Your account
If the opacuserlogin system preference is set to ‘Allow’, patrons can log in and access their account.
Once logged in patrons are brought to their account summary.
If patrons access the home page while logged in, and OPACUserSummary is set to ‘Show’, they will see a small summary of their account instead of the login fields.
If OPACShowSavings is set to display savings in the summary box, this summary section will also contain the savings the patron made by using the library rather than purchasing the items.
From any page on the OPAC, clicking on their name at the top right of the page will bring a patron back to their account.
Resetting your passwordIf you have the OpacResetPassword system preference set to ‘Allow’, patrons can reset their password by clicking the ‘Forgot your password?’ link found under the login box.
Once clicked, they will be presented with a form asking for their username and their email address.
Warning
Patrons must have an email address on file to reset their password. If they don’t have an email address already in their file, they will get an error message
The system will then email the patron instructions for resetting their password.
The content of the email can be customized with the Notices and slips tool. The code of the letter is PASSWORD_RESET.
If the NotifyPasswordChange system preference is enabled, the patron will receive a notification indicating their password was changed.
The content of that email can be customized with the Notices and slips tool. The code of the letter is PASSWORD_CHANGE.
Your summaryFrom the ‘your summary’ tab, patrons will see all of the items they have checked out with the overdue items highlighted in red.
OPAC messages and OPAC notes will be displayed at the top of this page. For OPAC messages, the patron will have the option to dismiss the message. This will hide the message from their OPAC account and mark it as read, but it will not delete the message.
You can add content to this page with the OpacMySummaryNote HTML customization location. Content added there will appear above the patron’s summary and below the welcome message.
If OPACShowSavings is set to display savings in the ‘your summary’ page, this section will also contain the savings the patron made by using the library rather than purchasing the items.
If OpacRenewalAllowed set to ‘Allow’, patrons will be able to renew their checkouts from the OPAC.
If the patron has pending charges exceeding the value set in OPACFineNoRenewals, a note will display explaining that renewals cannot be made.
A note will display if the patron cannot place holds due to their charges exceeding the value set in the maxoutstanding system preference.
If AllowPatronToControlAutoRenewal is set to ‘Allow patrons’, patrons will be able to choose whether or not they want their checkouts to be renewed automatically. If they choose ‘Yes’, items for which automatic renewal is enabled in the circulation rules will renew as expected. If they choose ‘No’, the automatic renewals that would have applied to this patron’s checkouts will not take place.
If you have HTML entered in the OPACMySummaryHTML preference then you will see that to the right of the ‘Fines’ column.
Tip
By default, the barcode is not displayed in the patron’s checkout table on the OPAC. If your patrons would like to see the items barcodes on their list of checked out items you can set up a patron attribute with the value of SHOW_BCODE and authorized value of YES_NO.
Then, on the patron’s record set the value for SHOW_BCODE to ‘Yes’.
This will add a column to the checkout summary in the OPAC that shows the patron the barcodes of the items they have checked out.
If you would like your patrons to leave a note on an item they have checked out AllowCheckoutNotes preference must be set to allow.
In the patron’s summary of checkouts, there will be an added column to allow the patron to leave a note (for example: missing first page, or DVD is scratched).
When the patron clicks on ‘Add note’, they will be able to write a note about this checkout.
Staff will be able to see and manage checkout notes from the staff interface.
If their guarantee has allowed it via their privacy, or alternatively, if the staff is allowed to change this privacy setting in the staff interface with the AllowStaffToSetCheckoutsVisibilityForGuarantor system preference and this setting is turned on, when the guarantor logs in they will see a tab labeled “Relatives’ checkouts” on their summary tab.
Clicking on the ‘Overdue’ tab will show only the items that are overdue.
The ‘Fines’ tab will show just a total of what the patron owes. Clicking on the total will take them to the ‘your fines’ tab where they will see a complete breakdown of their fines and bills. If you don’t charge fines at your library you can turn the display of these tabs off by setting the OPACFinesTab preference to ‘Don’t allow.’
