Hi, The bug 599 has been understood... It's due to inconsistencies in Koha features : in MARC you can put barcode "mandatory" or "not mandatory". BUT in non-MARC part of Koha, barcode IS MANDATORY. If you set barcode = non mandatory in MARC parameters, your DB is broken when you let barcode empty. The question is : what is the good behaviour ? * barcode IS mandatory => manage this in checker, the tools that checks that your DB is correctly parametered. * barcode IS NOT mandatory => change non-MARC part of Koha to accept empty barcodes. From a technical point of vue, both are simple. My question is for librarians (& for our big "circulator", i mean chris, if there is something i'm missing technically) NOTE : we agree that a books without barcode can't be issued/returned, aren't we ? -- Paul POULAIN Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org)
On Fri 26 Sep, paul POULAIN wrote:
NOTE : we agree that a books without barcode can't be issued/returned, aren't we ?
I hope not. I am a English Barrister. We have a Chambers' library. A few weeks ago there was a thread on the (UK) Lis-Law mailing list dealing with libaries in Solicitors' firms (which are similar). None of us have full-time librarians and books are on shelves throughout the building. Individuals (ie fee-earners) remove books from the shelves themselves and take them to their rooms. Other people may visit them and take the books back to their own rooms. Eventually someone will replace the books on the correct shelves: this may be someone who has borrowed the book or a member of staff. As was pointed out in the thread, it would be very useful to have a system under which individuals could check out books either from shelves or from other borrowers. Obviously it would not be fool-proof but since we are not a lending library -- the books will not be borrowed by anyone who does not work in the building -- this does not really matter: the object will be to try to locate the book within the building for somone else who wants to refer to it rather than imposing penalties on borrowers. To quite one message in the thread: :I think this comes down to an integrity issue within the organisation :you are working for. I am hoping to have a new LMS soon and it will give :me the option of doing exactly what you suggest. An OPAC so that a fee :earner can see who an item is located to, this would enable them to :contact that person ( it could be the person in the next office!). Issue :and return facilities are also available at their desk tops which would :enable both parties to reissue the item to the new person. This as far :as I can see would save a lot of time and frustration. It does however, :rely on a high level of trust and goodwill from all the people :concerned. No such library will use a bar-code. A title/author/edition method of specifying the book would be much more appropriate. Roger -- Roger Horne, 11 New Square, Lincoln's Inn, London WC2A 3QB http://hrothgar.co.uk/ mailto:roger@hrothgar.co.uk
Having followed the different mails about Barcodes mandatory or no, i'd like to share a few thoughts on the subject: Barcodes mandatory or not? ------------------------- Why not plan on having the system create "artificial numbers" which can be distinguished as such from "real barcodes" and thus the above question can be decided by each library (parameter to be on or off)? Real barcodes are meant to identify each book and link it to the dataset in the database. In my opininion the non-MARC and MARC should offer the same possibilities. So if there has to be a choice made now : go for the "no barcode necessary" in MARC either. In practice, libraries often don't want to allow issueing or returning without a barcode, as it means they don't have the book in their hands. and in the lending process the question is: "what's the use of issuing a book or returning it, if it isn't there?" But I'd recommend this to be a "on/off" possibility too, as there might indeed be situation where a barcode is not needed. Personally I do not understand, why a library would want to leave out the possibility of using a barcode on a physical item*, as the barcode's task is simply to ease the loan/issue/return process with or without librarians. when using a barcode reader and no search or typing is needed to identify your item (nor the reader for that matter). and if you are short of a barcode reader for any reason, the system should allow just to use a search by author or/and title or callnumber to get to that book, and it's still possible to type in the barcode number by hand too. and - the so called self-registration-process - when the user lets a machine read his card and the book's barcode would not work without them. Regarding loans, i do fully agree that a library system should provide a functionality allowing something like "transfer", which would allow to transfer directly a book to the next reader, bypassing a return and a issue to the next reader. (must admit, i can't remember wheter koha offers this possibility already... ) Note: *physical item opposed to a dataset describing a virtual item, which does not need a callnumber, shelving location etc. and will not be the subject of the circulation process, thus the barcode question is not relevant for datasets for "virtual items" Regula Sebastião (Librarian, Switzerland) ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://mail.messenger.yahoo.co.uk
