Introduction

There are several steps libraries may wish to take to prepare for unexpected closure due to COVID - 19 or other emergencies. Please note, library staff are best placed to determine the needs of their own site and the advice provided below is intended only as a guideline for areas of common concern. The information below focuses on ways to prevent items from going overdue, fines from being charged and notices being sent to patrons.

Calendar

Preemptively marking days as closed on the KOHA calendar can push item due dates and avoid fines from being accrued. Please be aware that closed days will only take effect if they are marked on the calendar before the day being marked as closed starts. Sites may still mark a day that has already passed as closed in order to record that information, but it will not retroactively impact on checkouts or fines etc.

To set closed days, go to Tools > Additional Tools > Calendar which will bring you to a new page where the calendar for your branch will be available. In the calendar, navigate to the date(s) the library will be closed and click on the first date of closure. This will cause a form to dropout from the top of the calendar where you can add information about the closure including the date range. There will also be the option to copy the rules being created to all other libraries, which should be used by multi-branch sites. Once this is filled out hit Save. Days the library is closed are colour coded on the calendar, the key for this will appear on the right hand side of the screen along with a table of the closed days.

Changing due dates for current checkouts

KOHA recently added a feature for batch changing the due dates of items on loan. This is available in Release 19.11.04 (March 2020) in the 19.11 release series and 19.05.09 (March 2020) in the 19.05 release series. 

If you are not on these releases there is a plugin that provides this feature: https://inlibro.com/en/koha-plugins/. Instructions for adding and using this plugin can be found on our FAQ page.

Feel free to contact Interleaf Technology for assistance adding this feature to your site. 

Cron Jobs

There are several references to cron jobs in this document. These are scheduled programs that run in the background performing various maintenance tasks.

Below is a list of the cron jobs that would generally be disabled in the event of unexpected library closures.

This should not be considered a complete list. For full information on these and other cron jobs please consult the manual: https://koha-community.org/manual/19.11/en/html/cron_jobs.html. Please note, this is the manual for the 19.11 release, if there are any concerns please consult the manual for your own release of KOHA. For instructions for finding out the release of KOHA you are currently on, please consult the FAQ page or contact Interleaf Technology directly. 

Cron jobs often disabled when libraries are unexpectedly closed for an uncertain amount of time.

• longoverdue.pl

• advance_notices.pl

• overdue_notices.pl

• printoverdues.sh

• process_message_queue.pl

• fines.pl

• staticfines.pl  

You will need to request the support desk to deactivate cron jobs for you. 

Important: Dont forget to make a note in your diary to request the helpdesk to re-enable the cron jobs when you re-open. 

News

An option for keeping your patrons up to date on opening hours or other developments within the library is to display news or information features on your OPAC home page. There are instructions for this feature on our FAQ page:

Notices

For a variety of reasons, sites may not wish their patrons to receive notices while the library is closed. To prevent notices from being sent out the cron jobs that trigger these notices should be disabled, which will need to be completed by Interleaf Technology. A list of the cron jobs that are commonly disabled in these circumstances is included in this document, however contact Interleaf Technology directly for advice about cron jobs specific to notices.

Please be aware, you will need to notify Interleaf Technology to re-enable the notices when the library is open for business as usual again. Also, notices will not send out retroactively. Notices are sent on the exact day specified in the rules:  if one should have been triggered during the period the cron job was disabled it will not be possible to send it out after the fact.

While it may be preferable if circulation notices were stopped until the library reopens, the library may also want to get into contact with their patrons in bulk to send out updates or other important information. It is possible to add a tool to your site that allows bulk emailing patrons ad hoc notices. Instructions for adding and using this plugin can be found on our FAQ page.

Renewing checkouts

Sites may want to enable renewal options to avoid items from going overdue when staff are not available to manually intervene. There are two options outlined below, if staff need any assistance in determining which would be the most appropriate for their library please contact Interleaf Technology.

Automatic renewals

This feature will cause checked out items to renew without manual intervention by staff or patrons. This feature is set through the fine and circulation rules in tandem with the misc/cronjobs/automatic_renewals.pl cron. Please contact Interleaf Technology for more information and to confirm the automatic renewals cron job is currently running on your site. A system preference will also need to be set to allow  automatic renewals if a patron has fines:

OPACFineNoRenewalsBlockAutoRenew - As long as you want autorenewals to be available even to patrons owing fines ensure this system preference is set to Allow.

A system preference will also need to be set to allow renewing if a patron has overdue items:

OverduesBlockRenewing - As long as you want renewing to be available even to patrons with overdue items ensure this system preference is set to allow renewing.

OPAC renewals

It is possible to give patrons the power to renew their items via the OPAC, without relying on staff intervention. Staff will still be able to renew items via the staff site, this feature just provides additional options for patrons. To enable this functionality the following system preferences need to be set:

OpacRenewalAllowed - Ensure this is set to Allow.

OverduesBlockRenewing - As long as you want renewing to be available even to patrons with overdue items, ensure this system preference is set to allow renewing.

OPACFineNoRenewals - As long as you want patrons to be able to renew items on their own accounts regardless of how much they owe in fines, keep this box blank and hit Save all OPAC preferences.

If you have any questions about making changes to the renewal rules on your site please contact Interleaf Technology directly.