Managing Patron Accounts

Koha has many options and tools for managing patron accounts.

Customize the Patron Registration Form

Libraries can customize which patron fields display on the form, which fields are mandatory and which fields are collapsed within the patron detail page.

System Preferences

BorrowerMandatoryField - Koha will present a modal pop-up window to include all borrower fields. This will allow libraries to identify which fields are mandatory when creating/editing a patron within Koha. Once fields have been selected, they will be inserted into the text field of the system preference.

BorrowerUnwantedField - Koha will present a modal pop-up window to include all borrower fields. This will allow libraries to identify which fields are hidden when creating/editing a patron within Koha. If a field is marked 'unwanted' with this system preference, that field will not be visible within the patron form.

CollapseFieldsPatronAddForm - This system preference will allow libraries to identify sections within the patron form that can be collapsed, making the form shorter. At any time, these sections can be expanded when on the patron form.

Main Contact Method

The patron registration form has a "Main contact method" dropdown list field in the staff interface and OPAC. This field is useful for reporting purposes, or to know which contact method to use first when trying to contact a patron.

System Preferences

If you want to make this field mandatory or hidden you can use the following systems preferences to control the primary_contact_method field.

BorrowerMandatoryField - To make the field mandatory when staff is filling out the form select primary_contact_method in the system preference.
BorrowerUnwantedField - If you do not want to use the field, select the primary_contact_method in the system preference.

Duplicate Patrons

PatronDuplicateMatchingAddFields is a system preference that lists the patron fields used for identifying deduplications. The default value is the surname, first name and dateofbirth. The system preference allows the library to choose which fields will be used. The available columns are in the schema for the borrower's table.

Staff will see the following warning when creating a patron with a duplicate found in the system.

Patron Savings in the OPAC

Koha has a system preference, OPACShowSavings, allows the library to determine where they would like these savings to be seen by the patron.

Koha has three options:

Show the patron savings in the User Summary
Show the patron savings in the Patron Summary page
Show the patron savings in the Checkout History tab

A library can pick all three, or pick and choose which place they would like to display. Patron Savings is based on the item's replacement cost with the item holding record in the 952$v.

The choice of "Show the Patron Savings in the Checkout Tab" depends on whether patrons choose to save or remove their checkout history. If a patron chooses to not save their history, that patron would not see this patron savings.

Quick Add Patrons

There are two ways to create a patron in Koha. A library can utilize the full patron form when registering, or choose to use a more streamlined version called "Quick Add". A few things will need to be set up prior to using the Quick Add option to ensure all fields are filled in that are mandatory and important to the library.

System Preferences

The first system preference that works with this feature, is called: PatronQuickAddFields. This system preference adds or deletes fields in your quick add patron form. Clicking this system preference will present a pop-up window and display all the fields that a library would like to have visible in the quick add form.

Any fields that are chosen in this system preference will be displayed in the Quick Add form. The second system preference that works with this Quick Add form is the system preference for required fields when registering patrons, BorrowerMandatoryField. By default, the mandatory fields will display in the quick add as well as the Patron Category and the branch. At any time during using the Quick Add form, a staff member can opt to go in the full form which is a nice option to have.

Staff Accounts

A staff account is created just like a patron account in Koha, with a few other options.

First, set up your Patron Category for a Staff Patron. Patron categories allow you to organize your patrons into different roles, age groups, and patron types. Go to Administration > Patrons & Circulation > Patron Categories. Make sure you have a patron category set for Staff. Library staff should be assigned to the staff category so that you can set their permissions and give them access to the staff client.

Patrons are added by going to the ‘Patrons’ module. Once there, click on + New patron. From the dropdown select Staff (or whatever you called the staff patron). Fill out the following form and make sure to assign them a username and password. The Staff/OPAC asks for the username and password to be used by the patron (and/or staff member) to log into their account in the OPAC and for staff to log in to the staff client. Once finished, click save.