I had installed Apache 1.3 , MySQL and installed Koha 2, but there is some config error and unable to proceed even after successful implementation. I just see "Welcome to koha" after that the system hangs. Any help Sridhar -----Original Message----- From: koha-admin@lists.katipo.co.nz [mailto:koha-admin@lists.katipo.co.nz]On Behalf Of Regula Sebastiao Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 2:01 AM To: paul POULAIN; koha-devel@lists.sourceforge.net; koha Subject: Re: [Koha] [BUG] barcode mandatory or not ? Having followed the different mails about Barcodes mandatory or no, i'd like to share a few thoughts on the subject: Barcodes mandatory or not? ------------------------- Why not plan on having the system create "artificial numbers" which can be distinguished as such from "real barcodes" and thus the above question can be decided by each library (parameter to be on or off)? Real barcodes are meant to identify each book and link it to the dataset in the database. In my opininion the non-MARC and MARC should offer the same possibilities. So if there has to be a choice made now : go for the "no barcode necessary" in MARC either. In practice, libraries often don't want to allow issueing or returning without a barcode, as it means they don't have the book in their hands. and in the lending process the question is: "what's the use of issuing a book or returning it, if it isn't there?" But I'd recommend this to be a "on/off" possibility too, as there might indeed be situation where a barcode is not needed. Personally I do not understand, why a library would want to leave out the possibility of using a barcode on a physical item*, as the barcode's task is simply to ease the loan/issue/return process with or without librarians. when using a barcode reader and no search or typing is needed to identify your item (nor the reader for that matter). and if you are short of a barcode reader for any reason, the system should allow just to use a search by author or/and title or callnumber to get to that book, and it's still possible to type in the barcode number by hand too. and - the so called self-registration-process - when the user lets a machine read his card and the book's barcode would not work without them. Regarding loans, i do fully agree that a library system should provide a functionality allowing something like "transfer", which would allow to transfer directly a book to the next reader, bypassing a return and a issue to the next reader. (must admit, i can't remember wheter koha offers this possibility already... ) Note: *physical item opposed to a dataset describing a virtual item, which does not need a callnumber, shelving location etc. and will not be the subject of the circulation process, thus the barcode question is not relevant for datasets for "virtual items" Regula Sebastião (Librarian, Switzerland) ________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://mail.messenger.yahoo.co.uk _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
On 2003-09-26 19:52:58 +0100 sridhar <sridhar@mindassociates.com> wrote:
Any help
Yes! 1. Try koha-win32 mailing list for Windows-specific problems (eg installation on Windows). 2. Do not start new subjects by using the reply button. 3. When you do reply to things, http://remember.to/edit_messages 4. Do not send to both koha and koha-devel unless you really must. 5. Read http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html about bug reports. Sorry about that, but please make it easy for us to help you! (Another way to make it easier is to offer money... we're more forgiving then.)
We at UNIDO have asked for a modification that now allows to enter items without barcodes. Katipo can provide details. emil levine UNIDO Library Consultant On 9/26/2003, "Regula Sebastiao" <reseba@yahoo.com> wrote:
Having followed the different mails about Barcodes mandatory or no, i'd like to share a few thoughts on the subject:
Barcodes mandatory or not? -------------------------
Why not plan on having the system create "artificial numbers" which can be distinguished as such from "real barcodes" and thus the above question can be decided by each library (parameter to be on or off)? Real barcodes are meant to identify each book and link it to the dataset in the database. In my opininion the non-MARC and MARC should offer the same possibilities. So if there has to be a choice made now : go for the "no barcode necessary" in MARC either.
In practice, libraries often don't want to allow issueing or returning without a barcode, as it means they don't have the book in their hands. and in the lending process the question is: "what's the use of issuing a book or returning it, if it isn't there?" But I'd recommend this to be a "on/off" possibility too, as there might indeed be situation where a barcode is not needed.
Personally I do not understand, why a library would want to leave out the possibility of using a barcode on a physical item*, as the barcode's task is simply to ease the loan/issue/return process with or without librarians. when using a barcode reader and no search or typing is needed to identify your item (nor the reader for that matter). and if you are short of a barcode reader for any reason, the system should allow just to use a search by author or/and title or callnumber to get to that book, and it's still possible to type in the barcode number by hand too. and - the so called self-registration-process - when the user lets a machine read his card and the book's barcode would not work without them.
Regarding loans, i do fully agree that a library system should provide a functionality allowing something like "transfer", which would allow to transfer directly a book to the next reader, bypassing a return and a issue to the next reader. (must admit, i can't remember wheter koha offers this possibility already... )
Note: *physical item opposed to a dataset describing a virtual item, which does not need a callnumber, shelving location etc. and will not be the subject of the circulation process, thus the barcode question is not relevant for datasets for "virtual items"
Regula Sebastião (Librarian, Switzerland)
________________________________________________________________________ Want to chat instantly with your online friends? Get the FREE Yahoo! Messenger http://mail.messenger.yahoo.co.uk _______________________________________________ Koha mailing list Koha@lists.katipo.co.nz http://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
On Mon, 2003-09-29 at 07:47, Emil LEVINE wrote:
We at UNIDO have asked for a modification that now allows to enter items without barcodes. Katipo can provide details.
Hi All Yep, we made a modification to Koha to allow the unido people to add items to their catalogue without having to add a barcode. These items are then non-issuable. So this is only a part of the non-barcode work that has been talked about. And it isnt in the Koha cvs tree yet, because we are in feature freeze trying to get 2.0 out. When new development work is started ill commit the changes to cvs. Chris -- Chris Cormack Katipo Communications Programmer www.katipo.co.nz 027 4500 789
participants (7)
-
Chris Cormack -
Emil LEVINE -
MJ Ray -
paul POULAIN -
Regula Sebastiao -
Roger Horne -
sridhar