If their guarantee has allowed it via their privacy, or alternatively, if the staff is allowed to change this privacy setting in the staff interface with the AllowStaffToSetFinesVisibilityForGuarantor system preference and this setting is turned on, when the guarantor logs in they will see a tab labeled “Relatives’ charges” on their summary tab.
The ‘Clubs’ tab shows all ongoing clubs which allow public enrollment. From here, patrons can enroll in clubs by clicking the ‘Enroll’ button.
The ‘Holds’ tab shows the patron the status of all of the items they have on hold.
Depending on the value of the SuspendHoldsOpac system preference, patrons can suspend their own holds if they are not in transit or already waiting for them. When they click ‘Suspend’ they will be presented with the option to choose a date for their hold to resume.
They can also suspend all of their holds indefinitely or until a specific date if they choose by filling in the suspend options at the bottom of the page.
Note
If the AutoResumeSuspendedHolds system preference is set to “Don’t allow”, patrons will not have the option to put an end date on the hold suspension.
From this tab, patrons can also cancel holds. Depending on the waiting hold cancellation policy, they may also be able to cancel holds that are already waiting for them.
Depending on the value of the OPACAllowUserToChangeBranch system preference, the patron may be able to change the pickup library of holds. When one or more status is selected in the system preference, a ‘Change’ link will appear under the current pickup library’s name for holds that have that status.
When the patron clicks on the ‘Change’ link, there is a pop-up with a selection of libraries that allow hold pickups.
If your library allows recalls, the patron can see the recalls they have requested and their various statuses in the ‘Recalls’ tab.
The patron can cancel a recall by clicking the ‘Cancel’ button, provided that it is not already awaiting pickup.
Patron flagsIf you have flagged your patron’s account they may see one of the following error messages at the top of their account.
Card marked as lost
Patron address in question
Note
this error message will not include a link to the update form if you have OPACPatronDetails set to ‘Don’t allow’
Patron marked restricted
If your library charges fines the next tab on the left is ‘your fines’. Opening this tab will show the patron an entire history of their accounting at the library.
If you are allowing patrons to pay their fines using PayPal with the EnablePayPalOpacPayments preference there will be checkboxes to the left of each fine with an outstanding amount.
At the bottom the patron will see the option to pay with PayPal for the items they have checked.
After paying they will be presented with a confirmation
And you will see that the fine was paid using PayPal on the staff side.
If you have your OPACPatronDetails preference set to ‘Allow’, your patrons will see a form filled in with their contacting information by clicking on the ‘Your personal details’ tab. You can control what fields patrons see and can modify via the OPAC by setting the PatronSelfModificationBorrowerUnwantedField and PatronSelfModificationMandatoryField preferences.
Patrons can edit their details in this form and click ‘Submit changes’ to have their edits sent to the library for review before their record is updated. Staff will see all patrons requesting modification to their record listed below the modules on the main dashboard along with anything else awaiting library attention.
If the AutoApprovePatronProfileSettings system preference is enabled, staff will not need to approve changes.
If the OPACPatronDetails preference is set to ‘Don’t allow’ then patrons will simply see their details and a message stating that they should contact the library for changes.
ConsentsIf you have set the system preference PrivacyPolicyConsent to ‘permissive’ or ‘enforced’ then logged in patrons in the OPAC will have a tab labeled ‘Consents’ where their consent statements are saved. By default the library’s privacy policy is referred to in the consent statement. You can use a URL to link to your own privacy policy using the system preference PrivacyPolicyURL.
Version
A new plugin hook for ‘patron_consent_type’ was added in version 23.11 of Koha to allow for further types of consent in the OPAC. See the Plugin Hooks page on the wiki for more information.
If your library has TagsEnabled set to ‘Allow’ then the next tab on the left will be ‘your tags’. This tab will show patrons all of the tags in the system as a cloud and then all of the tags they have applied in a list format. From here patrons have the ability to remove tags that they have added if they want.