Permissions

The last step is to set the patron permissions. These allow staff members access to the staff client. On the patron record, click More and choose Set Permissions to alter patron permissions. In order for a staff member to log into the staff interface they must have (at the very least) ‘catalogue’ permissions which allow them to view the staff interface. You will be presented with a list of preferences, some of which can be expanded by clicking the plus sign to the left of the section title. Each Permission is defined in the Koha Manual.

Batch Patron Permissions Modifier Plugin

The Batch Patron Permissions Modifier is a handy plugin that helps you manage permissions for groups of staff.

Setup

There are three elements:

Get the plugin from ByWater Solutions' github site: Batch Permissions Modifier
Create a template patron and patron list
Configure/run the plugin

The plugin maps the borrowernumber of the template patron to the id from the patron list that contains all the staff you want to have the same set of permissions. The list can be found in the URL when a patron list is open for editing. For instance, if the CircStaff template patron borrowernumber is 579, and the patron list id is 12, the plugin configuration would be 579: 12. The library would then run the plugin choosing template patron 579 and list 12 to give all staff that list the permissions that are assigned to the CircStaff template patron.

Once a staff patron's permissions are controlled by the plugin, the library will not be able individually modify them. If a staff member needs their permissions changed, they will need to be removed from the patron list.

Staff Patron Permission Maintenance

After the initial plugin setup, follow these guidelines when patrons are added or removed from lists, or template patrons' permissions are changed.

Adding staff to an existing list: their permissions should be updated in real-time, and the new permissions should override any existing permissions they may have had. There is no need to run the plugin.

Removing staff from a list: their permissions from the template will remain, but you will now be able to edit them. There is no need to run the plugin.

Changing a template patron's permissions: the plugin must be run for changes to a template patron's permissions to update for staff on the associated list.

Add Patron Photos

Patron photos can be added individually or in bulk! First the system preference, PatronImages, must be set to Allow.

Once you have this set to allow, you to add an image to a patron individually, from the patron detail page, a placeholder image under the patron’s name, and a box to upload a patron image below the basic contact information.

Once add an image is chosen, the next step is to upload the image to the patron's detail page. Attach the file and then click upload.

There is a limit to the size of the image, which is 100K on the size of the picture uploaded and it is recommended that the image be 200x300 pixels, but smaller images will work as well. For the file type, only PNG, GIF, JPEG, XPM formats are supported.

Batch Uploading Patron Images

From the Tools module within Koha, under Patrons & Circulation, there is the option to Upload Patron Images. This tool will allow you to upload one image to an individual patron or in bulk. Koha would like this bulk operation done through a txt file. The file name should be “DATALINK.TXT” or “IDLINK.TXT”. In this file enter the patron’s card number followed by a comma (or tab) and then the image file name on a single line for each image.

456123, anne.jpg

561245, donna.jpg

Once you have supplied all the patron's card numbers and image files on this txt file, zip it up. Then the option in the Tool, to use a Zip File will be the option to choose. After this has been processed, a success box will appear with the information that was processed. The same file restrictions from above still apply to this file import.

Upload a Form to a Patron Account

If a library needs to retain scanned, signed forms associated with a patron account, the EnableBorrowerFiles system preference provides a way to upload and attach a document to the patron account. With the preference set to "Do enable the ability to upload and attach arbitrary files to a borrower record," libraries can attach forms and documents to a patron account. The files can be uploaded, viewed, or deleted from the lower right portion of the patron details page.

This would be helpful for libraries that have to retain signed borrower agreements or forms like makerspace liability waivers, in libraries where where a yes/no patron attribute indicating the patron has read and agreed to the terms is insufficient.

Autogenerate New Card Numbers For Patrons

Koha can create library card numbers for your newly registered patrons. Koha has a system preference called, automembernum. If set to "do" Koha will default the card number field on the patron addition screen to the next available card number (for example, if the largest currently used card number is 9998, then this field will default to 9999).

If autoMemberNum is enabled, the system preference BorrowerMandatoryField must not contain the fie cardnumber.

