We do expect that there will be a fix to Talking Tech (Harriet) so that patrons are not called for holds they have picked up (SCLS Support Ticket 40862). There is really no way for us to test this ahead of time, so we may want to be prepared for some tweaking to occur to this process on the day of the upgrade.

Stop using Manual Credit button

When staff use the Manual Credit button to create a credit on a patron's account, the patron's balance is credited.  However, we are unable to apply the credit to a specific debit in order to resolve the amounts, which leaves the amounts Outstanding in the patron's record.  The amounts also display in the patron's PAC account.  The CSC recommended and the ILS approved banning the use of the Manual Credit button. 

If you have a question on how to resolve a debit amount without using the Manual Credit, please contact Heidi O. and she will assist you.  If you have patron records with manual credits and debits that you would like to see "resolved", email the patron barcode and the specific line numbers in the patron's Account screen to Heidi O. with a request to clear the Amounts Outstanding.

Change to Refund Charges screen

This morning the system preference RefundLostReturnedAmount was turned ON.   This preference provides separate Refund buttons for each refund amount a patron may have on their Refund Charges screen, rather than only allowing the Balance to be refunded. Please see patron Darlene Dynix as an example of how multiple Refunds will now be displayed.

Staff are now able to refund individual amounts on a patron's record, refunding only the amount(s) for their Lost/Paid/Returned item(s), instead of being forced to refund the entire balance.  Staff will be also be able to "refund" the amount just to clear it, if the returned item is not eligible for a refund.

If the patron also has other debit amounts on their record, this will affect how the refunds or the last refund will be available.  If there is only one Refund amount on the record AND a debit amount, Staff will only be able to refund the Balance of the two amounts.

Ignore button fix

LibLime has applied a fix to the Ignore button in the Hold Found pop-up messages.  There is still a problem with one check-in scenario but overall the button is working correctly.

When you click the Ignore button in both of the Hold Found pop-up messages ("Hold at" XXX and "Transfer to: XXX" ), the system will

• "keep" the item at your library,
• record your library as the Current Library and
• re-queue the patron back into the holds queue as a "Next Available" hold. 

The Ignore button is freezing when you try to use it for the following scenario:

• An item is sent to you in Delivery and it was not checked in/put into transit from the sending library.
• When you click the Ignore button in the Hold Found pop-up, the Ignore button does not seem respond to your click and remains on the screen.
• You will need to use the back button to get out of the screen.
• However, the actions of re-queuing the patron's hold and "keeping" the item at your library are completed.

We have reported this remaining problem on the original problem ticket, SCLS Support ticket 40636.  As soon as this is fixed we will send out an update.  The Circulation  Services Committee is working on revising the workflows for Damaged, Parts Missing and Defect Reported items to incorporate the use of the Ignore button.

 

 

 

Patrons can opt out of hold notices in any format

Patrons can now opt out of hold notices. Prior to our last upgrade, if the messaging preference box for Hold Filled was unchecked on a patron’s record, a hold notice was generated anyway. This functionality now works correctly in production, and hold messages are no longer generated for patrons who have asked to have this box unchecked on his or her patron record.

This means that if your patron has elected not to receive messages for available holds and has had the Hold Filled box unchecked on his or her record, since Tuesday, s/he has not been receiving any messages for holds available. Early next week, we will run and post a report for your patrons who have the Hold Filled messaging box unchecked for you to verify their preferences.

Overdue notices are still generated for patrons who opt out of hold notice messaging, and the delivery method is based upon whether or not the patron has an email address entered in his/her patron record. If there is no email address, a print overdue notice is generated. Billing notices are always generated as print. Neither of these notices are delivered via phone.

You can share this news with your patrons who wish to opt out of hold notices.

 

Printing Notices

We are transitioning libraries over to printing their own notices beginning on Monday, February 27, 2012. The last day that SCLS will be printing notices is for files dated Saturday, February 25, 2012. This means that on Monday, February 27, libraries will be responsible for printing notice files dated February 26 and February 27.

Please read the Notice Printing Instructions in full before printing your notices for the first time. The final page is a cheat sheet for when you have completed your initial set-up on the computer you will use to print your notices regularly. If you have any questions, please call the ILS Help Desk at 608-242-4720 for clarification or for assistance.

