[Koha] Lists; needed features, including location and staff level sharing

Elaine Bradtke eb at efdss.org
Thu Nov 8 05:15:59 NZDT 2012


Very useful, we'll look into this.  It seems I'm not the only person who
thought this way!
Thanks

On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 1:29 PM, Marcel de Rooy <M.de.Rooy at rijksmuseum.nl>wrote:

> Hi Elaine
> In one or two days I will put a patch on Bugzilla that displays call
> number for lists in staff, including the ability to sort on item call
> number (with the limitation that it sorts on the first item). We use that
> now.
>
> Another future development is Sharing a list. The foundation is already in
> Koha. (See BZ 7310). It would cover your need of sharing a list between
> staff members. A shared list is a private list that can be accessed by
> designated others too with the specified lists permissions already present
> in Koha.
>
> Actually I already share lists between staff members, but this needs the
> following sql. (Do not know if you are comfortable with that. A developer
> should understand what to do.. )
> insert into virtualshelfshares (shelfnumber, borrowernumber) VALUES (?, ?);
> You only need to pass the right shelfnumber and designated borrowernumber
> for the user that is not the owner, but permitted to use the list.
> Note that altough it works (for me), this is still experimental.
>
> Marcel
>
> ________________________________________
> Van: koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz [koha-bounces at lists.katipo.co.nz]
> namens Elaine Bradtke [eb at efdss.org]
> Verzonden: maandag 5 november 2012 20:36
> To: koha
> Onderwerp: [Koha] Lists;        needed features, including location and
> staff level sharing
>
> We use 3.8 and are trying to enable our users to make more independent use
> of the catalog (instead of relying on the staff to look everything up, as
> they did  in our old system).
>
> On the public service side, I can see at least two important uses for
> lists:
> 1) For staff to create mini-bibliographies for topics in high demand.
> 2) For patrons to choose what material they would like to consult - a
> shopping list as it were (and quite often, this list will be passed on to
> the staff, because they will need to retrieve some items from other
> locations).
>
> But, once you create a list, the printout is not very useful.
> In the OPAC, the list gives title, author, publishing
> info, availability and call number. Theoretically one could print out the
> list and then wander around the stacks fetching the items.
>
> But there's a  serious flaw in the system.  The list in the OPAC version,
> does not show the shelving location.  Since only about a quarter of our
> collection is on open shelves (and some of it is located by size)  this
> means the reader is going to get  very frustrated. We have not included
> location information as part of the call number, as it can and does change,
> and would potentially complicate the browse the shelves feature.
>
> Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I discovered that the Staff
> interface view of the same lists gives substantially less (rather than
> more) information.
>
> If our staff needs to collect material from store rooms and locked cases,
> they have to print out individual records.  This is actually a step
> backwards from our old database, where we could print out a list with the
> retrieval information for each item.
>
>
> We've disabled the Cart function, so I don't know if that is any worse or
> better.  If it will show location, I will re-enable it.
>
>
> My second difficulty is the public / private  settings for lists.  It would
> be very useful to have a third choice: Staff only.
> Sometimes a list is a collaborative work, in progress, not ready (or
> intended) for public consumption, but more than one person needs access to
> it.
> Sometimes a list is useful for communicating with other staff members (we
> are rarely all in the same place at the same time)
> I designed some templates with default text for the staff to use for
> specific types of material, and I don't want these to be seen by the
> public, but if I make them private, then the staff can't see them either.
>
>
> Are solutions to the above problems in the pipeline for future versions of
> Koha? Or should I file a bug/enhancement?
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> --
> Elaine Bradtke
> Data Wrangler
> 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)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Registered Company No. 297142
> Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
> --Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)
> _______________________________________________
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-- 
Elaine Bradtke
Data Wrangler
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)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Registered Company No. 297142
Charity Registered in England and Wales No. 305999
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture"
--Elvis Costello (Musician magazine No. 60 (October 1983), p. 52)


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