How to Create the Anonymous Patron

There are many functions on Koha which require the Anonymous patron to be defined, such as the Anonymize checkout history tool or anonymous suggestions from the OPAC. This document will outline how to create and designate an account as the anonymous patron account.

For more information on enabling suggestions on the OPAC, please check our Help Centre or contact Interleaf Technology directly.

Creating an Anonymous patron

It is possible to allow a patron that already exists on your system to be set as the Anonymous Patron, however, it can be clearer to create a brand new patron, the sole purpose of which is to act as the Anonymous Patron.

For more general information on how to add a patron account to the Koha system, please check our Help Centre or contact Interleaf Technology directly.

Go to Patrons > Quick Add New Patron and choose a patron category from the dropdown list.

For creating an anonymous patron it is important to choose a patron category that is designated as either an adult or staff type. The benefits of making a patron category staff is that it cannot be deleted.

Fill out the Quick Add form. As this form can be edited to suit individual organisation’s needs, the exact content may vary.

When creating this patron, it is important to use an intuitive name, like Anonymous Patron, in order to make it clear in any context that this is a patron account with a specific purpose that won’t reflect the usage patterns of the average patron.

Confirm the patron category is in the Staff type

It is possible at this point to confirm that the selected patron category is designated as a Staff type. Click on the Category option to view to dropdown menu. This will show all the available patron categories sorted into the different types.

Confirm that the selected patron category is under the Staff type heading in bold.

Once the patron account has been saved, take note of the borrower number associated with the patron. Borrowernumbers are unique internal database ID numbers that Koha automatically assigns to all users added to the system. The numbers are assigned in a numerically ascending order and are mainly used in the context of reports.

Define the AnonymousPatron system preference

Once the Anonymous Patron has been determined it is necessary to put their borrower number into the AnonymousPatron system preference.

Go to Koha administration > System preferences and search for AnonymousPatron.

This will bring back a variety of system preference options because the Anonymous Patron is used for several different functions within Koha.

The preference we are addressing here is AnonymousPatron.

This system preference will automatically be populated with the borrower number 0 or it maybe blank. Insert the borrowernumber of the Anonymous patron you have defined into the AnonymousPatron system preference. Hit Save all OPAC preferences.

Once the patron is designated as the Anonymous patron in the system preference a message confirm that status will appear on the patron account.

Whenever a patron’s data is anonymised it will be associated with the Anonymous patron that has been created.

Version	Date	Detail	Author
1.0	15/12/25	Document created	Holly Cooper