[Koha] Borrowers vs Branches vs Circulation...

[Tomasz Holdowanski]

Thanks Brooke, that explains a lot.

I hoped that there are settings hidden somewhere deep that make such 
setup possible. If not, well... as last resort I`ll try to talk to 
branch managers and convince them to have common membership policy. I 
just discovered that there`s a plan to drop enrollment fees, so maybe 
it`ll work.

A propos consortium... please don`t use that word in my presence :) 
Actually my library is a part of a consortium, we`re using Aleph ILS 
and we`re grossly displeased with it and with the way we are treated 
by the central library. We have no control over the system, and, 
what`s worse - neither do they. The whole thing is a certain disaster 
to come and we don`t want to wait for it to collapse and bury us 
beneath. So we`re desperately seeking an "exit strategy", namely 
cheap and good ILS. Unfortunately, we also need it fast :( The main 
question is whether KOHA suits our needs and if not, how far we must 
go adapting ourselves to it.

Suppose all branches have common membership policy, I think I could 
let them have their own borrowing policies by creating item types 
specific to certain branches (we have something like that now). My 
biggest concern is how to make sure that staff from branch one can`t 
mess anything in transactions from branch two. For example: can staff 
from Adult Fiction branch borrow, return etc. items from Multimedia 
Branch?  I hope they can`t by default, because there were couple of 
regular wars between branches` staff members just because CDs 
borrowed from Multimedia Branch for two days were accidentally 
prolonged by two weeks by a girl from Adult Fiction.

If such independancy level is possible, that would be enough, I 
guess. I`d handle the rest, technically or by convincing people to 
change some things. You know, I want that ILS, I want it bad. I love 
the control and that feeling of freedom and independancy from any 
a**hole in the central library whom I have to beg for simpliest 
things. But also there`ll be much more responsibility on my side, so 
I have to make sure that KOHA suits our basic needs. I`ll handle the cosmetics.

Please, anyone already using Koha, tell me: how do your branches 
function? Can staff from one branch handle transactions from another, 
or do they handle their "own" items only? For example: can a CD from 
Multimedia be returned in Adult Fiction, or has to be returned in 
Multimedia? It`s the most important thing I need to know.

Thanks in advance, be sure more questions are coming, hopefully less 
and less stupid over time :)
Regards,
Tomasz.


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