Patron Account Expiration and Renewal

All patron accounts have expiration dates and must be renewed periodically. An expired account can block patrons from certain OPAC activities. Expiration dates and blocks are set as part of patron category administration, covered in the Koha Manual.

Expiration Notices

Patrons can be notified of upcoming expiration with a notice, MEMBERSHIP_EXPIRY. This notice is controlled by the system preference MembershipExpiryDaysNotice and is generated by the membership expiry cron job.

Other System Preferences for Expiration Dates

NotifyBorrowerDeparture - if set to allow, Koha will display a message on the staff interface of the upcoming expiration date of the patron.

ReturnBeforeExpiry - if set to require, patrons will need to return material before their expiration date. Circulation due dates will be altered to have the due dates set for the patron's account expiration date. This can be configured by patron category in addition to a global system preference.

Account Renewal

Patron accounts can be manually renewed by staff.

Starting in 24.05, accounts can renew automatically via the membership expiry cron job. The cron can send an ACCOUNT_RENEWAL notice to notify patrons of the account renewal. For automatic account renewal, your library needs to select some ways to track that a patron is still an active library user. This doesn't record details of what the patron is doing at the library. Instead, the first time a patron does any of the selected activities, their "last seen" date is updated. Choose the types of activities your library wants to consider with the system preference TrackLastPatronActivityTriggers.

Tutorial Video: Automatically Renewing Patron's Accounts

Manually Send Password Reset

From the patron's account, staff can manually send a password reset email to the patron at any time. This option will be under the "More" dropdown from a patron's account.

Expiration

Once a patron's password does expire, they will get a message as they are logging into the staff interface or the OPAC. This message will be clickable and bring the user to the OPAC to reset their password. The patron will need to know their username and old password.

Patron Attributes

Patron attributes can be used to define custom fields to associate with your patron records.

Batch Delete an Attribute

Patron attributes cannot be deleted if there are accounts using them, so libraries will need to clear that attribute from accounts in order to delete the attribute.

Luckily, reports combined with batch patron modification make it easy to identify accounts using an attribute. The Koha reports wiki has some sample reports for identifying accounts using an attribute as well as identifying accounts using a particular value in an attribute. The former, identifying accounts using an attribute by code, will be how to identify patrons with any value in that attribute if libraries are looking to remove an attribute all together. The sample report can be copied into a library's reports library.

For our example, this library has decided that retaining information on whether patrons have a ring of power (patron attribute code: ROP) is personal information and should no longer be stored in Koha. Running the report with the runtime parameter of ROP will return the three accounts using that attribute. Because the report includes a column with card numbers, batch actions can be performed on all visible results returned in the report, meaning that a library can modify up to 1000 patron records in one batch. (The same functionality exists if the report returns a column with the borrowernumber.)

Patron attributes appear at the bottom of the batch patron modifier tool. Libraries can select the attribute to act on, whether that is clearing all values from existing attributes for attribute deletion or entering a new value in that field. Selecting the checkbox next to the attribute description will clear all data in that field. If libraries are really cleaning house with old data, they can select multiple patron attributes to clear using the 'New +' option to the right of the attribute.

Once the all accounts using an attribute are cleared, the attribute can be deleted in Administration ->Patron Attribute Types.

Custom Patron Slips

The first step is to create a new notice within Notices and Slips. When creating a new notice, the option is Patron (Custom Slip).

Choose to create a new notice- Patron (Custom Slip) and then fill out the CODE
Give this notice a name. The name will display in the option when printing this out from the patron's account.
Use the Print tab when creating your slip.

Here is an example:

Patron has [% borrower.holds.count %] holds

List of holds:

[% FOREACH hold IN borrower.holds %]

===============================

Reserve id: [% hold.reserve_id %]

Title [% hold.biblio.title %]

[% END %]

This will show all the patron holds.

The new Patron Custom Slip will appear in the Print drop-down menu from the patron's account.

