[Koha] Patron permissions questions

[Joe Atzberger]

Agnes --

I see in the list of permissions that there is one flag (permissions) to
> set user permissions, and another (staffaccess) to modify permissions
> for staff users, and this confuses me as they seem to be the same.


Similar, but not the same.  Being able to change permissions for another
staff member (or even for one's self) would be a "higher" level of access.
Fewer people will need that level of access.


> It has been noticed that the permissions screen exists for all patron
> types, and I have had some confused questions about whether staff have
> to check the "Borrow books" permission before anything can be checked
> out to a new patron,


No.  "Borrow books" is the one permission that defaults to ON.


> and why we need a "staff" type at all if any patron
> can be set to use the staff client.


You don't.  You might have student volunteers or other non-staff help.
Howevver, staff patron types will be protected from having their permissions
modified by users without "staffaccess".


> Has anyone used permissions for patrons who are not on staff, and if so
> what for?


An typical case might be for a machine account used by a self-check device.
That account would have access to make transactions, but might reasonably
have "Borrow books" set OFF, since no books should be issued in the
machine's name.


> Could this screen be set not to appear except for specific patron types,
> e.g. "Staff" (even for superlibrarians)?
>

I don't think any controls exist for that yet, but I suspect additional
controls will be added under Granular Permissions work in coming months.
-- 
Joe Atzberger
LibLime - Open Source Library Solutions
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