Customizing the OPAC

Customizing the OPAC

There are many ways to customize the OPAC in Koha. This includes custom colors, adding coverflows, customizing search, and adding custom news and content.

Using the Galadriel Plugin to Customize the OPAC

The Galadriel plugin is a great tool to utilize to customize their OPAC. Customizations include adding a logo, changing the background color, adding buttons, normalizing book cover sizes, and so much more.


Once this plugin has been installed onto your system in the Administration section. There is an action button to configure the plugin. This configuration page will give you the keys to customize the look of your OPAC.

To see the changes that are being made make sure "Enable Galadriel "  is selected. It is not, the changes will not be activated.

As we showed in the video, once these changes have been added, hitting save on the configure page and refreshing your OPAC - Voila! The OPAC is updated!

Highlight Online Resources

Online resources that come from third-party providers like Overdrive can be highlighted using the Galadriel Plugin. The Online resources options are found near the bottom of the configuration settings.


Much of configuration controls the “Online Resource” links on the OPAC results/details page. These links are controlled by the 856 in MARC21 (Electronic Location and Access). By default, those links hardly stand out on the page and can easily be lost on the user.


In the Galadriel Plugin let’s check the “Enable online resource buttons” and give it a try! There are some options to increase the font size, change the font color, add a border, and add a background color. Make sure you check each option that you want to use or it will not apply. I’ll give mine a black border, black font, and white background but I’m sure you can be more creative than that.



Galadriel updated the link styles, added a Font Awesome Icon and eliminated the label which is less needed when your 856 link stands out so obviously.

We can also easily change the text of those links if you don’t want it to read from the 856. There is a ‘Global custom link text:’ field where we can add some text like ‘Click Here To Access’. When that is changed your links will all have that text!



But there may be cases where you don’t want every button to have the same text. The next 3 fields allow you to create exceptions based on the base URL of the online resource. Many libraries have OverDrive and might want those links to read differently.

In the ‘Only effect this URL:’ text area add the base part of the resources URL. For example “yourlibrary.overdrive.com”. Then add the text for that specific link, like “Click to borrow from OverDrive”. You can enter up to 3 unique URLs with unique text!



Once your links are set up you may want to eliminate some of the action buttons and information that is less relevant or irrelevant when dealing with online resources. This includes Place Hold, Add to Cart and Availability. You can keep all this if you choose but you also might want to get rid of it for online resources only. Just check the ‘Hide the action buttons/availability of each selected resource: ’ box and those will disappear.

Before



After



We have also added a button to style your OverDrive results on the OPAC results to make those stand out a bit more too. Just click the ‘Style the OverDrive results button:

Before


After



Add a Coverflow to your OPAC

A coverflow is a carousel display of book covers of titles the library has, on the front page of the public catalog, often keyed to what has most recently been added to the collection. It involves installing and configuring a plugin that is fed by report to identify the materials to display. For libraries that want a set-and-forget option, their coverflow report(s) can be keyed to when items were added to Koha, pulling X number of covers added in the last Y number of days, ensuring a rotation of fresh content as the collection grows. Other libraries may choose to swap out their coverflow themes and use them for readers advisory, like building a coverflow based on staff picks or from a staff list curated for various heritage months or holidays.

In short, coverflows are a nice way to visually show off a library's collection on the public-facing catalog, especially for libraries that want to add an element of discoverability to their catalog without employing a discovery layer like Aspen.

The plugin can be downloaded from Github.

The three main things to decide are:
  1. What items the coverflow should show.
  2. Where the coverflow should be placed.
  3. How many coverflows you want.

Example



Choosing Items to Display in Coverflow

The plugin chooses covers based on a report created in the Koha reports module. The standard report we use chooses 7 items acquired in the past 30 days:

SELECT b.biblionumber, SUBSTRING_INDEX(m.isbn, ‘ ‘, 1) AS isbn, b.title
FROM items i
LEFT JOIN biblioitems m USING (biblioitemnumber)
LEFT JOIN biblio b ON (i.biblionumber=b.biblionumber)
WHERE DATE_SUB(CURDATE(),INTERVAL 30 DAY) <= i.dateaccessioned AND m.isbn IS NOT NULL AND m.isbn != ”
ORDER BY rand()
LIMIT 7

That report can be easily tweaked to select only items from given shelving locations, collection codes, etc.

At this time the plugin cannot look up covers by UPC, so we usually weed out things like DVDs that might not have an ISBN

Another option is to handpick the titles by adding them to a list, we then point the report to pull from that list:

SELECT biblionumber, SUBSTRING_INDEX(isbn, ‘ ‘, 1) AS isbn, title
FROM virtualshelfcontents
LEFT JOIN biblio USING (biblionumber)
LEFT JOIN biblioitems USING (biblionumber)
WHERE shelfnumber=2673

This gives the ability to add or remove items whenever you wish, and create custom coverflows by topic (Summer reading, holiday-themed, staff picks, etc).