Setting up Patron Attributes

There is a system preference that is associated with Patron Attributes, ExtendedPatronAttributes. This system preference will need to be set to Enabled to set up Patron Attributes. The top half of the Patron Attribute form is to identify the Code (remember 10 digits or less and no spaces or special characters) and the description. Then there are some questions that will need to be marked yes/no to identify how Koha should handle this particular patron attribute.

Repeatable: Can a patron have more than one of these Patron Attributes?

Unique Identifier: If this a unique number and no one else should have the same value in this patron attribute?

Display in OPAC: Is this a patron attribute that the library would like to be seen on the OPAC?

Editable in the OPAC: If a library is allowing patrons to send modifications to the library, is this one of them? Can a patron change the value or add a value to this patron attribute in the OPAC?

Searchable: Is this a value that you would like staff to be able to search for?

Display in Patron's Brief Information: Would this patron attribute be helpful to staff to be seen in the patron's snapshot of details?

The bottom half of the Patron Attribute setup form will allow libraries to customize what values will be used in this attribute, what patron categories will this be used for and what branches use this particular attribute.

Authorized Value Category: If a library would like this Patron Attribute to be a drop-down of values, then an Authorized Value can be created to correspond with this patron attribute. If a library would like this to be a YES/NO option, then the Authorized Category YES_NO can be chosen.

More about Authorized Values can be found here.

Branch Limitation: If a specific branch will only be using this patron attribute, that branch would be highlighted.

Category: If a specific patron category will use this patron attribute- that category will be chosen here. If this applies to all categories, then this would be left blank.

Class: Libraries that create a lot of patron attributes, may opt to group them into categories, this option allows for this to be grouped in an existing class.

Reporting on Patron Attributes

Here is a report that libraries can use/customize for reporting on their patron attributes. In this particular report, the 'where' statement is calling for a specific Patron Attribute and using the code that was created in the Patron Attribute setup.

SELECT a.borrowernumber, a.code, a.attribute AS DateSeen, p.surname, p.firstname, p.cardnumber

FROM borrower_attributes a

LEFT JOIN borrowers p USING (borrowernumber)

WHERE a.code = 'NEW'

Patron Sort Fields

There are two Patron Sort fields, Sort 1 and Sort 2. Patron Sort fields can be used to store information about the patron outside of the 'pre-assigned fields' in Koha. Sort fields are part of the patron account form and are visible on the patron account details page. Sort fields can be used as free text fields, or can be attached to an authorized value. Using authorized values for these fields allows your library to to populate the sort fields with dropdown menus of Yes/No or multiple options.

Creating Pre-Defined Patron Sort Fields

From the main page, go to the Administration module > Authorized value
Patron Sort fields are called Bsort1 and Bsort2
Choose 'ADD' from the far right column will create a new value for 'Bsort1'
Assign the value a Code. This code should be 10 characters or less, no spaces or special characters. Codes are for the reporting module.
Create a description for this value. The description is what will be visible in the dropdown.
Assign it to a specific library, multiple libraries, or leave it blank if this sort field will be available to all branches.

On the patron form, those values will appear in the Sort Field:

Further Customization

Sort 1 and Sort 2 can be relabeled on the patron form. This is done using jquery. For example, a library could change the wording on the patron form to say "County" instead of Sort 1.

If you feel comfortable adjusting a system preference, add this code to your system preference: intranetuserjs

//Change text of sort1 and sort2
$("#memberentry_library_management label[for='sort1']").text("County:");
$("fieldset.rows label[for='sort1']").text("County:");});

If not, and if you are a partner with ByWater Solutions, we would be happy to assist you with this change!

Patron Restrictions

There are automatic and manual processes to restrict patron access.

Restrictions block a patron from checking out additional items. They can also be set to block renewal of checked out items. Restrictions show at the top of the patron account.

There are two ways that a patron can become restricted in Koha:

Manual restriction placed by staff
An automatic process which is done by a background script set up by the library

Please see this ByWater Solutions tutorial video on patron restrictions.

