The home page offers links to these sections of Koha:
Catalogue Search: This will search on any word/words in the title, subtitle, series title or subject fields (?abstract, web URL?). It will search on truncated strings. For a more specific search, click on the advanced search link below the box.
Member search: will search on a member's barcode number, or on any part of the member's name (including truncated names).
Acquisitions: Koha has two acquisitions processes. The full acquisitions is a sophisticated system for keeping track of spending on books and other materials in multiple budgets. The simple version is a much quicker method of adding data if budget tracking is not required.
Accounts and Reports
Circulation: Koha has two Circulation processes. This link takes you to the web-based circulation system. The alternate text-only system is intended for faster access over a slow comms link. Talk to your system administrator if you need this version.
The Catalog is the heart of Koha, and the search system for it the principal tool for most users.
The Catalogue search is the first step to identify a particular item or material on a particular subject. It offers the option of an item barcode search (the barcode can be scanned or typed), or single or combined specific searches, which can be customized for individual sites. The Horowhenua Library Trust searches (above) offer Keyword and Title and/or Author and/or Dewey (i.e.class number) and/or Class (i.e. item type), and/or Subject search. Other fields such as Publisher, Abstract, web site etc. are also possible. Searches can be constructed using more than one field e.g. to find a video of Les Miserables: a search for Title Miserables and Class Video, will bring up a listing for the video, but not the book with the same title. Searching over more than one field will slow the search down.
The title search offers the alternative of an exact title search, (by clicking on the exact button). This is useful for short titles consisting only of very common words eg Time, War
The full cataloguing record is stored in three sections: Biblio, Group, and Item records.
The Biblio section contains the copyright information: author, title, series, copyright date and subject. Several printings of the same work can be attached to one Biblio record - paperback, hard back, large print, e-book.
The Group section contains bibliographic data for a particular publication of that work, such as ISBN number, physical description, imprint (publisher information), etc. A Group record can contain one or several items. It also specifies the item type (and associated borrowing parameters), and classification. You might have eg 2 copies of a title, one of which is to be Reference only, and the other a borrowing copy. You would make 2 group records, one for each copy. But if you later added another borrowing copy, you would add it to the group containing the first borrowing copy, since all the data in that Group record is true of both copies.
Item section contains the information relating to one specific copy: barcode, purchasing information, branch attachment, lending record.
Simple changes, e.g. spelling/typing corrections can be made by using the Modify buttons on the Biblio Record display, the Group Record display and the Item (Barcode number) display.
Further catalogue maintenance is available by clicking on the Catalogue maintenance link (in the Help box). (Access to this section may be password protected). The Catalogue maintenance section lets a cataloguer correct some other errors that creep into the catalogue: subject and group maintenance, and retrieving a biblio that has been deleted by mistake.
Subject Maintenance allows you to correct misspellings, or to change one subject to another, and have the change applied globally in your database.
The wrong subject can be corrected, and applied by clicking on the Modify button.
Group Maintenance allows you to move a group from one biblio to another. The third option in Catalogue maintenance also allows you to undelete a biblio that you have deleted by mistake, or restore the record of an item that was lost and then found.
Clicking on the undelete link will restore the biblio record.
Koha has two acquisitions processes. The full acquisitions is a sophisticated system for keeping track of spending on books and other materials in multiple budgets. The simple version is a much quicker method of adding data if budget tracking is not required.
http://intradev.katipo.co.nz/cgi-bin/koha/acqui.simple/addbooks.pl is the simple version.
Start by typing any distinctive keyword from the title into the Keyword field, or typing or scanning the ISBN into the ISBN field.
If you find a biblio record that fits, clicking on it takes you to the additem.pl screen (see below) where you can add the item info.
If the catalogue check for a matching record fails, you can add a new biblio by downloading a MARC record, if this has been set up for you (more in Koha v1.4.), or you can add items manually by clicking on Add New Biblio.
The first screen when adding a biblio is Section One, Copyright Information. The only mandatory field is the title.
