KOHA MINI FAQ: Q Can you give a brief explanation of koha/opac/site-search differences for a non-librarian? A KOHA : This is the name for the “product” the library system as a whole. The same as say “ExLibris” or “BookPlus”.
There are two main access points into Koha, the Librarians “view” which we talk about as “The Intranet” and the Publics “view” which we talk about as “The Opac”. Opac seems to be a fairly meaningful library term which stands for “Online Public Access Catalogue”.
Because all of the functionality of Koha is delivered via a web-browser those seemed to be terms that made sense to us.
I'm not sure where you got “site search” from in the context of Koha (there isn't one as part of koha). Usually that's a term used for a search engine that indexes and searches the parts of a libraries website that *are not* the catalogue. So basically it searches the parts of a library website that are the library hours, membership information, supplimentry info about the collections etc etc.
On our sites (library and non library) we use htdig as a generic site search.
Koha does not by defualt have a generic library site “attached” to it, although there is no reason why you couldn't add more HTML pages to it if you wanted to.
Q I'm not sure what work is duplicated in the various products (koha v opac) and what's unique in each. A The Intranet and The Opac are two sides of the same coin - the Opac has more limited information displayed, because we assume you wouldn't want the public/members able to edit library information etc, and that they wouldn't want to see as much of the information held about a book (like the 3 or 4 “prices” for example).
Q I know US librarians are always saying that if it doesn't use Marc, then they can't use it. So, is that yet another part that has to be added to Koha? A You can import information from Marc format (always have been able to I think it was one of the first things someone tried to do) . However there is work very near completion on a more comprehensive support for Marc - so that you can get the information in more automatically, and also store and potentially export it back out again in Marc.
Q What is ISBN and how should it be used? A http://www.isbn-international.org/html/whatis.htm
Q In circulation management, how are barcodes entered (for returns etc) A …………………………
Q How can we print barcodes and reports to a remote Internet printer. A …………………………
Q Does koha support Internationalisation of addresses (City/Location + Postal Code + Country ) A …………………………
Q How do we customise ethnicity entries.
A …………………………
A Need to customise stuff like ethnicity in moremember.pl + checkdigit subroutine in Input.pl
Q Is there a config guide or menu for what to put into the SQL tables for preferences, etc for a new blank installation? A Nope we a sorely lacking that. What you need in the systempreferences table to use the simple acquisitions module: insert_into_systempreferences_variable_value_values_acquisitions_simple Then, from the index page of the intranet page (eg http://hlt.katipo.co.nz/ clicking on acquisitions will take you to the simple acqui screen and you should be able to start loadin in data from there.
Q How to set up printer options? A Insert into the printer table something like: : insert_into_printer_printername_printqueue_values_no_printer_nullip
And in the branch table try: : insert_into_branches_branchcode_branchname_values_t_test
Q Where can I find information about MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC)
A Information about MAchine Readable Cataloging (MARC) dhttp:www.oasis-open.org/cover/marc.html
Q What is the “user” table used for.. and where is it used?
A We use the users table for doing authentication with Apache::AuthDBI, so it contains the users and passwords for valid users to connect to the librarian part of koha.
Q Acquisitions fail and I see httpd log errors like “DBD::mysql::st execute failed: Unknown column 'lccn' in 'field list' at /var/www/cgi-bin/koha/acqui.simple/addbooks.pl line 207.”
A Your database tables are not up to date. From the command line, run the koha “updatedatabase” script from the command line like this: “perl updatedatabase -I /pathtoC4folder”
Q What are valid library card numbers? I keep trying… worked out a spreadsheet that does the checkdigit subroutine inside C4::Input.pm and got the last digit to match the result.. and its still not valid.
A Library cards employ Check Digits. Check digits are numbers that are based on a mathematical formula devised to help detect typical data entry errors.
Koha libray cards employ a 7 digit number and the last “number” may be an X - Let's refer to the card number as ABCDEFG.
To calculate the check digit:
Calculate= (4xA) + (6xB) + (3xC) + (5xD) + (2xE) + F G is the remainder when divided by 11. If the remainder is 10, then use “X”.
The standard for Koha is a barcode standard. The library would get a batch of barcodes from the printer with checkdigits included. Here is an excel spreadsheet to generate koha compatible card numbers http://developer.koha.org/HLT2.xls
Brief history of cardnumbers and koha
Horowhenua Libraries get their cards with a barcode and a number on them. The number conforms to the checkdigit routine. So koha didnt need to generate cardnumbers. It just needed to check that the number entered conformed to the checkdigit routine.
Q What is the easiest way to allocate new koha library card numbers?
A go to your admin page, and set AutoMemberNum to 1 - that will get koha making its own card numbers. Otherwise, make a little routine that generates numbers that fits that checkdigit. But what is more pertinent I guess is how to change the checkdigit routine so it fits your existing numbering scheme. At the momment the there is no easy way. Apart from hacking at the perl.
Q Is there a script that can be used with koha to generate a new
number on the fly when creating new members
A There could be…
Q How can I prevent users from accidentally deleting items and borrowers from the database?
A The undelete biblio option at the bottom of this page
http://hlt.katipo.co.nz/cgi-bin/koha/maint/catmaintain.pl is a quick way to undo a mistake - and it is tucked away in an admistration 'bit' of Koha. It would be pretty cool to have an undelete borrowers option on a page somewhere which retrieves from the deleted borrowers table (as opposed to the borrowers table).
Q What is the difference(s) between Koha/Opac 'Group', “Class”, “Item Typ” and 'Format'?