Additional Patron Blocks

There are a handful of system preferences that block patron activity without adding restrictions. If patrons have any overdue items, if they owe fines, or if their account is expired, the library can block them from checking out, renewing, and/or placing holds. The blocks are applied automatically, and active blocks are listed at the top of patron account screens. They are removed automatically when the issue has been resolved. These system preferences are listed in a note at the end of the Koha Manual section on Patron Restrictions.

Automatic Patron Restrictions

Patrons can be automatically restricted by being sent overdue notices. This restriction will prevent patrons from placing holds on the OPAC.

Overdue restrictions can be automatically set with the Overdue notice/status triggers in the Tools module.

Koha can automatically remove that restriction with the system preference AutoRemoveOverduesRestrictions.

Set this feature up in Tools > Overdue notice/status triggers.

Manual Restrictions

If you would like to restrict a patron from the library you can add a manual restriction. This will populate at the top of the patron's account with the restricted message. Like overdue restrictions, manual restrictions will prevent patrons from placing holds from the OPAC. For more information, please review the patron restriction section of the Koha Manual.

You can create pre-defined restrictions. The system preference, PatronRestrictionTypes, will need to be set to 'Allow'. Instructions for adding and editing patron restriction types are in the Koha Manual.

Patron account flags are another way to manually restrict patrons for pre-set reasons. Flags are in the Library Use section of the patron account details, rather than added in the restrictions section of the account.

Please see this ByWater Solutions tutorial video on library-defined patron restrictions.

Additional System Preferences Linked to Patron Restrictions

CumulativeRestrictionPeriods controls whether or not restriction periods should be served concurrently or consecutively.

RestrictionBlockRenewing affects all forms of renewals made from the staff interface and the automatic renewals cron job.

The system preference OnSiteCheckoutsForce lets the staff override any restrictions a patron might have and check out items for use within the library. The OnSiteCheckouts preference must first be set to ‘Enable’ for this preference to be considered.

Permissions

Only staff with the Manage restrictions for accounts (manage_restrictions) permission can add or delete manual restrictions.

Only staff with Force checkout if a limitation exists (force_checkout) permission can override restrictions to check items out to the patron.

Patron Imports

Patron Import Tool

For libraries, especially academics, the patron import tool can be used as a way to quickly add all the new students into Koha. A .csv file is provided by Koha in the Patron Import Tool to easily separate all the patron information into the fields needed for import.

Setting Up the .CSV file

In the Patron Import Tool, there is a starter .csv file that can be downloaded right from this page. This file provides all the fields that can be added into Koha for the patrons. A lot of these fields may not be used by libraries during a patron import, the only Mandatory fields in this .csv file for a successful import are: categorycode and branchcode.

In addition to the starter .csv that Koha provides on this page, there is a lot of important text that will be helpful to importing your patrons. We recommend reading this to for other helpful information such as Date Format set up.

Default Values can also be used for fields that all the patrons in this file will be using. Examples for default values- if this file was all the same category code of patrons, the .csv file would not need this column, the value could be included in the default fields. Another good example, if all the patrons needed the same Sort 1 value, this could be included in the default values.

Importing the File

Once the file has been created, it is ready for import. A few steps that need to be completed to ensure a successful import:

The file must be a .csv.
If you wish to create a patron list from this Patron Import, choose"Create Patron List".
Choose a matching field. A patron import can be either new patrons being added to Koha for the first time, but it also can be a way of updating patron information. If this is an updated patron file, choose which field you wish Koha to match on which is either: cardnumber or username.

Choose, if any, default values for this patron import.

At the bottom of the page (after all the default fields), the matching rule option. If Koha does find a match to a patron, choose whether this new import will be overwriting the old one or the existing one is kept and the new one is ignored.
Also, there is the option, if using Patron Attributes, to replace ALL attributes or only included. The default value is set at replacing ALL attributes, so please change this if needed.