After submitting the screen, you reach the same additem.pl? screen as described above. Section Two covers Group Information and Item information. You are asked first for the Item information: a barcode, the branch to which it is allocated (for multi-branch systems), the replacement price and any notes that apply to this copy only. Only the barcode and branch are mandatory. Then you have the option of adding to an existing group, or of creating a new group to add it to (see description under 1.2 Cataloguing Record.)
Adding a New Group requires you to specify the Format, or item type from a list you will have compiled with your installer. Standard cataloguing fields follow. Dewey subclass is used for filing letters, if you use them. Volume, Number and Volume Description can be used to identify separate issues of a periodical, for issuing purposes. It is useful to standardize the Volume description -- so use Apr 2002, May 2002, or 2002/04, 2002/05 and stick to your standardized description every time.
The full Acquisitions programme is designed so that items cannot be added to the data base without an explanation of where they have come from. If you want to add a lot of items without going through this process, or if you don't have to worry about keeping track of a budget, use the simplified Acquisitions process.
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For regular suppliers, Koha lets you build a list of your regular suppliers on by typing in the Start, receive, modify any order.
Click on Add New Supplier and fill in the fields in the left column.
The right hand column of Ordering Information works like this:
List prices and Invoice prices: you have the option of selecting the currency in which the price is quoted. If it is to be imported, Koha will do the calculation for the cost in your own currency by using the currency conversion table on:
It does this separately for the List price for the amount that is committed at the time of ordering, and then corrects the amount if it is different at the time the invoice is paid, due to currency fluctuations.
(GST is a local tax in New Zealand, similar to VAT in Britain. It is paid to the supplier as a separate item, but it can be reclaimed as an expense, so that book prices are effectively net, not including GST. This field could be used for a local Sales Tax in other countries if it is reclaimed. Ask your administrator to set the right percentage. If you don't pay any local taxes, and don't want to use this field for anything else, set all your suppliers to No. )
The next three fields allow for a variety of invoice formats. Some suppliers list items by the full retail price, then deduct discount and add tax to the subtotals at the bottom of the invoice. Others deduct discount line by line and don't charge tax. Koha can accommodate all these variations in calculating the exact amount any one item costs.
Manual Calculations only is used for sundry purchases for which it's not worthwhile setting up a separate supplier profile. Save changes when you're done. You can update a supplier profile at any future date by clicking on the supplier link on /koha/acqui/order.pl.
Bookfunds: Your installer will help you set up Bookfunds and the currencies you might be importing in. Get the exchange rates from your bank, enter them, and you're ready to go.
Enter a keyword for the supplier, and go to:
Click the Order button.
Do the catalogue search.
If it's a new title, click on Add New Biblio and reach.
(If you're adding an extra copy to an existing biblio, you'll reach this screen with some fields already filled in).
Fill in the catalogue information on the left, except for the barcode. On the right column, enter the number of copies, bookfund and supplier's list price. Tab down through the next 5 fields and Koha will enter the Replacement cost (usually the same as the List Price, but you can change it later if you need to), the budgeted cost, which is the list price less the discount expected, the GST (tax) if any, and the budgeted total. Then click on Add order.
The budget is updated. The budgeted amount is added to the committed total, and the same amount is deducted from the available total.
To add another title to the same order, start with a new Keyword search on http://test.library.org.nz/cgi-bin/koha/acqui/newbasket.pl?id=(supplier number). Use the same basket for all the books ordered at the same time. If you can't get them all entered in one session, you can reopen the basket and add more titles the next day.
Start at /acquisitions/ with a supplier search. Click on Receive. Koha will ask for the Invoice number, the amount of GST on the Invoice, any freight charged and the number of items included on this invoice.
When you have entered this data, Koha takes you to a Receipt Summary screen. Identify the item you have received by ISBN or by title keyword, and return to the order screen you filled partially when placing the order.
Catalogue Detail: Fill in any new details in the Catalogue Detail column, and assign the item a barcode. Creating a branch called Processing, and receiving orders into it is a help in tracking down new arrivals.
