[Koha] Koha Architecture, difference between OPAC results and SQL Reports

[Andrew Gordon]

Hello All,

I have a rather basic question, but something that has been confusing me for a while as a newcomer to using Koha.

When I am trying to do some routine data cleaning I regularly find that the OPAC results often differ from the SQL reports results on what I assume to be the same field. One regular offender here is items.location. The items location in the OPAC is different and often more detailed or complete than the value returned in a  report, which may often be blank despite there being a value in the OPAC.

So my question is, what are the two different ways that values are being pulled for the OPAC results (staff side, mainly) and the SQL Report side, respectively. Or is this an indication that somehow data has not been entered correctly?

Additionally, this is PTFS LibLime Academic Koha, I am assuming that it does not differ greatly from vanilla Koha in this respect.

As an afterthought, is there a good source of documentation out there that gives a better idea of the internal workings of Koha, the shape of its data architecture and how it renders data across its many views? So far I can only really find end-user UI instructions.

Many thanks,
Drew

________________________________________
Andrew Gordon, MSI
Systems Librarian
Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health
New York Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY, 10029
212.822.7324
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