LINK 2.0 Koha

Reporting Koha response time problems

If your library is experiencing ongoing Koha response time issues, please continue to record and report these problems to ILS staff. Response time problems have a variety of causes. Sometimes there are hardware issues at LibLime. Sometimes there may be a broader issue with the Amazon hosting service. Problems that originate at LibLime and the Amazon hosting service will cause response time problems for all computers and all libraries. Sometimes these problems start small and build up over the course of a few hours.

At other times response time problems are limited to one library or are intermittent. These problems could be caused by heavy network traffic at that library or in that region, or other hardware problems with library computers.

If you do experience a response time problem, check the SCLS Status Wiki to see if there is a widespread outage or slowness problem. If there is nothing on the Status Wiki, then try logging out of Koha and clearing your browser’s cache. If, after logging back in, Koha is still slow, then record the problem and report it to ILS staff. It can be difficult to report these ongoing or intermittent response time problems on the Koha problems and questions form. To record these types of response time problems you could keep a log of problems in a notebook at the circulation or reference desk. In the log, please record the following information:

• Date and time of day
• PC# (or note that it affected all staff and/or patron PCs)
• What you were doing (e.g. checking in, searching for an item, be as specific as possible)
• How long pages are taking to load*
• How long the problem lasted (e.g. 5 minutes, 15 minutes)
• Any action you took (e.g. logged out of Koha, cleared cache, etc.)

After you have accumulated a few pages of logs, please send the log to the ILS Help Desk via Delivery. The log will help us to see patterns in the response time problems so we can better understand the causes of these problems. 

Koha response time problems can be very frustrating in a busy library. We are working to gather as much information as possible in order to address these problems.

*You can install a Firefox extension that will show you the page loading time. Here are a couple of choices: Lori (life of request info) and Extended Statusbar.

4.14 Upgrade Scheduled

We are pleased to announce that the 4.14 upgrade to LibLime Koha has been scheduled for the evening of October 29 with the changes available to libraries on the morning of October 30.  The primary change with this upgrade is the switch to the Solr search engine which will provide improvements to searching and response time when adding new bibliographic records.  Amy Gannaway has alread posted on the improvements that will be coming with with Solr.  We are working on a complete Release Notes document and will make it available soon.  We may also ask for volunteers to do one more round of testing prior to the release date once most of the remaining bugs already identified are fixed.

I strongly encourage everyone to try out the new search engine in the PAC sandbox.  Amy has created a separate document with searching tips for the new search engine.

 

 

Final Testing of LibLime 4.14 To Begin

With most of the fixes in place for the Solr indexing upgrade, we are ready to begin the final phase of testing for the LibLime Koha 4.14 implementation.  ILS staff will be sending out emails to module lists asking for volunteers to run through the testing checklists.  If all goes well, we plan to upgrade to 4.14 in the next two weeks.

Koha indexing switch to Solr

The next upgrade to Koha will be a major re-write of Koha's indexing platform. The new software is now available for testing in the SCLS Koha sandbox (both staff client and PAC). If you would like to try it out, you can log into the sandbox using the same login and password that you use for Koha production. 

The sandbox is a work in progress and additional fixes are still being added. After we have an upgrade date, we will post full release notes on the ILS web site.

Why are we switching to Solr?

Solr is an open-source search indexing platform that is faster and offers more flexibility than Koha's current indexing platform (Zebra). It fixes a number of searching bugs and will offer us the ability to create browse indexes in the future.

What are the new features and bug fixes that are coming with Solr?

Here is a list of fixed bugs and new features:

• Indexing of new bibs and items: With Solr, new bib records and item records will be indexed in approximately 5 minutes, instead of several hours. Edits to existing bib records and items will also index in approximately 5 minutes. (SCLS Support Ticket 39738) 
• Improvements to relevancy ranking: Exact main title (245$a) matches are ranked before a main title with the same words, but that is not an exact match. Also, English-language books continue to be ranked above AV and foreign language materials. For example, a title search for The passage will return titles with that exact main title ranked at the top of the list. These titles will be ranked about titles such as Spirit of the passage and The passage of power, which have the same words but are not exact matches. Please note that exact matches are prioritized, so a search for The passage will rank a record titled The passage before a record titled The passage : a novel. In some cases this will cause an AV record to be ranked above a book record. For example, if a record for a book contains a sub-title but the AV record does not have that sub-title, then the AV record will be ranked above the book record, because Koha will rank the main title first, and then rank the English-language books. Finally, these relevancy ranking improvements have been applied to both the title and keyword indexes, as well as the Cataloging search in the staff client.
• Problems with Author search: The author searches in both the staff client and PAC are now working correctly. Previously, the Author searches in the drop-down box on the main page of the PAC and in the advanced search of the staff client were searching title fields as well as author fields. (SCLS Support Ticket 41891)
• Facets work for entire search results list: Facets now include results from the records in the entire search results list. Previously, the facets were generated based on only the current page of search results. (SCLS Support Ticket 40742)
• Searching of titles and authors with diacritics: You can now search titles and authors even if there is a diacritic in the title or author fields. Previously, these searches were failing. (SCLS Support Ticket 40822) 
• Using ampersands in searches: Using an ampersand in the search no longer causes problems with browsing search results. Previously, if you used an ampersand in a search, then you lost the search results when you went to the second page. (SCLS Support Ticket 42602)
• Keyword searching in staff client for titles that are numbers: Using quotes allows you to do a keyword search in the staff client for titles that are numbers. For example, search “1493” to find the title 1493 : uncovering the new world Columbus created. (SCLS Support Ticket 41768) 
• Re-sorting the search results list in the staff client: Previously, re-sorting the search results list did not always work. Instead, you were taken to the Advanced Search page. This only happened when you used an equal sign in the search (e.g. au=john grisham). Because you now must use a colon when you are using a search operator, this problem is no longer an issue (e.g. au:john grisham). (SCLS Support Ticket 39838)
• Punctuation in titles: Searches that include titles with punctuation, such as colons, slashes, exclamation points, etc. no longer fail. Sometimes you may need to use quotes around the title, but you should not need to strip punctuation.

Are there any new search tips?

Yes, Solr offers more tools for refining searches:

• Use double quotes to search an exact phrase in any index. (Single quotation marks are ignored). For example, searching "lord of the rings" will only return records that contain that exact phrase. (NOTE: We will no longer have separate phrase indexes for title, author and subject. These indexes have been replaced by the double quotes feature).
• Place your search terms in parenthesis to return search results on words in any order. For example, searching (lord of the rings) will return records that contain all of those words, but not necessarily in that order.
• Use a question mark for single character right-hand truncation, for example to find nap or naps, search nap?.
• Use a star for multiple character right-hand truncation, for example to find nap or naps or napping, search nap*.
• Use a question mark or star for center truncation, for example to find woman or women, search wom?n [single character] or wo*n [multiple character].
• Use a tilde combined with double quotes to make two terms appear within a certain number of characters of each other, for example "roman empire"~10 would search for the two words within 10 characters of each other.
• You can use the following search operators when using the keyword index to narrow your search. You do not have to use the search operators when using the keyword index – they are tools that are available but they are not mandatory. You must use a colon (:) between the search operator and the search terms, (e.g. ti:the help):
  • ti: (title)
  • au: (author)
  • su: (subject)
  • isbn: (isbn)
  • issn: (issn)
  • biblionumber: (biblionumber)

Are there any known bugs in the sandbox that aren't in production?

Yes, there are some bugs in the sandbox that are not present in production. These bugs will be fixed before we upgrade:

• Library limit (Location and Available limit) in staff client doesn't work. Ok in PAC.
• When searching ISBN-13, ISBN-10 is not found (and vice versa).
• Clicking "more" link in facets column generates error in staff client. Ok in PAC.

There may be more bugs present in the sandbox (that are not already in production). See the next section for information on helping out with testing.

How can I help with testing Solr?

Fill out the Solr testing checklist. If you cannot finish the entire checklist, that's fine, just do what you can and leave the other questions blank. Please complete any testing by Monday, October 1.

You can also report problems that you encounter in the sandbox using the Koha problems and questions form. 

 

Change in PDS library name

Effective June 1, 2012, the "Prairie du Sac Library" will now display as the "Ruth Culver Community Library" in pull-down menus, item ownership fields and circulation pop-up messages.  Their delivery code, PDS, will remain the same.  Please inform all of your staff about this change.