Accounting Details: Fill in Quantity received, the actual cost and the Invoice number.
Carry on with the next item.
When you have finished receiving all the items on this invoice, Koha will have divided the Postage and Packing cost between the all the items received; totaled the GST and it will have calculated the correct net price for each item. Each item will have this price added to its Acquisition record as the Actual Price. This record is retrievable in future by clicking on the Accession link on the item detail page in Catalogue Inquiry. Koha will have updated the budget, moving the money from committed to Spent.
Donations can be handled in the full Acquisitions programme by creating a virtual supplier called Donations. Koha will require you to enter all prices manually, and will show a warning each time that this is necessary.
Occasional suppliers from whom you expect to make only one purchase can be treated by shortcut. Choose the manual calculations option, and enter the name and address of the supplier in the notes field on the item record.
Cataloguing is done from two points of access, but starts always with a catalogue search which identifies whether the title is in the library or not. After a catalogue search, if there is already a record, clicking on the title will allow to modify or to delete the biblio record in the next step, clicking on the item's barcode number will allow to update the group or item record. If the title is not yet in the database, a new record must be entered through acquisitions where a record linked to a supplier must be created first. For further detail consult the acquisitions part of the manual.
Anyone who has access to the library's home page through the internet can search the Koha catalogue through the web-OPAC. Two search possibilities are available: a keyword search and a more detailed search.
Keyword search: On the library's homepage typing one or more words in the Search the catalogue field results in a keyword search on the catalogue.
A keyword search leads to a list of all records that contain the keyword in title, subtitle, series or subject fields. From the list it's possible to look at the detailed information attached to the biblio record: i.e. what kind of items exist, and their whereabouts. From the details, it is possible to place a reservation on an item if you are a member of the library.
Getting the search-result is really quick for a very specific search, e.g. Silmarillion, but can take a moment if the search term is general and appears in many titles, e.g. New Zealand.
Advanced search: Search the catalogue by Title, Author, Keyword or Class (choice from a list). It's possible to search in only one of these options or to make it a combined search, the latter takes longer to be executed.
Search by List of Subjects: A two-stage search which first searches the databse for a term in the list of all the subjects, then searches for bibliots containing the selected subject.
Search by Specific Item: Using the item number (barcode) allows to access the information of the specified item.
Any member signed up by the library, and thus having received a member number and a password can access the member's record and the library catalogue through the web-OPAC.
After having logged in with a member number and password, members can look up their own reading record, their account which includes the fees due or paid, and their address details. A member can notify a change of address directly from here.The actual change of address in the database has to be approved and taken care of - as any other change of record details - by the library staff.
Furthermore, the member login allows an online-renewal of books as well as placing a reservation to a borrowed item. See these sections for further information.
To sign in new members, for maintenance of existing records, new password attribution and deleting members, as well as renewal of loans. In certain libraries, a borrower type can be linked to another type and their data will be linked and taken over automatically. For example: a child in a library needs a guarantor to use that library.
Any member can ask for and be given a system generated password to use the online services of the library: catalogue search, requests, looking up member data and modifying their own address information.
Always search by the member name first to check if he or she already has a member account.
If not: Add a new member and check Person or Organization accordingly + fill in the details and save.
The Personal member screen offers the opportunity to collect details which may be useful for borrower analysis.
The mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk: card number, gender, given name, surname, membership category, postal address, town, alternate contact and relationship. Depending on the member category date of birth may be mandatory (see below for guarantee). After having filled in all fields required by your library, click on Save changes, check that all data is correct on the Confirm record screen, and click on Submit to save the record. (Note that the record is not saved until the Submit button has been clicked).
The Organization option leads to a screen which does not ask for date of birth, gender and other fields which are not relevant to an organization.
Mandatory fields here are card number, address fields and contact name.
If there is already a member account, make sure it's not the same person before signing in the new member or modify the data of the existing account if necessary.