Next, if you have OpacPasswordChange set to ‘Allow’ the next tab will be ‘change your password,’ where patrons can change their password for logging into the OPAC. Patrons will be presented with a standard form asking them to enter their old password and then their new password twice.
If the NotifyPasswordChange system preference is enabled, the patron will receive a notification indicating their password was changed.
The content of this email can be customized with the Notices and slips tool. The code of the letter is PASSWORD_CHANGE.
Your search historyIf you have your EnableOpacSearchHistory preference set to ‘Keep’ then your patrons can access their search history via the ‘your search history’ tab.
The search history is a record of all searches run by the patron. Clicking on any of the search phrases will re-run the search for the patron. The search history can be deleted by the patron at any time by clicking the ‘Delete your search history’ link found at the top of this tab or by clicking the little red ‘x’ next to the ‘Search history’ link at the top right of the OPAC.
If the opacreadinghistory system preference is set to ‘Allow’, patrons will have access to the ‘Checkout history’ tab. This will show the patron their entire borrowing history, unless they have asked the library to not keep that information via the ‘Privacy’ tab.
If OPACShowSavings is set to display savings in the ‘your summary’ page, this section will also contain the savings the patron made by using the library rather than purchasing the items.
The ‘your privacy’ tab will appear if you have both the opacreadinghistory and the OPACPrivacy preferences set to ‘Allow.’ This tab will allow the patrons to decide how the library keeps their circulation history data.
The patron can choose from three options:
Forever: keep my reading history without limit. This is the option for users who want to keep track of what they are reading.
Default: keep my reading history according to local laws. This is the default option : the library will keep your reading history for the duration permitted by local laws.
Never: Delete my reading history immediately. This will delete all record of the item that was checked-out upon check-in.
Depending on the patron’s suggestions the contents of the ‘Your reading history’ tab and the ‘Circulation History’ tab in the staff client may change.
Regardless of the patron’s choice they can delete their reading history in bulk at any time by clicking the ‘Immediate deletion’ button.
Clicking this button will not delete items that are currently checked out, but will clear the patron’s past reading history.
Important
In order for the patron to be able to delete their reading history you must have the AnonymousPatron preference set.
If you’re allowing guarantees to grant permission to their guarantors to view their current checkouts with the AllowPatronToSetCheckoutsVisibilityForGuarantor preference they will see that option on this screen.
When the guarantor logs in they will see a tab labeled “Relatives’ checkouts” on their summary tab.
If the OPACHoldsHistory system preference is set to ‘Allow’, patrons will be able to see all their current and past holds.
If your library allows patrons to make purchase suggestions the next tab will show all suggestions that the patron made to the library and their statuses. To disable this tab and the suggestion functionality set the suggestion preference to ‘Don’t allow.’
If you have OPACViewOthersSuggestions set to ‘Show’ then patrons will be able to search suggestions from the top of this list.
MessagingIf your library has the EnhancedMessagingPreferences and the EnhancedMessagingPreferencesOPAC preferences set to ‘Allow’ then your patrons will be able to choose which messages they receive from the library (with the exception of overdue notices which the library controls).
If you use an outside driver for sending text messages set with the SMSSendDriver preference, you will see an additional column to receive these messages as SMS (or text messages) and a field for a cell (or SMS) number.
If you are using the Email protocol for sending text messages set with the SMSSendDriver preference, you will see an additional column to receive these messages as SMS (or text messages), a field for a cell (or SMS) number, and a pull down listing cellular providers entered in administration.
If you are using the i-tiva Talking Tech service you will see an additional column to receive these messages via Phone.
These notices are:
Advanced notice: A notice in advance of the patron’s items being due (The patron can choose the number of days in advance)
Item checkout: A notice that lists all the of the items the patron has just checked out and/or renewed, this is an electronic form of the checkout receipt
Hold filled: A notice when you have confirmed the hold is waiting for the patron
Item due: A notice on the day and item is due back at the library
Item check-in: A notice that lists all the of the items the patron has just checked in
Note
This notice can be customized by editing the CHECKIN notice in the Notices and slips tool.
