[Koha] Purging patrons while keeping those with items on loan

[Elaine Bradtke]

The reason I'm doing this is our membership numbering system has changed,
and our card numbers are the membership numbers (the membership card is the
library card).
I've come up with a workaround:

   1. Put all patrons with outstanding loans in a list (I have a report
   that lists them)
   2. Create a new patron category for these patrons (and change the
   individual  card numbers to the new card numbers)
   3. Go through and purge the patrons by category, leaving the staff,
   patrons with outstanding loans, institutions, (any non-member patrons)
   4. Upload new patrons, matching by card number, overwriting the old ones
   (this, at least in the past meant that addresses, and expiry dates were
   updated, but loans remained as they were).

But wouldn't it be nice if there was an option in the Patron Batch Delete
function that said something like "Do not delete patrons with items checked
out".
Any librarian will tell you that just because a patron's card has expired
doesn't mean they've returned everything they've borrowed. This only works
because we have a very small number of borrowers!

Elaine Bradtke
VWML
English Folk Dance and Song Society | http://www.efdss.org
Cecil Sharp House, 2 Regent's Park Road, London NW1 7AY
Tel    +44 (0) 20 7485 2206 (This number is for the English Folk Dance and
Song Society in London, England. If you wish to phone me personally, send
an e-mail first. I work off site)
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Registered Company No. 297142
Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999


On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 10:36 AM Elaine Bradtke <eb at efdss.org> wrote:

> Is there an easy way to delete all patrons *EXCEPT* the people who have
> items checked out?
> If I download just the records of the patrons who have items out, will it
> contain their borrowing information?
>
> The number of patrons with items checked out is very small. In a pinch I
> could reconstruct the information by hand, but trying to avoid that.
>