The right side of the Member's screen displays Fines and Charges, items currently on issue, Items Requested and the Reading record.
Fines and charges: (See also under Circulation - Payment of fees). Fines and charges are calculated automatically by Koha according to the set up. A complete account history with each charge showing as a separate line can be viewed by clicking on View Account./
The Account screen of a member also offers the options of creating manual invoices and manual credit notes. Manual invoices are useful when a member returns an item which is damaged, or if the library wishes to record any other money owing (e.g. for photocopying or printing) against a member's record. Credit notes can also be used when someone wants to pay only part of a charge. Note that the amount field accepts only numbers - so write 2.50, not $2.50.
Fine regimes are set up by parameters.
On the member screen, search by member name or enter the borrower name. On the list of names, click on the name to update + enter.
Member record on screen, click on modify, change the data and save.
Any member can be deleted if necessary as long as they don't have items on issue, don't owe money or are not a guarantor with guarantees still linked.
Check the member to be deleted, check that there are no items on issue, that there is no money due and that the member is not a guarantor. If all is clear, click on . If items are still on issue, or money is owing, or guarantees are still attached, Koha will display an error message, and refuse the deletion.
A password is needed for the borrower to log into the online OPAC screen and place a request or check his/her member data. The password is generated by the system on request.
To create a new password, go to Member screen, search for the member, and show the member details on the screen first. Press the button password and the system shows an automatically generated password on the next screen, where the borrower can change it.
A forgotten password cannot be retrieved, simply make the system create a new one.
In HLT a child needs a guarantor, mostly a parent, to use the library and thus children cannot join on their own account, but only guaranteed by an adult member. This guarantor takes over the responsibility of the books borrowed by the child.
To add a child, i.e. a guarantee, first bring up (or join) the adult, i.e. the guarantor, then click on the Guarantee button at the top of the Membership Record column, and Koha shows the member screen for the guarantee with all the parent's address data copied by the system into the child's data. The child's record asks only for the information which is distinctive for the child. Up to three children can be registered on the same screen before clicking on Save Change, then Submit to save the record. The number of children registered will now display as links on the guarantor's record, and the users are thus linked.
A guarantor can only be deleted if all linked guarantees have already been deleted. The guarantee still receives his/her own borrower card and can use the library on its own - but may have other use conditions (e.g. guarantees can borrow less items)
Items currently on issue are displayed in the Items currently on issue box on the Members screen (see above for screenshot). They may be renewed from here (as well as in the Circulation area of both intranet or telnet interfaces). The number of times an item can be renewed, the number of days and wheter a requested item can or not be renewed depends on the parameter's value set up for your library.
In public libraries, a reading record that keeps track of what a reader has borrowed, has been found to be very helpful, e.g. with housebound readers. Koha keeps a record of all the items a member borrows if the parameter is set accordingly. If this option is active, the reading record is accessible only for a logged in member, or for consultation by staff.
The reading record can display the most recent 50 items or the complete list (click on Full Output), and it can be sorted by date, author or title (click on the link at the top of the column).
To issue items to a member of the library
On the circulation screen, read or enter the borrower's card number or enter the first part of the member's surname.
After having typed part of the member's name, choose the right entry from the "Select a borrower" pop-up list and Submit query.
On the issues screen, read or enter the barcode number. To issue another book to the same borrower, enter simply another barcode number, to end lending to one borrower and to print the due dates slip, press enter./
It is also possible to adjust the default date of issue, by changing the date before the item is issued. If more than one item is to be issued to the altered date due, check the sticky due date button.
To return books in the system when back in the library From any screen in circulation, the box returns leads to the returns screen.
Return books in the system by reading or entering the barcode number. You can read in an unlimited number of books to return them one after the other. The system will show the last item returned with information on overdue dates or payments involved. Also, the last ten items returned are shown.