Another advantage to using lists is that the coverflow can’t currently exclude items without covers. What we can do is replace the generic ‘Cover Image Not Available’ with a custom image for your library, lists allow you to simply remove titles that have no cover

Note, that with whatever option you choose you can have the results ordered or random and you can display as many or few items as you wish (though too many might impact performance).

Where to Display this Coverflow

The coverflow can be placed in any HTML area of Koha, it can be used in a footer and displayed on every page throughout the OPAC.



Peddie School adds the coverflow to the right navigation bar.


HMCPL libraries also wanted multiple coverflows, but rather than displaying them all at once, they set up a tab menu to allow selection of coverflows by topic.



Using Lists to Populate a Coverflow

Lists are a great way to create a curated display for the Coverflow in the OPAC. The coverflow can be placed in any HTML area of Koha, it can be used in a footer and displayed on every page throughout the OPAC.



Lists

Lists can be set up in the Lists Module. Be sure to create a public list. You can create multiple lists or just one.


Make a note of what list number you are using to add to your report. This can be found as the shelfnumber in the url of the list.



Reports

Now that we have created a few lists, let's create a report to generate the titles on the coverflow. Below you will find an example report.

SELECT biblionumber, SUBSTRING_INDEX(isbn, ' ', 1) AS isbn, title
FROM virtualshelfcontents
LEFT JOIN biblioitems USING (biblionumber)
LEFT JOIN biblio USING (biblionumber)
WHERE shelfnumber=11
ORDER BY rand()
LIMIT 25

A few things to remember.
  1. add the shelf number to the WHERE statement
  2. you can change the LIMIT to the desired number of titles to populate
  3. you will need to create a report for each list you create
  4. you will need the report number for the coverflow plugin configuration

Coverflow Plugin

If you do not have the cover flow plugin you can install it here from GitHub: Cover Flow plugin for Koha.

Once installed, you will want to configure your plugin.

Go to Administration › Plugins › Cover Flow › Configuration
  1. Link options
    1. how the links will populate under the the titles
  2. Image options
    1. setting up the size and title length
  3. Mapping
    1. this is where you will want to use the report numbers (we just created above) to add to the id section
    2. example below: id will be the number of the report you created above
    3. there are four 'style' options: coverflow, carousel, wheel, and flat
- id: 69
selector: #coverflow-nyt
options:
buttons: true
autoplay: 4000
loop: true
style: flat
spacing: -0.25

- id: 70
selector: #coverflow-pb
options:
buttons: true
autoplay: 4000
loop: true
style: flat
spacing: -0.25

- id: 71
selector: #coverflow-nf
options:
buttons: true
autoplay: 4000
loop: true
style: flat
spacing: -0.25

- id: 72
selector: #coverflow-staff
options:
buttons: true
autoplay: 4000
loop: true
style: flat
spacing: -0.25

- id: 95
selector: #coverflow-summer-staff
options:
buttons: true
autoplay: 4000
loop: true
style: flat
spacing: -0.25

Refresh the OPAC

You should be all set! Refresh the OPAC and you should see the Coverflow on the OPAC.

Hiding Items on the OPAC

There are two system preferences that are used to hide items in the OPAC. These system preferences are OpacHiddenItems and OpacHiddenItemsExceptions.


System Preference: OPAChiddenItems

The system preference called OpacHiddenItems allows custom rules to be written that cause specific items to be hidden from the OPAC. When you edit this system preference a text box will expand and allow you to put one or multiple commands to indicate what your library would like to hide. The structure of the command you put in this box will look like this:
Spacing is important here!

field: [value1, value2]

Field is the name of the field in the item record. For example, if your library wanted to hide items with the item type Staff, it would look like this:

itype: [STAFF]

Item Type is represented here by itype and within the brackets is the code of the item type called staff collection. To find out the code for an item type, go to Administration > Item Types.

To hide a shelving location on the OPAC it would look like this:

location: [EQUIP]

In this example location refers to the shelving location contained within the brackets. This code within the bracket is the authorized value for that shelving location. To find the authorized value for your shelving locations, go to Administration > Basic Parameters > Authorized Values. Shelving Location is under LOC.


If you need to hide multiple item types, shelving locations, or collection codes, insert a comma between each authorized value within the brackets. For example:

itype: [ILL, STAFF, REF]

To hide a collection code from the OPAC, the same command is used:

ccode: [FICTION]

Again, use the authorized value for the specific collection code you would like to hide in the list of authorized values.

Another item that can be hidden from view on the OPAC are withdrawn items.

withdrawn:[1]

Check your authorized values in the Withdrawn authorized value category. In this example, the item that is withdrawn has a value of 1 in the authorized value.

