[Koha] Question re: NPL OPAC icons & ItemTypes

[Steven F.Baljkas]

Wednesday, June 15, 2005     19:33 CDT

Hi, Rachel,

Thanks for the answer back. :-)

I must apologise as I realise that the way I expressed myself confused what I was trying to get at: DSA has and would like to have more than the one book ItemType you described.

For example, to date, I have created icons for 8 out of 14 provisional base genre categories for Fiction (as defined locally), and for 18 of the 27 GMDs given in List 2 of AACR2R 1.1.C1.

I realise that this would be silly for libraries like HLT and NPL, which would likely not have/allow many of these materials for borrowing, but school libraries often do (e.g. activity cards, charts, dioramas, filmstrips, flash cards, maps, microscope slides, models, slides, transparencies, and various forms of realia: I had all of these in the Professional collection in the last highschool library I managed). There is also the desire to use Koha for equipment management, which brings in a whole other set of ItemTypes and associated icons.

Obviously, though, I wouldn't want to have so many ItemTypes, as most would end up with the same characteristics, since the things one doesn't want the students to be able to borrow would all have the same borrowing periods for staff.

What I meant to ask Stephen and all the rest of you cognescenti was if it were praticable to leave ItemType as it was but somehow have another MARC (sub)field instruct which icon to display, an IconType if you will, that would allow for a greater variety in icons than Book/Non-Book, Fiction/Non-Fiction as there is some benefit in terms of generating interest in the library gained through jazzing up the OPAC a bit.

And to be fair and properly grateful, I freely acknowledge that I have based the genre icons I have been creating on Stephen's very neat Western, Sci Fi and Mystery exempla. Thanks, Stephen!
 
Since Chris Jones has moved on to greener pastures and is not currently available, I need some direction as to what part of the code we would need to look at to make this kind of a change.

TIA,

Steven F. Baljkas
library tech at large
Koha neophyte
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

============================================================
From: Rachel Hamilton-Williams <rachel at katipo.co.nz>
Date: 2005/06/15 Wed PM 06:13:13 CDT
To: "Steven F.Baljkas" <baljkas at mts.net>
CC: koha at lists.katipo.co.nz,  Stephen Hedges <shedges at skemotah.com>
Subject: Re: [Koha] Question re: NPL OPAC icons & ItemTypes

Hi

> Given the complexity of the genre categories with some GMDs (text,
videorecording, etc.), I am wondering, Stephen, if it would be
practicable to use a simpler set of ItemTypes and have the OPAC icon
called by another field. I assume there is a line of code that tells
Koha if ItemType = X then icon = X'.

Yep that's excatly right - well it's what we do anyway for HLT and our 
other clients. We have just one "book" icon, and all the itemtypes that 
someone would think of as books use the same icon.

Cheers
Rachel

-- 
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Rachel Hamilton-Williams
General Manager
Katipo Communications Ltd

Phone: 	+64-4-934 1285
Mobile: 021 389 128
E-mail: rachel at katipo.co.nz
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