If a book is reserved, a window pops up to ask confirmation of the reservation. A click on yes prints the reserve slip. In case that there are any overdue charges, the date on the returned items list will show up in red and the overdue charges will show up beside the book. They can be "paid" in the system immediately if wished. Note that the change displayed is the total amount owing, not just the charge for this one book.
If a item hasn't been issued, a special message will indicate this
Fine regimes are set up by parameters.
If an item can cause a fee to be charged to a member, the system keeps track of these fees. They can be left unpaid, marked off as paid or written off (should be used only according to the library policy).
Looking up and treating fees of a certain member is possible from the circulation and the members section of koha. The first is the direct way when a member card is used, the latter when the name is to be searched. In practice, fee payments occur most often during circulation, the access through issues is thus shown here. For the options from the members section, see above under Member - Fines.
To access payment options click on the Payment link in the Patron Information box.
Any fee paid must be checked off as such. To signal a paid fee, check the box Paid.
Depending on the parameters set for each user category, a certain amount of unpaid fees can result in blocking the member for any further borrowing. As long as the member hasn't paid up, the system doesn't allow borrowing any more items and will tell you so.
Manual invoices and credit notes can be entered by clicking on the buttons so marked. Note that the amount entered does not required a $ or any other currency symbol. Any amount can be booked in, independent of the actual fees due. If a borrower's account goes into credit, the sum owing will show up as a negative sum.
In Koha, there exists an elegant way of dealing with lost (= very overdue) books. The borrower is charged with the cost of the book, which effectively blocks further borrowing. The book's status is changed to Lost (very overdue), and the item is removed from OPAC displays, but remains on the intranet displays. If the book is returned later, the value of the book is credited to the borrower, and only the fine remains. So, if the borrower says that he or she can't find the book and pays for it, and if they eventually find it, they still can get their money back. And all is accounted for in Koha.
Reserves result from requests on borrowed items. On return, a requested item, will ask if a reserve slip should be printed or not. Confirm if needed
To change the branch of an item.
In practice, it's common to define some additional "virtual" branches, like processing or mending to indicate other whereabouts of an item.
On the transfer screen, choose a new branch and read or enter the item number + enter
Some default reports are offered by Koha. All sort of other reports can be generated with an SQL report writer. Koha will work with most reporting tools. It also has its own reporting tool which is undergoing constant improvement. But this documentation does not take into account this part of Koha.
Two reports on till reconciliation, one of the current day and the other of the day before which allow a detailed analysis of the fees.
setup
description of parameters
adding new "thing" e.g. a new item-type and modification of a basic parameter (how to)
At installation, Koha comes with a set of default values for the parameters. Each library will edit these values according to their need. In order to prepare a first configuration and to give a general idea of which parameters can take what values, a description of the parameters follows. This list is not exhaustive and will undergo some changes with each new release. Right now it must be considered, even for the actual releases, as "very much under construction" yet.
The actual editing of the parameters is done from the Koha admin page. Clicking on the link of any parameter leads to its admin page, where it is possible to add a new category to a parameter, to edit existing ones or to delete an outdated one.
The values of systempreferences influence which features Koha is going to support. It is the section of parameters which each library should take care of first. The default values are listed below as well as their options.