June 1st change to Holds Sequence

After reviewing months of Net Lender and Net Borrower information and discussions with Delivery and Madison Public Library, we will be adding Madison Storage to multiple places in the holds sequence. By adding this location before the libraries that are the largest net lenders we hope to help deflect some of the holds.  Since patrons can't place holds for pickup at Madison Storage, placing the agency code before a library will not cause an increase in holds for the locations after that code.   Here is what the modified sequence will look like:

ACL, BAR, BLV, BER, BRD, CIA, CBR, COL, CSP, DCL, DEE, [MAD] DFT,  FCH, LAV, LDI, [MAD], MCF, MCM, CEN, MAD, HPB, HAW, LAK, MEA, MRS, MSB, PIN, SEQ, SMB, [MAD], MAR, MAZ, MID, MOO, MRO, MTH, NGL, NOF, ORE, PAR, PLA, POR, POY, PDS, [MAD] REE, RKS, SKC, SGR, STO, SUN, VER, WAU, WID, WYO, SCA, SCL, [MAD]

Since this is the first time we have modified the sequence in a major way, we will be watching the numbers carefully to determine the impact of this change.  Please let us know what, if any, this change has on your library's Holds Queue report.

Plan for 4.12 Upgrade

The 4.12 Upgrade will be done on the evening of Wednesday, May 30 and will be in place for the morning of Thursday, May 31. On that morning Talking Tech calls will be delayed so that we may conduct some preliminary tests. 

Read complete details about the included features and bugs in the 4.12 Release Notes.

The following features will be included:

• Ability to limit by Adult and Book from the Advanced Search Screen
• Ability to limit by foreign language from the Advanced Search Screen
• Format limit drop down on the Main search screen
• Talking Tech Koha will now check to see if a hold is filled before the call list is sent to the Talking Tech Server
• Barcode validation

We will not turn on the barcode validation feature until Monday, June 4 in order to give library staff time to adjust to some of the other changes with this release.

We encourage staff to look at the new features in the Koha sandbox.

 