Several libraries have already begun printing notices in-house already, and we have some notes and best practices to share along with the documentation from SCLS:

• Notice files are not available until after 12pm. They aren’t posted to the fileshare and server until after that time.
• Once you set the header and footer to <blank> in the browser on the computer you use to print your library’s notices, it will remain that way unless you change it again manually.
• There are two locations for notices: hold notices are on the SCLS fileshare, and overdue & billing notices are in a special print directory in Koha.
• Hold notices: If you don’t use the command prompt often, this information will stay in the command prompt field: \\sclfs01\Koha\notices
• Overdue and billing notices: Bookmark the print directory in the browser on the computer you use to print your library’s notices. The URL is: http://scls-staff.ec2.liblime.com/~scls/
• You may not have all three types of notices for your library every day. Read the Notice Printing Instructions for details.
• Make sure your printing targets are accurate, that your notice paper is loaded into the correct printer, and that you are printing one notice per sheet.
• To safeguard private information, destroy any notices printed in error that you are not sending to your patrons.

A note about notice paper: Prior to the migration last spring, we distributed one ream of trifold notice paper to each library. Let us know by February 15^th if you cannot find your notice paper. Libraries will be expected to purchase their own paper beginning in July when it will be added as a line item to the coordinated order form.

If you have any questions about the notice printing process and timeline, please call the ILS Help Desk at 608-242-4720.

-Joanna

4.10 LibLime Koha Upgrade "Coming Soon"

 

We are planning to do the 4.10 LibLime Koha Upgrade in mid-January (no specific date yet).  The LibLime elves are working on completing the final bug fixes.  Next week, ILS staff will be doing additional testing in the sandbox and begin preparing the documentation for the upgrade.  Included in the 4.10 upgrade are:

• Last patron information (more details coming next week)
• Holds Managament which resolves the problems with manipulating holds when there are a large number on a single bib. See the Holds Managament document under Testing on the ILS Web Site Training page. We strongly encourage you to look at this in the sandbox as it substantially changes the way holds are displayed for staff.
• Display Agency code when checking in holds
• Improvements to relevancy ranking (more details coming soon)
• Many bug fixes (more details coming soon)

We realize there are a lot of "details coming soon", but we wanted to get the word out about this upgrade as soon as possible.

Following this upgrade, LibLime will be delivering to our sandbox a substantial number of additional bug fixes and enhancements pertaining to our contracted development. We are working on a complete list which is "coming soon."  This will be the beginning of LibLime Koha 4.11 which will also include our next phase of new development.

 

Choose a template option for your second overdue notice.

Below are 2 template options for the second overdue notice that your library sends out to patrons.  All libraries are set up with the FINAL NOTICE as the default.  If you would prefer to send your patrons the notice with the header "BILL", please submit the change request on the Circulation Work Request form.

The email subject line for the FINAL NOTICE reads "Final Overdue Notice".  The email subject line for the BILL reads "BILL for library materials".

FINAL NOTICE
<patron barcode>
You will be billed the replacement costs for the following items if they are not returned. This matter can be resolved by returning the items and paying any overdue fines/fees or by paying the cost of the item(s). You can review your record online at http://www.linkcat.info/
 
issuedate date_due title barcode price
05/13/2011 06/10/2011 Anansi boys : 39078056388540 Gaiman, Neil.
 
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.


BILL
<patron barcode>
You will be billed the replacement costs for the following items if they are not returned. This matter can be resolved by returning the items and paying any overdue fines/fees or by paying the cost of the item(s). You can review your record online at http://www.linkcat.info/
 
issuedate date_due title barcode price
05/13/2011 06/10/2011 Anansi boys : 39078056388540 Gaiman, Neil.
 
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Updated Circulation documents

The following sections of the Circulation Manual were updated in October and November 2011:

• Section III Check In
• Section V Patron Record and Registration
• Section VII Fines and Financial Transactions
• Section VIII Problem Items: Lost, Claims Returned, Defect Reported, etc.
• Section IX Placing and Managing Holds
• Section X Circulation Codes

The following documents were updated or added to the Circulation Workflows web page in October and November 2011:

• Claims Returned workflow
• Lost Item workflow
• Troubleshooting Email notices
• RETURN REFUSED message at Check In - explanation and work-around
• Specify due date work-around

Drafts of two report workflows were posted on the Reports page, ILS Support website:

• Claims Returned report workflow
• Long in Transit report workflow

All Circulation documents are works-in-progress.  If you see any errors, have any suggested changes or want more information about a particular topic provided, please fill out the Koha Problems and Questions form and enter MANUAL or WORKFLOW as the first word in the the Comment box.

 

 

 

Circulation issuing rules are posted

Information and screen shots about the Circulation Issuing Rules have been posted on the Codes page of the ILS Support website.  Issuing rules that are shared by all ILS libraries are posted under the Default Library Issuing rules.  Library specific rules are posted via hyperlinks based on each library's delivery code.  If you see an error or want to make changes, please email Heidi Oliversen at hjo@scls.lib.wi.us.  When we have completed the Issuing Rules change submission form, we will post the link on this blog.