Exceptions to this System Preference

Some library staff may search the OPAC for patrons and not the Staff Interface. For those occasions, a library may want to have a specific patron category when logged in to be able to see the items that are hidden.

This system preference is called, OpacHiddenItemsExceptions. In this system preference, a library can add a patron category that can see hidden items. For example a library may put in the category, STAFF. This would allow staff members logged into the OPAC to see all the items, even the hidden ones.


OPAC Numbered Search Results

In some Koha OPACS search results will appear numbered, and in others sites, those numbers don't appear.  For instance, this BWS test site displays a number to the left of each result.




But in this test site, there are no numbers:


What causes the difference?  
The first site (with the numbered results) is not using the System Preference OPACHiddenItems, and the second site is.  

OPACHiddenItems is used to hide items from the search results display in the OPAC. This is commonly used for things like hiding lost books, staff only resources, or withdrawn materials.  Examples and formatting may be found here on the Koha wiki.  

Why is it like this?  Koha runs the search, generates the result list, and then hides the entries that should not display. This could result in a numbered list with gaps in the numbers - which would be really confusing.  So instead, Koha hides all the results numbers if there are any entries in the System Preference OPACHiddenItems. 

Why Isn't this Item or Record Showing in my Public Catalog?

Records, or individual items on a record, can be hidden from a library's OPAC in a couple ways.

The first method is by suppressing the whole bibliographic record via a combination of enabling the OPACSuppression system preference and setting the 942$n tag to yes, or 1; this hides the whole record from the OPAC. Records hidden this way are clearly indicated from the staff client, replacing the OPAC view link with text reading "Suppressed in OPAC."


The other way to suppress items in the Koha OPAC is subtler, and one that libraries often set up once and forget about until they can't find something via OPAC. This method is often a combination of system preferences, namely OPACHiddenItems, which hides individual items based on specific item data fields, usually in conjunction with OpacHiddenItemsHidesRecord, which hides the record if the only items on that record are hidden ones.


For libraries using Aspen as their discovery layer atop the OPAC, Aspen by default hides records with no items on them, and further suppression of individual items by data points like item type or status can be configured.

Can an URL Link Open in a New Window?

For libraries that have URL links to their records in the OPAC - YES!

Koha has a system preference called, OPACURLOpenInNewWindow, which can be set to DO. If set to DO, then when a patron clicks on an URL in a record, this will open up in a new window. This is extremely convenient for the patron, so they don't lose out on their search or place in the catalog.

Tags

The Koha Opac has a tagging option. There are a few system preferences that a library can customize while using tagging. The two most important ones are:

TagsEnabled: Allow/Don't Allow patrons to add tags to items

TagsModeration: Require/Don't Require that tags submitted by patrons be reviewed by a staff member before being shown.

Moderating Tags on Staff Interface

Only staff that have the permission, Moderate patron tags (moderate_tags), will be able to perform this action. Those staff will be able to see the tags that have been added and need moderation at the bottom of the main page of the staff interface:


Clicking on the "Tags Needing Approval" link will bring the staff to the page for Tagging. The tags that need to be approved will appear and click the tag itself will allow staff to see the item that was tagged with this term/s.


Once the tag is approved, the tag will then be visible on the OPAC. If this tag is rejected, the tag will not approve on the OPAC. The patron who submitted the tag will see this notification under their tags when they are logged into their account.

Tutorial Videos



Comments

Libraries can allow patrons to make comments on titles within the Koha OPAC. If a library would like to activate this option, this is done through the system preference, OPACComments. Once this is set to allow, patrons, once they are logged in can make comments on titles.

After a patron has made a comment, this will be sent to the Koha Staff Interface to be moderated. This comment will not be seen by other patrons until it has been approved.

How to Moderate

Any comments needing moderation will appear at the bottom of the Staff Interface. Staff with permission to access these comments will be able to click through and see the comments.


There are two tabs, one with approved Comments and one with Comments needing approval. It is good to note, any previously approved comments can be 'unapproved' at any time. After a patron has been removed from the system, the comments will go away also.

Staff will be able to click over to see the title on which the comment was made and also click on the patron that made the comment. From here, this comment can be approved or deleted. Once the comment has been approved, the comment will be visible to all patrons, when the full record is viewed. There are two other system preferences that libraries can control in the comment area of the OPAC. These other two system preferences do not use the word 'Comment' in it but instead use 'Review'.
  1. ShowReviewer
  2. ShowReviewerPhoto
These system preferences will control the information the patrons see about who made the comment.

In this image above, the library has opted to show the first name and the first initial of the last name of the patron that made the comment.

OpacShowRecentComments will allow libraries to have a link to the most recent comments patrons have made from the main page of the OPAC.