News Summary: 4.10 Problem Logs and Fixes

4.10 PROBLEM LOG

• 03-19-2012: New Problem: Refunded Overdues: If patrons pay overdue fines and then the overdue items are checked in using a back-dated check in, the system will "refund" the overdue payments. Initially it thought this was the remainder of items checked out under the CircControl bug that was fixed in the 4.10 upgrade but recents tests show that it is a result of back-dating. Admin and Liblime staff run weekly reports to clear these refunds. This problem has been reported to LibLime and appended to SCLS Support ticket 40697 (3/19/2012) (SCLS Support ticket 40697)(Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 03-09-2012: New Problem: Problems with Author search: The Author search in the drop-down box on the main page of the PAC is searching title fields as well as author fields. this is more of a problem when searching for a "corporate author," such as a band name. The Author search in the Advanced search in the PAC is fine, but the Author search in the Advanced search of the staff client is also searching additional title fields. This problem has been reported to LibLime. (SCLS Support Ticket 41891) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 03-07-2012 Update: Patrons incorrectly blocked from placing holds while in library: Patrons are also incorrectly blocked if one item on the bib was checked out at the library and another item on the bib is in transit to the library; 02-10-2012 New Problem: If there are at least two items from a library and one is Checked out and one is Waiting on the hold shelf, the patrons are being blocked from placing holds on the bib if they are in that library. They get a message that they cannot place holds on available items while inside the library, even though one item is checked out and one is on the hold shelf. This has been reported to LibLime. (SCLS Support Ticket 41788) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-22-2012 Fixed: 02-15-2012 New Problem: Some patrons receive error when placing holds: Some patrons are receiving a "500 Internal Server Error" when they attempt to place holds from outside of the library. These patrons can place holds from inside the library. Please continue to report this problem on the Problems and Questions form. Please include the patron barcode, PIN, exact text of error message, and time and date the error message was received. This problem has been reported to LibLime. (SCLS Suport Ticket 41792) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-15-2012 Update: this is also true if you are creating a new patron record using the "Copy Patron" option and manually change the expiry date. You have to save the new record first, then go back into it and manually change it again. 02-07-2012 New Problem: Expiration Date for new patron records-auto-calc is broken. The auto-calculation for the Expiration date does not work when you add new patrons. You can manually enter an expiration date and it will be saved/retained when you save the patron record. The date must be entered in the format xx/xx/xxxx. (SCLS Support ticket 41777) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-14-2012 New Problem: Patrons able to check out over 100 max limit: there is a bug in the system that allows patrons to check out over the max. cko limit for their patron category if they check out at different locations. Staff do not get the pop-up message informing them that the patron has reached the max. limit. (SCLS Support ticket 41372) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-13-2012 New Problem: Edit holds screen display for holds placed on multiple bibs: If you are placing holds on multiple bib records for a patron, you will get a "no holds found" screen display after you confirm the holds. The system is using the Edit holds screen to try and display the results of the holds placed but, since the holds were placed on multiple bib records, the display fails. That results screen looks like it was designed to display the holds for a single bib record. The holds on multiple bibs do succeed, but this situation should have the return go to the patron's holds list instead of the bib record's holds list. (SCLS Support ticket 41791) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-13-2012 New Problem: Patron searches on Circulation Checkout screen: failed patron searches (zero results) on the Circulation Checkouts screen no longer produces the message "No results found". If you get a partial results list searching from this page, you will get a New (patron) button. Clicking this button after selecting a patron category will redirect you to a "Patrons/Add xxx patron" screen. We have requested that a failed patron search (zero results) from the Circualtion Checkout screen produces the "No results found" message. In the meantime search for patrons from the Patron screen for the most effective response and results. (SCLS Support ticket 41789) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-10-2012 Fixed. 02-07-2012 New Problem: Pass function does not work on holds queue report: the ability to pass a single item, or pass all items does not work on the holds queue report. This has been reported to LibLime (2/7/2012) (SCLS Support Ticket 41779) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-10-2012 Fixed. 02-07-2012 New Problem: Problem with Transfer function: Staff reported a problem with using the Transfer function in Circulation to change the Current Library for pool materials to be transferred to a new library location. Please use the applicable portion of the BOCC guidelines for transferring shared materials from one library to another. (SCLS Support Ticket 41775) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-07-2012 New Problem: Wrong call number on holds queue report: when an item is passed by a library and it shows up on the holds queue report for the next library, it is printing the call number of the previous item on the report instead of the new library's item. (Look for two libraries in the Passed to column as a clue.) We have reported this to LibLime (SCLS Support Ticket 41778) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)
• 02-07-2012 New Problem: Problem with Edit Holds button: staff report problems accessing the list of holds on a bib record using the Edit holds button on the Item Detail screen.  If you are experiencing this problem, please clear the cache on your staff workstation(s).  In the Firefox toolbar, click Tools then select Clear Recent History.  Un-check all boxes except the Cache, then click Clear now.  Try replicating the problem with the same titles/barcodes.
  If you continue to have this problem after clearing your cache, please close all applications on your PC and do a complete shutdown.  Wait 20-30 seconds and then start up your PC.  After logging back into Koha, try to replicate the problem with the same title/barcodes.  If you continue to have this problem please report it on the Koha Problems and Comments and include the title and/or barcode(s). (SCLS Support ticket 41774) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10)

