4.18Preliminary demonstration of

circulation-related enhancements and bug fixes

Sponsored by the Pioneer Consortium with features sponsored by SCLS

Overdue fines “estimated” until item checked-in

• While an overdue item is still checked out, "estimated fees" display as a separate amount from the Total amount due– in the staff client in the patron’s Account tab, “Original amt”

column; and – in the patron’s PAC account, Fines tab (amount hyperlink) as

“Accruing fines on checked out materials”.• Estimated fees are included in the Total due but cannot be

paid as specific line items, waived or forgiven. • An unallocated payment can be applied against the patron’s

record, which will be applied to the Overdue fines when the items are checked in. Otherwise the payment is retained as an unallocated credit.

Estimated fines

Total accrued estimated fines.

Calculation of fines when item is returned (41328)

• Estimated fees are (re)calculated and charged as Overdue fines to the patron (Outstanding column) when an overdue item is checked-in.

Estimated prior to cki

No Pay or Waive option.

Overdue assessed after cki.

Pay or Waive option.

Checkboxes for Multiple Entry Actions

• There are now checkboxes on each line of the current Accounts tab entries. – When one or more entries are selected, the buttons at the

bottom of the screen change from Pay All or Waive All to read Pay Selected or Waive Selected.

– If you click Waive Selected, you can choose to either Waive or Forgive, either full or partial amounts (41060).

– If you click Pay Selected, you’ll see a Manual Credit screen with the various charges, and the one(s) you selected highlighted.

– Adding a description for the payment is required.

Select entry to pay.

Only one highlighted and totaled for payment.

Estimated fines are not eligible for specified payments

Changes to Lost and Claims Returned processes

When an overdue item converts to Lost, the estimated fees are ‘credited’ and the patron is charged the replacement price for that Lost item.

Estimated fee ‘credited’.

Replacement price charged.

When an unpaid Lost item is returned, the replacement charge is credited and the patron is charged the maximum fine defined in the Check Out library’s circ rule.

Lost item checked in.

Patron charged max. overdue fine.

Max. overdue on returned (lost)item.

When a Claims Returned item is returned, the patron is also charged the maximum overdue fine defined in the Check Out library’s circ.(41322)

Additional fixes and enhancements…

• Patron Account History retains title and barcode number in text. Information is retained after item/bib hyperlink deleted. (42954)

• Checkout library displays in patron’s Checked Out list (bug fix; 42526)• Display complete Item Status in Item Detail screen. • Numbered list of checked out items plus total in tab. (enhancement).• Fines tab defaults to Account page – equivalent to existing Pay Fines tab.

Account History reflects all financial transactions that occur on the patron’s record.

• Fines that are still ‘estimated’ cannot be selected for payment. You can apply the amount owed to the account but the payment will not be applied to the fines until the item is returned. This will prevent the “refunded overdues” bug (40697).

• Expand debt collect so that the billing notice flag will "unflag" once the patron's balance goes below 50.00

Discovery Layer – what LibLime says

• LibLime Academic Koha Discovery Layer offers academic libraries a richly customizable search interface (Discovery Layer Editor) which can be integrated seamlessly with third party products to create searching across multiple datasets or source repositories. (API architecture)

• The other advantage of the Discovery Layer is that it is a single page application which retrieves less data from the server when a link is chosen; the Discovery Layer replaces the old approach to HTML page rendering which resulted in significant response time delays.

• And other, more technical descriptions

Discovery Layer – what WALDO says

• The Discovery Layer editor which allows– Can customize the advanced search page– Can rename the Cart and List buttons– Can customize the look and feel of the OPAC (rather than in System

Preferences)– Among other customizations

• Easier to read; has a clean, fresh look• Faster—response time less than a second• The EDS API will be used for searching not only the library catalog but

also licensed databases or other information sources such as an institutional repository

• [Retains the look and feel and functionality of the current OPAC; users get improvements, not a whole new interface]

SCLS sponsored Features – potentially added to Discovery Layer

• Provide a “return to search” button for patrons after placing a hold (from patron survey)

• Add ability to renew multiple items at once using checkboxes

• Add ability to suspend and resume multiple holds at once using checkboxes

• Integration with OverDrive and/or Ebscohost (LSTA) ; WALDO is sponsoring integration with Ebsco EDS (not sure yet if that is what Badgernet uses)

Open Source

• Objective from the October 6, 2008 Migration Committee recommendation to LINK: With open source software, we have the ability to drive software development that is specific to our needs. In addition, we can contribute to the library open source community, and take advantage of development that is initiated by other libraries.