LINKcat News

News Summary for 12/3/12 through 12/28/2012

News

For the most current news, see the ILS Support Main page.

• 12/6/12 The minutes from the November CSC Subcommittee are now online.
• 12/4/12 Review your calendar settings for 2013. Double check that all your Yearly - Repeatable Holidays are correct and that you have added all the 2013 Unique Holidays for your library.  Instructions are in the Circulation Manual, Section XVI Circulation Tools.
• 11/30/12 On Wednesday, 12/5, we will be implementing a new hold sequence in Koha. Please read the LINK 2.0 Koha blog post or the link-announce email for details about this change.
• 11/28/2012 The GetIt Acquisitions module will be upgraded overnight tonight. Please do not use GetIt on Thursday, November 29th until notified by email that the upgrade is complete. Please review the Release Notes regarding bug fixes, updates, and the completion of the Send to Catalog development.

Known Problems:Recently Added & Updated

• 12/28/12 Fixed. This problem has been resolved and the app is now downloadable. LINKcat Mobile is not working on some newer Android phones, or phones that have been upgraded with newer Android software. Users get a white screen with text and no links work. This problem has been reported to LibraryThing. (8/7/12) (SCLS Support Ticket 42786)
• 12/19/12 Resolved. This problem was temporarily resolved by turning off the highlighting in search results. Unresponsive script errors: Staff report intermittent "Unresponsive script" error messages involving jquery while searching in the staff client and in the PAC. We have reported examples of searches with problems as well as error messages to LibLime. (SCLS Support Ticket 43485)
• 12/19/2012 Fixed. Some reports of Hold Available text messages not being delivered.There had been a problem with the Text messages for filled holds after the problems we had at Thanksgiving. While the daily status reports were reporting that the text messages were delivered, no messages were actually being sent. The problem has now been fixed and we now know how to check to make sure the text messages were actually sent. We took the messages for the past 7 days, manually deleted the messages for those patrons had picked up their holds and the hold messages were sent. Some patrons will receive more than one message since they had received hold notices on more than one day during that time period. If any patrons are still having problems with not receiving their text messages, please let us know. (SCLS Support ticket 43690).
• 11/30/12 Update. The availability facet was removed until the problem is resovled. Availability facet displays items in transit and on hold shelf at library: Items in transit to a library are appearing as available on shelf at the destination library for checkout. Items on the hold shelf awaiting patron pickup are also appearing as available in the Availability facet. For example, an item in transit from owning library FCH to fill a hold at current library SUN appears as available at PAR when using the Availability facet, even though PAR does not own the item and it is filling a hold for a patron. It also shows an item as available when it is in transit back to its home location. (SCLS Support Ticket 43518)

Problem Item reports and the Annual Batch deletion process

Problem Item reports are run each November and May for items with “Problem Item” statuses assigned at least one year prior to the report date.  These reports allow each library to keep track of all items that have “problem” statuses and to take appropriate action on these items according to their local policy.

Items that appear on the May reports but are not resolved will be batch deleted in July.

Libraries should have internal workflows/procedures for dealing with items with these problem statuses. Here are some examples. This list is not exhaustive:

• Were broken items mended?
• Were replacement parts ordered?
• Did patron pay for damages?
• Were magazines with Current Issue/No CKO status correctly updated?
• Were items marked as In Processing correctly checked in?
• Do patrons with Lost + Charge items need to be reminded about payment?

Here are the Problem Item [PI] Reports:

• PI: Damaged. Report posted to the Reports Calendar.
• PI: Not Lost (AV Repair, Defect Reported, Mending, Part Missing). Report posted to the Reports Calendar.
• PI: Not for Loan (In Processing, Current Issue/No CKO, Unavailable, Bindery) Report posted to the Reports Calendar.
• PI: Lost (Lost + Charge, Lost & Paid for).  Report emailed to the Director of each library, not posted on the Reports Calendar.

Items with a status of Lost + Charge, Lost and Paid for, Missing, Trace, Damaged, Lost in Transit and Missing Inventory are included in the annual batch deletion.

Items marked Claims Returned, AV Repair, Defect Reported, Mending, In Processing and Parts Missing are not included in the annual batch deletion.

Reminder to review calendar settings for 2013

If you have not done so already, please review your calendar settings for 2013.  Double check that all your Yearly - Repeatable Holidays are correct and that you have added all the 2013 Unique Holidays for your library.  Instructions are in the Circulation Manual, Section XVI Circulation Tools.

News Summary for 10/29/12 through 11/30/2012

News

For the most current news, see the ILS Support Main page.

