[Koha] Best practice for registering pupils in a school library?

[Nora Blake]

Hi Marcus,

We've got a number of schools in our shared Koha system.  We started using
Koha before extended patron attributes were available, so we steered our
libraries to using the sort 1 and sort 2 fields of the patron record.  We
actually format and load the patron records on behalf of our library staff
(we don't really like to let them muck around the system).  We encourage the
libraries to use the year of graduation rather than the grade level.  Using
grade level requires changing the records every year -- this isn't a huge
problem, but it just means more work and more maintenance of the record.

We use sort field 1 for year of graduation and sort field 2 for home room
number or advisor name or whatever other information the schools deem
pertinent.

We have the sort fields display on overdue notices so the librarians can
compile them and hand them out and we use the sort fields for reports of all
kinds.

We thought about using different patron types for each grade level but have
shied away from doing that so far.  It seems messy.  We have talked with
some elementary schools who like to control circulation by grade level -- so
Grade 1 kids can take 1 book out for 1 week, Grade 2 kids can take 3 books
our for 2 weeks, Grade 3 kids can take 5 books out for 2 weeks, etc.  If any
of these elementary schools end up joining our group and we cannot convince
them to give up on the intensity of their circulation policies, then we
probably will create patron types by grade level so they can control the
heck out of their circulation.

I hope this helps.

Nora
________________________

Nora Blake
MassCat Manager
Massachusetts Library System
P.O. Box 609
South Deerfield, MA 01373-0241
508-357-2121 x123
866-627-7228
Email: nblake at masslibsystem.org
AIM: noraatmls 


-----Original Message-----
From: koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz
[mailto:koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz] On Behalf Of Magnus Enger
Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 3:12 PM
To: Koha list
Subject: [Koha] Best practice for registering pupils in a school library?

Dear Community,

Here comes a non-technical question!

I have some customers who are school libraries, and I'm wonder what is the
best way to register pupils as patrons.

I'm thinking sometimes it will be interesting to be able to group them by
the year they are in (1. year, 2. year etc), and sometimes it will be
interesting to group them by the class they are in (in Norway these will
typically be called 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B etc).

I'm also thinking that during summer it will be useful to batch delete all
the pupils who left at the end of the spring semester.

And of course, every summer all the pupils who have not left will have to be
shifted up one class. So maybe it's better to avoid the classes alltogether
and use the year they enrolled for something?

One of the libraries in question has created patron categories based on
class, so they have patron types called 1A, 1B etc - I'm not sure what they
plan to do when everyone gets shifted up one class at the end of the spring
semester... ;-)

So again: How are y'all registering pupils in Koha?

Best regards,
Magnus Enger
libriotech.no
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