Table 2. Budget
Budget | the budgets allowed to different book funds |
---|---|
Book fund | Choose a book fund from the proposed list |
Start date | Start date of the financial period of the budget in format yyyy-mm-dd |
End date | End date of the financial period for the budget in format yyyy-mm-dd |
Budget amount | Amount for the above mentioned financial period |
Table 3. Book funds
Book funds | the different book funds |
---|---|
Book fund | Code of max. 5 characters |
Name | Full name of the coded book fund/entry> |
Group | Code of max. 5 characters |
Table 4. Categories
Categories | the different types of borrowers |
---|---|
Category | Code of max. 2 letters (at HLT one letter describes an area code, and one an age category, they are actually two different fields) |
Description | Full text explanation of the category type |
Enrollment | Period during which a member of the category is allowed to use the library |
Age max | Maximum age of how long a member can stay in a category, e.g. a child is a child-member up to the age of 16 |
Birth needed 1 for birth date in format dd/mm/yyyy if it must be a required field | |
0 for not a required field | |
Fine | Type of fine charged to this category of members - 1 letter code |
Bulk | ... Ignore it |
Fee | Any other value than 0.00, leads to an enrolment fee charged to a user signed in under this category |
Over-due | 1 for having a overdue notice for this category of members |
0 no overdue notice | |
Issue limit | Max. number of items allowed per borrower |
Reserve | Any other value than 0.00 leads to a fee upon a reserve made by a member of this category |
Table 5. Item types
Item types | the supports of an item |
---|---|
Code | Code with max. 4 characters |
Description | Full description of the item type |
Loan length | Number of days this item-type can be borrowed, with 0 days for no loan |
Renewals allowed | Check if renewals are allowed |
Rental charge | Default value is 0.00. Any other amount induces a rental charge for this item-type |
Table 7. Printers
Printers | Printers (UNIX paths). |
---|---|
Name | Full text name of the printer |
Queue | UNIX name of the printer |
Type | Type of printer |
Table 8. Stopwords
Stopwords | Words deleted during searches |
---|---|
Word | A word contained in this list will not be searched. Used for very frequent words e.g. articles ("the" "a"), or others like "and", "co" etc. Add or delete an entry of this list. |
Table 9. System Preferences
Systempreferences | System preferences -2 variables are useful in this table | |
---|---|---|
acquisitions | simple | simple = version |
full = complex version with budget tracking, supplier list etc. | ||
autoBarcode | 1 | 1 for automatic barcode creation |
0 for no barcode creation | ||
autoMemberNum | 1 | 1 for automatic member numbers |
0 for manual member number creation | ||
dateformat | metric | default value: metric = dd/mm/yyyy |
KohaAdminEmailAddress | name AT server | e-mail of the person responsible for the parameter administration of the present koha server |
opaclanguages | en fr | the languages in which KOHA is available (currently en - English; fr - Francais) |
opacthemes | hlt default | choice of OPAC (Versions of OPAC themes) |
template | default | choice of templates to be used (which set of templates is used for the chosen Koha version) |
hlt | The Horowhenua Library Trust - the first KOHA OPAC | |
Aqbooksellers | Book sellers |
Table 10. Search Results
List of fields searched | Check each box to have the possibility to search in the fields below as well as in the Keywords and in the Subject field. There is a different setup possible for the web-OPAC (OPAC) and the Intranet Catalogue search (Intranet). The admin page lists the default values if no other choices are made and the choice of the fields for the Intranet Catalogue search can be previewed, after having submitted a choice. |
Author | Author (Surname Given-Name) |
Title | Title |
Subject | Subject |
Dewey | Dewey number |
Class | Item class (offers a pop-up list to choose from) |
Item Number (Barcode) | Item number |
Illustrator | Illustrator (Surname Given-Name) |
Copyright Date | Date of the copyright of the item |
Serial | Serial title |
Item Type | Item type (used to limit a search to e.g. CDs or books only) |
Publisher | Name of the publisher |
ISBN | ISBN number without hyphens or spaces |
Publication Date | Publication date other than Copyright |
Pages | Number of pages |
Illustrators | Name of illustrators |
Volume | Volume number for a serial item or a part of a multi-volume document |
Size | Height of the document |
Branch | Name of the branch (used to limit a search to the documents in one particular branch only) |
Lost | To limit a search for lost items (box to check) |
Cancelled | To limit a search for cancelled items (box to check) |
To add a new category under each parameter, double-check whether it exists or not. If it does exist, editing or deleting can be done with the links on the far left of same line. Please keep in mind that editing or deleting a category from the parameter's list will affect the database and change all the data linked to that particular category. Deleting is possible only if no data-record is linked.
If no category is found click on the Add category box and create a new category. Fill in the necessary data for each property of a new category and save.
Each parameter has its own properties and some of them are required to be filled in. The fields that are required are marked in each add-form.