HTML Customizations

Developers are in the process of moving news blocks to HTML Customizations in the Koha Tools module. HTML Customizations use a wysiwyg editor, so it is not necessary to know HTML to add custom content.

Many areas of the OPAC are now customizable without using HTML. Here is a summary of the areas of the OPAC that can be customized using the Word-like editor in HTML customizations.


Above is an image highlighting the HTML customizations on the OPAC home page.



Above is an image highlighting the HTML customizations on the patron’s summary page.

Pages

Libraries can create custom web pages in the Koha OPAC. Pages can be found in the Tools Module.

Creating pages is similar to create a news item in Koha. When creating a new page, a library can identify this page as accessible to the OPAC, Staff Interface or both. Just like with the News feature in Koha, a page can have a publication and expiration date set.


After creating the initial setup for the page, now a user can use the WYSIWYG option in creating content for this page. This option will allow font size changes, formatting, color changes, linking URLS, and so much more. For more experienced web design users, the ability to create the page in HTML is also available.



Accessing the Page

Once a page has been created and saved. This page will live in the Pages section. The table that it lives in, will be like the table found in News/HTML customizations. The table contains all the information that makes up the page itself and even a preview option to see what the page will look like. The link of the page that was created will live in the "Page URL" column. A click of the link will bring the page up in a new tab. It is best to copy this URL to use it the next step to link this page to the OPAC.



Utilizing the Page

The options for what a library creates with this feature are endless! Once a page has been created, the library can include this page on the OPAC or Staff Interface. A few options on placement can be done through the HTML customization option found in Tools also. An example of using this option would be if a library would like to add the link to the page to the sidebar of information found on the OPAC, called OPACNavRight.


Tutorial Video


Social Networks

Social media sharing buttons in OPAC detail pages are controlled by the SocialNetworks system preference introduced in 19.11. These options appear on the right hand side of the OPAC detail page, and include Email, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

In the years since that feature was introduced, the social media landscape has changed, so libraries may want to revisit those settings or even turn off all the options. As of 23.11, the next release, Twitter will no longer be an option, per bug 34584.

Reporting a Problem Through the OPAC

Koha has a way for your patrons to alert the library staff of a problem with the OPAC.

System Preference

There is a system preference in Koha, OPACReportProblem. This will be set to disabled by default, however, if a library would like patrons to be able to report a problem on the OPAC, this can be set to enabled.

Another key area that needs to be defined in Koha is an email address of the library or admin. If the system preference, KohaAdminEmail is defined and there is also a library-specific email set up under Libraries, then the patron will have the option to determine who to send the problem to (Administrator/Librarian). If a library only has the KohaAdminEmail address defined in System Preferences, then the form that a patron fills out will default to Administrator (email in the system preference: KohaAdminEmail).

Notices

A new Notice has been added to the Koha Notices and Slips section. This notice is called, PROBLEM_REPORT, and will by default shows the username of the patron reporting the error, the page that the error was submitted on, the title of the problem, and the message the patron left. This email will be sent to the KohaAdmin/Branch library email and also to the patron.

Patrons

Once the set up has been completed in the staff interface the text, “Report a Problem” will appear on the lower left-hand side of the screen on each page of the OPAC. A patron will need to be logged in to send an error report to the staff interface.



Once the patron is logged in and clicked “Report a Problem” a simple form will appear to allow the patron to fill out a message and a note to indicate any additional information.


Staff

The error report will be sent to the staff interface and a message will appear on the bottom of the staff interface called OPAC Problem Reports. All OPAC problem reports will also be accessible through the Tools module under Additional Tools. The error message/s will appear in a chart for the staff to mark view, closed, and new. Details of the URL, the message that was sent, and also the patron that sent the error message will appear.



Staff Permissions

Staff permission will need to be enabled for staff to manage the OPAC problems. This permission is under a new Section:

"OPAC problem reports management - Manage OPAC problem reports (manage_problem_reports)".

Patron Tutorial Video


How Do I Get Useful OPAC Usage Reporting?

Many libraries use Google Analytics for tracking their patron OPAC usage statistics. Since our last blog post on using Google Analytics, the embed code from Google has changed a bit.

For libraries using the Koha OPAC, that analytics code can be embedded in an HTML customization. This is located in Tools -> Additional Tools -> HTML Customizations.



There are a few pointers to bear in mind here:

Like news stories, HTML customizations need a start date to be "published" to the website.

For many libraries, the HTML editor opens in WYSIWYG editor format ("What you see is what you get" - a very user-friendly editor with a real-time preview of the contents). The <> button opens the source code view, which is where the Analytics code can be pasted.

A library can have multiple HTML customizations in a given type, so it is helpful to add 'Google Analytics' as a title to the entry to keep it separate from other customizations in that space as well as to help future staff identify it.

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