Helpful Tips

If you do get errors from this patron import, Koha does include why the import failed! Need help, take a screenshot of that error and submit a ticket, ByWater would be happy to assist if you do get stuck.

Koha will create card numbers at time of patron import if you would like. The system preference, AutoMemberNum, should be set to DO.
To find the patron list that this import created (if this option was chosen), this will be found in Tools under Patron Lists.

Automated Imports

Koha can automate student and faculty imports from an SIS (student information systems). Your institution can send an import file via SFTP where ByWater Solutions can run a cron job daily, weekly or monthly to bring those new or updated patron loads into the Koha System. We can also email results if there were invalid entries, no matches, display what was overwritten, what was successfully imported , or any errors that show after the import is run.

Please contact your support vendor to set this up.

Retaining Fields During Import

When importing a batch of imports, a library will can preserve fields that they don't wish to be overwritten. This is a collapsed option, which when uncollapsed, will show all the values that a library can choose from. Checking one or more of these boxes will tell Koha to not touch the value in these fields during the overwriting process of the patron import. This process is important for libraries looking to overwrite some data in the import, but not all, so don't forget to choose to overwrite the data in the next box below.

Prevent Systems Permissions from Being Overwritten During Patron Upload

For libraries, frequently academic libraries, periodic updates of patrons via the Import Patrons Tool, can have unintended consequences if staff accounts are included in regular patron imports. If patron uploads are handled manually, the option to protect the "System permissions" (flags in the borrowers table) field is located about halfway down the "Preserve existing values" list.

If "Systems permissions" is selected, and a staff account being imported matches an existing account in Koha with staff client permissions, protecting that field will allow all other account information to overlay the account information but leave the existing permissions intact. This field can also be protected in automatic import.

What does “Critical field missing” mean?

When importing patron data, the required fields are:

categorycode
branchcode
surname

The error message “Critical field missing” indicates one of the required fields is missing or wrong. If you are seeing this error but you’ve provided categorycode, branchcode, and surname, check that:

All categorycodes and branchcodes are presented exactly as they are defined in your database.

Example: Your code is “MAIN” but the description is “Main Branch”. The patron import form must read “MAIN”
Need to look up your branch codes? Check the “Koha Administration” page under “Libraries”.
Need to look up your category codes? Check the “Koha Administration” page under “Patron categories”
The codes are usually defined in all one word, no special characters, all uppercase letters

The headers in your spreadsheet match the format expected. Any variation will cause the “Critical field missing” error

Field heading must be all lowercase
No spaces or special characters
Example: “branchcode”. Not “Branchcode”. Not “branch code”. Not “branch”. Not “branchcode.”

Tutorial Video

Merging Patrons

Here are the steps to take for merging patrons. There is no undo for this action!

First, do a patron search. Within the results of this patron search, if duplicate patrons are found, check to mark them on the left-hand side of the table.

Once two or more patron names are chosen, the button Merge Patrons will be available to click. The patron that you are looking to keep will need to be marked. Once this has been confirmed, the details of what was merged will appear. Things that will be merged from one account to another are checkouts, holds, and fines.

This will remove all data that existed on the patron's account that was merged into the other one, for example, card number, phone number, and email. The primary patron account will remain with that information unless of course, it didn't have that information in the record.

Permissions

This feature is not available to all staff logins. A staff member will need to have permission "Add, modify, and view patron information".

Batch Patron Modifications

Batch patron modification can be found in the Tools module. The options to use this tool:

There are four ways to import the patrons that one would like to modify.

Using a file. This file can be a CSV of card numbers either generated by a report or created by the library.
Patron List. If a library has created a list of patrons to modify, then this option will allow the library to choose which list to modify.
Pasting or typing in patron card numbers into the box provided.
Through the reporting module! If a report has been created with the card number field in the select statement, then Koha will give the user the option to send the results of the report to the Batch Patron Modification Tool.