FIXED IN 4.10 UPGRADE

• Provide an option to prevent patrons from receiving hold notices in any format. Currently, patrons can't opt out of notices. (6/22/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40356) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• Not receiving hold confirmation when placing holds in PAC: If patrons begin placing a hold before logging in, they are prompted to log in. However, after logging in they are brought to their list of checked out items instead of receiving a confirmation for the hold, and the hold is not actually placed. To avoid the problem, patrons can log in before starting the place hold process. This problem has been reported to LibLime. (2/8/2012) (SCLS Support Ticket 41782) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet) (Fixed 2/9/12)
• Cannot save changes to LEADER (7/8/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40467) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• Same bib displays multiple times in PAC search results list, while other bibs do not display at all. This is happening on some (but not all) sets of bib records for TV series where each disc is on a separate bib record. (8/10/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40684) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• Error message when placing holds in PAC: Improve the error message that patrons get when placing a hold that is already on their hold list. Right now it says "Sorry, none of these items can be placed on hold" which is confusing. (5/26/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40104) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• Placing holds on on order items in PAC: Patrons unable to place holds on on order items while in the library. (8/18/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40813) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• Placing holds in staff client: You cannot place holds on titles with a large number of holds (e.g. Smokin' seventeen, The King's speech (DVD)) in the staff client. You can place holds on these titles in the PAC. Also, you cannot view the holds lists or change pickup locations for these titles. (4/25/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 39880) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• At Checkout, if you see the pop-up message "Please Confirm Checkout - Item (title) checked out to Patron X. Check in and Check Out? Check out anyway?, click "No, Don't Check Out". Leave the Check Out screen, go to Check in and check the item in before proceeding with the check out to the current patron. There is a bug that is causing display problems in patron records when Lost and Claims Returned items are "checked in" at Check Out; the current patron information will display in the previous patron's Account screen. SCLS staff will run daily reports and submit them for data cleanup until the next upgrade. (1/19/2012) (SCLS Support ticket 41371) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• 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) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• CircControl bug: these previously reported problems are all part of a bug that is not using the checkout library's circulation rules:
  • Another Renewals and Fines problem: We've had one report of new fines-related problems when overdue items are renewed at a location other than the checkout location. The system credited the paid overdue fines on those items because the Circulation Rules were different at the renewal (check in) location. (9/7/2011) (SCLS Support ticket 40697)(Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
  • System is ignoring the Max. Accruable Fine per Issue setting: sporadic report of the system assessing a higher Max. Accruable Fine per Issue than what is in a library's Circulation Issuing Rules. (9/7/2011) (SCLS Support Ticket 40917)(Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
  • Grace period may be ignored when system assesses fines: older report from one library and a new report from another library prove that the system sometimes ignores the grace period in a circulation rule, other times it works correctly. (9/2/2011) (SCLS Support Ticket 40899)(Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
  • If a patron checks out an item at Library A and asks Library B to renew the item for them, if the item goes to overdue after the renewal, the system will charge overdue fines based on the renewal library(check in library) or owning library, not the checkout library. Overdues are applied based on the check in library's rules, not the check out library's rules. (8/11/2011) (SCLS Support Ticket 40697).(Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• Provide the agency code on the holds checkin note when a transit hold is checked in. [Note, prior to the 4.8 upgrade, checking in the hold twice, did present the agency code]. (6/22/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40354)(Development delivered 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)
• There is a problem with check-in notes showing up for the following items that are checked in. We have reported this to LibLime. The temporary work-around is to select Keep Note. Click the Main circulation link and select Checkin again. Please do not discard the note. (4/20/11) (Problem/Medium) (SCLS Support Ticket 40272) (Fixed 2/7/12; 4.10 upgrade)

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.

 

 

 

Changes in Placing Multiple Copy Holds Procedure & Staff Use of Other Libraries' Materials

For several months, the ILS Circulation Services Subcomittee (CSC) and the Resource Sharing Work Group have been discussing and fine-tuning the policies and procedures for placing multiple copy holds including book group holds.  The Resource Sharing Work Group has also developed policies for appropriate staff use of other library's materials, including multiple copies of the same title. 

Placing Book Group and Multiple Copy Hold Requests

It is no longer necessary to send an email after placing multiple copy holds. Koha automatically moves the holds through the available copies in the system. This is, however, dependent on each library in the shared ILS running and processing their holds queue report at least once per day. If this is not done, holds may become "stuck" on one library's report. Library staff placing multiple copy holds should 1) place holds far enough in advance that they can all be delivered and 2) monitor the holds and take action if it appears they are not being filled in a timely manner.  This is all explained in the new "Book Group and Multiple Copy Holds" workflow.

Library Staff Use of Other Libraries’ Materials

One of the charges to the Resource Sharing Work Group was to review how materials are circulated between libraries. This was extended to include the use of other libraries' materials by library staff, including multiple copies of the same title.  The Work Group drafted a policy on this topic which has been approved by the CSC and which will be included in the policies to be submitted to the ILS Committee for adoption.  It is suggested that all library staff familiarize themselves with the whole policy, but here is the portion pertaining to multiple copy holds:

• Place all‐copy holds at least a week ahead of when needed, so no email is required.
• Limit to books that are not high demand/new.
• Suspended holds may be used until books are no longer new/high demand.

Since book discussion groups are "events" the following regarding holds on materials for events also applies:

• For single events only, not long‐term or ongoing displays.
• Keep for maximum of one week.
• Send materials back immediately after event.