A GROUP: Is an entirely “Koha” concept, brought about by the need to describe the record/info that is the specific to a “group” of items, but not “all” items under a biblio. So it is the word like “biblio” that describes the middle “tier” of information within Koha. If you're a code reader, it is synonomous with the “biblio-item” table.
CLASS: Is a more general classification than itemtype, used for searching. It's “plain english” to help people find things they way they might expect, for example: CD, Video, Picture Book, Fiction, Non Fiction are all good “classes”. The only “class” change you'd expect an item to make would be to move to the “stack”.
ITEMTYPE: This is the “nity gritty” classification used to distinguish items for issuing purposes, it is not usually seen by the public, but used by Koha to work out how long someone can borrow an item for, and what charges may apply etc.
Examples of itemtypes include: Free CD, Pay CD, Bestseller CD, Non
Lending CD and these would all be in the CLASS “CD”.
I think that ITEMTYPE = FORMAT (which is weird but true).
If you're a small/focused library the distinction between class and itemtype may not be particularly useful but hopefully this helps to explain how it's used in a public library.
> Where the confusion started:
> When using “Advanced” search options menu (/catalogue/index.html), I
> note the option to search by “Class” but I cannot find a way to add an
> Item/Title to a “Class” entry in the Catalogue.
>
> Where I have looked for more clarification:
> When viewing the biblio using the moredetail.pl option, I see a “Group”
> option that includes “Class” and “Item Type” options inside the “Group”
> sub-menu.
>
> Comparing entries for “Format”, “Group” and “Item Type”:
> When using “normal” Acquisitions method to add a new biblio to basket, I
> see an option list for “Format”. The “Format” option list includes
> select items that appear to include both “Group” and “Item Type” names.
Q How does a subject search work?
A In a public library there are hundreds / thousands of subjects, so if you type in something like a keyword - Cat, Dog, Fish, Roman Empire, it then comes back with a list of subjects that contain that search word/phrase, and from there you browse to find the most suitable items.
The “Subject” search may not return a result unless you type in a known subject name. How useful this is may depend on your cataloging - For example, with thousands of subjects, there is no way that all the subjects would fit in a drop down list.
Depending on how you catalogue your items and how many subjects you may classify, you may be better off without the subject search option.
The data for subject search is in the bibliosubject table:
:TABLE bibliosubject:
::subject text NOT NULL
::biblionumber int(11) NOT NULL default '0'
An alterative - If you do wish to use a drop-down box, a non unique Key value may be used for the subject “text” field: The drop-down list includes human readable titles but searches on the key value.
Q How are Dewey entries processed?
A What you actually see as class (see above) on the screen on the item details page is an almagation of 3 fields.
:Thee three items are: classification,dewey,subclass
For example: In the database a book may have
:: classification=J
:: dewey=612.82
:: subclass=
:This information will appear as J612.82.
:To clarify further - a biblioitems like this :
:: classification=J
:: dewey=612.32
:: subclass=aa
:will appear as J612.32aa.
Having the dewey as a separate field results in much faster searches.
Q How to enter a biblio in koha without acquiring it (I allready have it) and without DB import ? It seems the only solution is to create a “false” supplier ?
A
Yep, this is the case if you are using the full acquisitions system.
In cvs there is a simple acquisitions system that you can use if you set the value in the systemprefences table to be simple.
Using the full acquisitions system you might like to create a supplier
called donation, or something like that, and use it to receive items.
Q Does anyone know the structure of the users table (i.e., how are user names stored in the usercode field? how is the password stored? what is the meaning of the “level” field? and what is the relation between the “usercode” field and access to the intranet module)?
A Lets see if I can help out with how Auth.pm works:
1) the “users” table is actually called borrowers, and has “userid” and “password” fields. Note that Auth checks userid and then on cardnumber, so you can always login with your cardnumber instead of userid.
2) the kohaadmin login:password is special, it is collected from /etc/koha.conf, which is accessed through C4::Context
3) It is possible to add a userid and password to a borrowers account by going to the page:
<intranet-root>/cgi-bin/koha/moremember.pl?bornum=<borrowernumber>
The “right” way to get there is to search on a member name and click on the cardnumber link. Then you will need to login with the kohaadmin login:password.
On the moremember page there is “Password” link. On the member-password page you can enter a userid and password.
4) userflags. The authentification system is rather incomplete at present. Only some of the pages are currently calling Auth::checkauth. Eventually all the pages should be calling Auth::checkauth. checkauth takes a $flagsrequired hash. This sets which userflags a required for the given borrower to access the page. If the borrower does not have the right userflags set C4::Auth will not allow the user to
access the page.
The following are possible flags:
|| FLAG || FLAG DESCRIPTION ||
|| superlibrarian || Access to all librarian functions ||
|| circulate || Circulate books ||
|| catalogue || Catalogue books ||
|| parameters || Set Koha system paramters ||
|| borrowers || Add or modify borrowers ||
|| permissions || Set user permissions ||
|| reserveforothers || Reserve books for patrons ||
|| borrow || Borrow books ||
|| reserveforself || Reserve books for self ||
|| editcatalogue || Edit Catalogue (Modify bibiographic/holdings data) ||
|| updatecharges || Update borrower charges ||
you can also set the flags for a borrower by clicking on the “Modify User Flags” link from the moremember page.
4a) There is a default setting on the userflags table. It is possible to set every borrower to “borrow” forexample using this part of the table.
5) the password is stored in the database and encripted using md5 encryption. Im not sure exactly how it works exactly, but you can have a look yourself 
I hope this small explanation helps,
Finlay