• 11/30/12 On Wednesday, 12/5, we will be implementing a new hold sequence in Koha. Please read the LINK 2.0 Koha blog post or the link-announce email for details about this change.
• 11/28/2012 The GetIt Acquisitions module will be upgraded overnight tonight. Please do not use GetIt on Thursday, November 29th until notified by email that the upgrade is complete. Please review the Release Notes regarding bug fixes, updates, and the completion of the Send to Catalog development.
• 11/20/2012 New Teacher and Organization library card application forms have been posted on the ILS Support site; look for them on the Forms or the Circulation pages. In addition, the 'regular' patron application forms have been modified to include texting as a notification option and other minor changes. The updated version of the 'regular' application form in Spanish has not yet been translated, once it is complete we will post the form and inform you.
• 11/16/2012 New blog post regarding the Availability Facet is posted on the LINK 2.0 Koha blog.
• 11/14/2012 The "Hold Canceled" messaging preference has been removed as a default notice for all Patron Categories. Please read the 10/2012 CSC and 11/2012 ILS Committee minutes for details.
• 11/2/2012 The Patron Messaging Webinar is available online.
• 11/2/2012 The Patron Holds Management Webinar is available online.
• 11/2/2012 The ballot is now open for the 2012 Koha evaluation. It closes at 5pm 12/15/2012. The ballot is to be completed by library directors only.
• 11/2/2012 Two documents have been posted that update the status of Koha development for 2012 and beyond and describe the current status of Koha. Library directors may wish to review these prior to voting in the Koha evaluation.
• 10/31/2012 Many of the problems that occured with the 4.14 upgrade were resolved quickly yesterday. We are now using the Known Problems page to track the lingering problems. We will go back to using the Status Wiki to track service outages as usual.
• 10/30/2012 The Serials Clones Webinar is now available online.
• 10/29/2012 The minutes from the October CSC Subcommittee Meeting are available online.
• 10/29/2012 The Koha upgrade is scheduled for 9:00pm tonight. Read the SCLS Status Wiki for upgrade details now and in the days following the upgrade. Read the 4.14 Release Notes for information on what is included in this upgrade.