Modify From a Patron List

Navigate to More > Tools > Patrons and circulation > Patron lists

To create a new list of patrons click the ‘New patron list’ button.
Create a list name.
If you select the Shared box it will make this list visible to all users with the manage_patron_lists permission.
To add patrons to the list click the Add patrons link in the Actions menu.
Save the list.
Enter the patron’s name or cardnumber in the search box and click on the correct entry to add the patron.
You can also select Add multiple Patrons link and add barcodes in the box.
Once you have all of the patrons you would like to add you can click the ‘Add patrons’ button to save them to the list.

With the Batch Patron Modification tool you can make edits to a batch of patron records. There are multiple ways to do this including, uploading a file of cardnumbers (one per line), choosing from a list of patrons, or scanning patron card numbers into the box.

Navigate to More > Tools > Patrons and circulation > Batch patron modification

Staff can either add a file of barcodes, select a list, or scan barcodes.
Click Continue.
You will be presented with a list of the patrons and the changes you can make.
If you want to clear the field values in a patron record, select the box to the left of each text box.
At the bottom of the form, you can use patron attribute types.
If you have multiple patron attributes you can change them all by using the ‘+ New’ link to the right of the text box. This will allow you to add another attribute value.
Once you have made the changes you want, you can click ‘Save’ and Koha will present you with the changed patron records.

Next Steps

Once you have your patrons included in the first step, then you can proceed to the actual modification. This screen will look familiar for those that have used the other Batch tools that Koha has, such as Batch Item Modification or Batch Item Deletion. The top half of the screen will provide the details of the patrons that were included in the list, CSV, or text box in the first step. The bottom half of the screen will contain all the fields that can be modified with this tool.

If a library was looking to change this batch of patron's library, then the value would be chosen from the Library dropdown menu. If a library would like to clear out a value of a specific field, then checking the box right next to the label will disable the entry and delete the values of that field on all selected patrons.

Default Table View

The table in the Batch Patron Modification tool can be unwieldy, requiring you to scroll within the window to see all fields. Alternatively, you could use your browser's zoom out feature to see all fields at once, but this can be hard on the eyes.

In Administration, click on Table Settings under Additional Parameters.

Click on the Tools line. You want the first table: batch_patron_modification. By default nothing is checked, meaning that every column shows.

There are two options: 'Is hidden by default' hides the column but allows you to make it temporarily visible while using the Batch Patron Modification tool, while 'Cannot be toggled' prevents the column's visibility from being changed while using the tool.

You'll notice that some column names here are slightly different than the names in the actual Batch Patron Modification tool - for instance, 'borrowernotes' here is called Circulation note in the tool. However, they are in the same order here as they are in the tool.

Check the boxes of the columns you would like to hide or make unable to toggle, then click Save.

Now when you use the Batch Patron Modification tool, the table will by default show only the boxes left unchecked under 'Is hidden by default' in Table Settings. So, since we hid Street number, Country, Primary email, Phone, Mobile, Circulation notes (borrowernote), OPAC note, Restriction expiration (debarred), and Restriction comment (debarredcomment), those no longer show by default.

From here, you can use the Columns toggle to hide or show columns for this session only. Changes will not be saved for the tool’s next use. The columns selected for 'Is hidden by default' appear with a red x, and the columns selected as 'Is hidden by default' and 'Cannot be toggled' don’t show up at all in the pop-up.

To hide a green-checked column or show a red-ex’d column, click on its box in the column toggle pop-up. The table auto-updates as you click to show or hide each column. In this example, I’ve hidden Address 2 and Primary email, and have shown Circulation note.

The next time you use the Batch Patron Modification tool, the table will return to the defaults selected in Table Settings.

Note that you can also use Table Settings to prevent staff from toggling columns off. If 'Is hidden by default' remains unchecked but 'Cannot be toggled' is selected, the column won’t appear as an option to temporarily hide using the Columns toggle. Below, for instance, Card number must always be shown.

