[Koha] 2 Different Issues: Patron Card Number / Library of Congress Call Numbers

[Samuel Crawford]

Hi, All!

I deeply apologize for the length of this message...

Here at Northern Marianas College (NMC), we are still currently using *Koha
version 3.14.11.000* (*definitely* time for an upgrade, I know; we are
aiming to do so within the next few months).  Meanwhile, I now have two (2)
separate Koha issues with which I need your advice / assistance.  I'll try
to describe each one as succinctly as possible; here we go:

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1.  Patron Card Number:
In the past, when creating a new patron profile for non-students (i.e.,
Faculty, Staff, and/or Public Community Members), the "Card Number" field
in the patron record has always been auto-generated (with a lengthy number)
for us.  In our case, we get something like "2132132132132198" -- easy
enough.  Yesterday, however, that card number (2132132132132198), or
possibly the one generated after it -- 2132132132132199 -- seems to have
been the very last number (i.e., non-student profile) that we are able to
produce, at the moment.  After successfully creating the "2132132132132198"
for this person (one of our brand-new Library staff members), we tried
creating another profile for our *other* brand-new Library staff member;
his Card Number was auto-generated as 21321321321321*99,* but...it never
took.  No matter how many times we tried to create his new profile with
this auto-generated number, we simply kept getting the same resulting
message after clicking "Save":  "This patron does not exist."

Finally, I tried manually editing the number by one digit, changing the
second digit ("1") to "2" (thus, making the Card Number 2*2*32132132132199);
this WORKED.

Still, we faced the exact same issue today when trying to create a profile
for a new public community member / patron, and even replacing digits
doesn't seem to help, at this point.

I am sure this has *something* to do with the *16-digit character limit*,
and I've been doing some reading in the message boards re: card number
field length here
<https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=13178>, but I'm
not sure whether or not I've found "the answer" to provide to our IT
Department (who are graciously working to help me solve this problem, on
the back-end).

Koha was established and installed as our ILS by my predecessors (who are
no longer here), so I don't know where this semi-obnoxious pattern of
"213213213213..." came from, but I assume it was an arbitrary decision they
made during set-up.  I'd like to "re-set" this somehow (if possible), but
I'm willing to do just about anything to resolve the issue, according to
your recommendations.

Can you help?


2.  Library of Congress Call Numbers:
Stranger still in our current "Koha crisis" is the fact that the Library of
Congress Call Numbers (LCCN) are not currently visible in our OPAC (the
front end) *or* the back end of our ILS.  In both our OPAC and our
administrative back end, Call Numbers are not present (as they once were)
in the "Normal view" of our catalog records; they *are* still there in the
"MARC view" and "ISBD view," but our users don't know to look there.  This
is a crucial issue that we need to resolve as soon as possible...

I should mention that this issue could *potentially* be a result of the
changes to our campus infrastructure:  In late October 2018, Super Typhoon
Yutu -- a category 5(+) storm -- struck and devastated the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).  Our College suffered extensive
damage, campus-wide, and the technical / technological infrastructure of
our institution has largely had to be rebuilt completely, piece by piece.
With that said, many re-connections, re-configurations, and other changes
(re-wirings, "switch-arounds," "switch-backs," etc.) have occurred under IT
in the process of recovery.  Our Library's server, which powers Koha, just
came back up and "on" a few weeks ago, and there have been myriad changes /
adjustments to it as well as to the Library's network(s), which may be
triggering this obscurity of data in Koha (i.e., item location / Library of
Congress Call Numbers, in this case).

Thoughts?

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Any advice, suggestions, and/or specific resources you can offer would be
tremendously appreciated.  I will be sharing ALL relevant information with
our IT Department...

Thanks, Koha Fam!



Sincerely,

Sam Crawford

---------------------------------------------------------
*Samuel Judson Crawford*, M.M., M.L.I.S.
Academic Librarian / Interim Director of Library Programs and Services
Northern Marianas College
P. O. Box 501250
Saipan, MP  96950
Phone | 670.237.6798
Fax | 670.234.0759
samuel.crawford at marianas.edu

-- 
Start Smart. Start at NMC.  Visit the Northern Marianas College website at 
www.marianas.edu. <http://www.marianas.edu>

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