Known Problems:Recently Added & Updated

• 11/26/12 New. Closed Days sometimes ignored in email and print notices, correct in patron record. The problem seems to be that when the Hold Available for Pickup notice is generated, the system reports the Hold Expiration date as exactly 8 days from the check-in date and does not account for closed days.  However, in the patron's actual record, the system does account for the Closed days and extends the hold expiration date accordingly.  This problem has been reported to LibLime. (SCLS Support ticket 42608).
• 11/21/12 New. Availability facet displays items in transit and on hold shelf at library: Items in transit to a library are appearing as available on shelf at the destination library for checkout. Items on the hold shelf awaiting patron pickup are also appearing as available in the Availability facet. For example, an item in transit from owning library FCH to fill a hold at current library SUN appears as available at PAR when using the Availability facet, even though PAR does not own the item and it is filling a hold for a patron. It also shows an item as available when it is in transit back to its home location. (SCLS Support Ticket 43518)
• 11/12/12 Fixed. Searching - Availability facet: The "More" link under Availability does not always list all libraries that have items available from the search results. This problem is present in both the staff client and the PAC. (SCLS Support Ticket 43383)
• 11/14/12 New. Unresponsive script errors: Staff report intermittent "Unresponsive script" error messages involving jquery while searching in the staff client and in the PAC. We have reported examples of searches with problems as well as error messages to LibLime. (SCLS Support Ticket 43485)
• 11/14/12 New. Sporadic problem: Lost items checked in on sorters and trapped for holds, are not immediately removed from patrons' Lost Items list. When a Lost item is checked in on a sorter, it goes to the Exception bin. Staff manually check in Exception bin items a second time to see what the exception is. Sometimes, when staff check in a returned Lost item and it is trapped for a hold, the "Remove from patron Lost Item List" button does not fully engage. The item status is changed from Lost + Charge to In Transit, the replacement charge is credited from the patron's account but the entry is not immediately removed from the returning patron's Lost Items list. The entry IS removed from the patron's Lost Items list when the item is checked in at the pickup location for the trapped hold. We have re-created this problem using both barcode and RFID items but it is sporadic. This was reported to LibLime. (SCLS Support ticket 42765).
• 11/13/12 New. Fuzzy matching in subject keyword searches: Fuzzy matching (near-spellings) is being applied to the subject keyword index. We have reported examples to LibLime and asked for exact matches. (SCLS Support Ticket 43471)
• 11/12/12 Fixed. Holds - Place Hold Button: Staff can no longer place holds from the search results page on the staff client side as there is no longer a Place Holds button. This is particularly problematic when placing multiple holds. This feature is still available from the PAC. (SCLS Support Ticket 43368)
• 11/9/2012 New. Inaccurate "Hold Canceled" notices. Some patrons are receiving Hold Canceled notices when their items expire/lapse on the hold shelf. This has been reported to LibLime. (SCLS Support ticket 43457).
• 10/31/12 New Feature: Changes in phrase searches: Use double quotes to search an exact phrase in any index. We no longer have separate phrase indexes for title, author and subject. These indexes have been replaced by the double quotes feature. Please see the LINK 2.0 Koha blog post from September 25th for further details on this and other search operators to use with our new indexing system.
• 10/31/12 New. Cursor behavior on Check In screen: When checking in an item that produces a pop-up message, Hold Found or send item In Transit, the cursor may 'jump' up to the search box in the banner. If staff scan another item before responding to the pop-ups, they will be moved out of the Check In screen. (SCLS Support Ticket 43379)
• 10/30/12 New. Searching - Dropdown menus: Keyword dropdown field selection is not retained when revising searches in Advanced Search in the staff client and PAC, as well as the basic search dropdown in the PAC (from Title to another keyword option). Only Keyword dropdown menus are affected. (SCLS Support Ticket 43377)
• 10/30/12 New. Cataloging - Truncated Barcodes: Searching by truncated item record no longer takes you directly to the specific item record. If you enter the full barcode, it will still retrieve the specific item record. This problem has been reported to LibLime (SCLS Support Ticket 43378)
• 10/30/2012 Fixed. Holds Shelf Action report was not populated with 10/29 expirations. Reports are populated on 10/31 with 10/29 and 10/30 expired holds. Please call if your report remains empty. (SCLS Support Ticket 43362)
• 10/30/2012 Fixed. Searching - Format limit: The drop-down format limits are now working on the basic search screen in PAC.  This was a setup problem. (SCLS Support Ticket 43373)
• 10/30/12 Fixed. Searching - Indexing: The problems with searching newer records have been resolved.  LibLime needed to restart a process. Please report any continued problems with searching that fails to retrieve a known title.
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Cataloging: With Solr, new bib records and item records will be indexed in approximately 5 minutes, instead of several hours. Edits to existing bib records and items will also index in approximately 5 minutes. 4/22/11 After adding a new item or BSE record, the system is taking up to five hours to index the new item or BSE record, so new barcodes and new BSEs added are not immediately searchable. (4/22/11). (SCLS Support Ticket 39738) In Development (Round 2)
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Problems with Author search: The author searches in both the staff client and PAC are now working correctly. 3/9/12 The Author search in the drop-down box on the main page of the PAC is searching title fields as well as author fields. This is more of a problem when searching for a "corporate author," such as a band name. The Author search in the Advanced search in the PAC is fine, but the Author search in the Advanced search of the staff client is also searching additional title fields. This problem has been reported to LibLime. (SCLS Support Ticket 41891) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet/4.10) (3/9/12)
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Searching: Facets now include results from the records in the entire search results list. 8/12/11 Facets only work for the first page of titles listed. Expand facets to include all titles. List the results in a more logical order. (8/12/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40742) In Development (Round 2)
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Searching: You can now search titles and authors even if there is a diacritic in the title or author fields. 8/22/11 Searches fail when there is a diacritic in the title, author, etc. Fill out a Problem Bib form to have the diacritic removed from the record. (8/22/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 40822) (Bug in 4.8)
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Searching: Using an ampersand in the search no longer causes problems with browsing search results. Ampersand in search causes problems with browsing search results. 6/26/12 If you use an ampersand in a search, then you cannot browse through the search results list. When you go to the second page you lose the search results. (6/26/12) (SCLS Support Ticket 42602)
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Staff client: Using quotes allows you to do a keyword search in the staff client for titles that are numbers. For example, search “1493” to find the title 1493 : uncovering the new world Columbus created. 2/6/12 Keyword searching in staff client does not work for titles that are numbers (e.g. 1493 and 1491 by Charles Mann). Keyword searching in PAC is OK. Title searching is OK. (2/6/2012) (SCLS Support Ticket 41768) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet)
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Staff client: Previously, re-sorting the search results list did not always work. Instead, you were taken to the Advanced Search page. This only happened when you used an equal sign in the search (e.g. au=john grisham). Because you now must use a colon when you are using a search operator, this problem is no longer an issue (e.g. au:john grisham). 5/9/11 Re-sorting the search results list does not always work: If you try to re-sort a search results list the list does not re-sort. Instead, you are taken to the Advanced Search page. This only happens when you use an equal sign in the search. If you use the a colon, then the re-sorting does work (e.g. au:john grisham instead of au=john grisham). Please note that when searching in the Cataloging area, you must use the equal sign instead of the colon, but this bug is not present in the Cataloging search. (5/9/11) (SCLS Support Ticket 39838)
• 10/30/12 Fixed in 4.14. Cataloging: The Non-public note on the item record is now correctly retaining data in the field. Previously, the Non-public note field would initially appear to save, but the information in the field later disappeared. 10/21/11 Nonpublic note disappears. The Non-public note field in the item record does not seem to save correctly. Initially it may appear that the note is saved, but the information in the field later disappears. (10/21/2011) (SCLS Support Ticket 40838) (Not on Koha Problems and Fixes spreadsheet)