Staff Permissions

There is a separate staff permission to be able to do patron modifications in bulk. The staff permission is:

Under the Tools Category

-Perform batch modification of patrons

For more information, see the Koha Manual.

Patron Search

Koha allows libraries to search for patrons with many variables currently, however, a library can add another or more patron fields for searching purposes. Let's talk about what are the default searches for patrons, below is what Koha will allow a search to be performed on:

System Preferences

The system preference, DefaultPatronSearchField, can be added to include other fields that are helpful to your library. For example, if a library wanted to include a patron search for 'other name', this could be added this field would appear in the drop-down, allowing libraries to easily search for a patron by their other name.

At this time, this system preference needs the borrower data fields to be entered. Borrower Data fields can be found in the Schema.

In the example above, a library would enter, othernames, in the system preference

Why Does This Staff Account Keep Getting Logged Out?

Several factors control how long staff accounts stay logged in for. A few factors include:

The cleanup_database cron job, which controls how long session data is stored
The timeout system preference, which determines when to log accounts out for inactivity
Whether cookies are deleted from the internet browser.

But the most common situation has to do with permissions and a staff account trying to access something they are not authorized for, especially for accounts that have very limited permissions. A good indicator that this is the case is if only a few staff accounts are reporting a logout screen at unexpectedly brief intervals in the course of actively doing their work. While permissions work well in areas where staff do not have any access (like the acquisitions module, for example, where only core staff will be users), things can be a bit complex around patron, circulation, and cataloging permissions, where libraries often have accounts set with some permissions but not all.

A good first trouble-shooting step for supervisors or directors with the ability to set staff permissions is to find out what the person was trying to do when the logout screen appeared. If that function is a core part of their job, then they will need additional permission(s). The Koha manual will be helpful to determine what permission(s) may need to be added, or ByWater partners can open a ticket for assistance.

If the missing permission(s) are too broad, anyone can file an enhancement request in the Koha community via Bugzilla, or they may find that someone has already made that request and they can add their voice to that concern. Similarly, Koha should not be displaying a link to a function the user cannot access, so that would also be worth filing a bug.

Finally, it is useful to note that the logout prompt is not a true logout in the case of permissions, and the back button on the browser should take them back to what they were doing without requiring a whole new sign-on.

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Managing Patron Accounts

Managing Patron Accounts

Customize the Patron Registration Form

System Preferences

Main Contact Method

System Preferences

Duplicate Patrons

Patron Savings in the OPAC

Quick Add Patrons

System Preferences

Staff Accounts

Permissions

Batch Patron Permissions Modifier Plugin

Setup

Staff Patron Permission Maintenance

Add Patron Photos

Batch Uploading Patron Images

Upload a Form to a Patron Account

Autogenerate New Card Numbers For Patrons

Patron Account Expiration and Renewal

Expiration Notices

Other System Preferences for Expiration Dates

Account Renewal

Manually Send Password Reset

Expiration

Patron Attributes

Batch Delete an Attribute

Custom Patron Slips

Setting up Patron Attributes

Reporting on Patron Attributes

Patron Sort Fields

Creating Pre-Defined Patron Sort Fields

Further Customization

Patron Restrictions

Additional Patron Blocks

Automatic Patron Restrictions

Manual Restrictions

Additional System Preferences Linked to Patron Restrictions

Permissions

Patron Imports

Patron Import Tool

Setting Up the .CSV file

Importing the File

Helpful Tips

Automated Imports

Retaining Fields During Import

Prevent Systems Permissions from Being Overwritten During Patron Upload

What does “Critical field missing” mean?

Tutorial Video

Merging Patrons

Permissions

Batch Patron Modifications

Modify From a Patron List

Next Steps

Default Table View

Staff Permissions

Patron Search

System Preferences

Why Does This Staff Account Keep Getting Logged Out?

Related Articles

Credits and Debits in Koha

Setting Up Patron Clubs in Koha

Managing Patron Categories

Patron Privacy

Patron Notes and Messages