Item checkout: A notice that lists all the of the items the patron has just checked out and/or renewed, this is an electronic form of the checkout receipt
Note
This notice can be customized by editing the CHECKOUT notice in the Notices and slips tool.
Auto renewal: A notice that notifies the patron that their checkouts have been automatically renewed, or if there was a problem with their automatic renewal.
Note
This notice can be customized by editing the AUTO_RENEWAL or AUTO_RENEWAL_DGST notices in the Notices and slips tool.
This option will only appear if the AutoRenewalNotices is set to “according to patrons messaging preferences”.
Patrons can choose to receive their notices as a digest by checking the ‘Digest only?’ box along with the delivery method. A digest is a combination of all the messages of that type (so all items due in 3 days in one email) in to one email instead of multiple emails for each alert.
If the TranslateNotices preference is set to Allow the patron will also see an option to choose ‘Preferred language for notices’ with a dropdown list of available languages.
Important
You must choose a delivery method (SMS or email or phone) along with ‘Digest only?’ if you would like to receive a digest of the messages.
If the virtualshelves system preference is set to ‘Allow’, patron will see a ‘Lists’ tab.
From here, patrons can view public lists and create or edit their own private lists.
Version
This section was added to Koha in version 23.11.
If the RoutingSerials system preference is enabled, patrons who have opted in to email alerts for new serial issues via the ‘Subscriptions’ tab in the bibliographic record will see an ‘Alert subscriptions’ tab in their account.
This tab lists all the serial email alerts the patron has subscribed to. Patrons can cancel alerts by clicking the ‘Unsubscribe from email alerts’ link if desired.
Ask for a dischargeIf the useDischarge system preference is enabled, patrons will be able to request a discharge via the OPAC. A discharge is a certificate that says the patron has no current checkouts and no holds.
Patrons can request a discharge from the library by going to the ‘Ask for discharge’ tab in their online account.
From here they can request a discharge by clicking the ‘Ask for a discharge’ button. They will receive a confirmation of their request.
Once the discharge is approved by library staff, the patron will see a download link to download a PDF of their discharge.
If you are named as a recipient on any serial routing lists you will see them listed here. The following note is displayed “You are subscribed to the routing lists for following serial titles. If you wish to make changes, please contact the library”.
Your interlibrary loan requestsIf your library has the ILLModule preference set to ‘Enable’ patrons will have the option to make ILL requests when logged in to their OPAC account. From here they can view their existing requests and place new ones.
To place a new interlibrary loan request click on ‘Create a new request’ and choose a request form.
Note
The options displayed are dependent on your ILL configuration. See the ILL backends wiki page at https://wiki.koha-community.org/wiki/ILL_backends further explanation.
Note
If there is a copyright clearance text in a ‘ILLModuleCopyrightClearance’ HTML customization display location, the text displays here and patrons need to click ‘Yes’ to accept before continuing.
Complete the publication details as fully as possible. Depending on the form in use you may see the option to add Custom fields for additional information such as notes. Destination branch is a required field, this is the branch you would like the request to be sent to.
Click on ‘Create’ to submit your request to the library for processing.
Your submitted request will be listed with a status of ‘New request’. Once processed the status will be updated to ‘Requested’.
Click on ‘View’ to make changes or cancel your request.
You cannot edit the form details but you can add a note to request a modification and then click on ‘Submit modifications’ at the bottom of the screen. Your modification will be sent to the library for processing.
Note
When a patron modifies an inter-library loan request, an email is sent to library staff so that they can view the changes from the ILL module.
The email sent is based on the ILL_REQUEST_MODIFIED template. It can be customized in the Notices and slips tool.
For new requests you will also have the option to ‘Request cancellation’. Your request will be updated with the status ‘Cancellation requested’ and can then be removed by library staff.
Note
When a patron cancels an inter-library loan request, an email is sent to library staff so that they can cancel it from the ILL module.
The email sent is based on the ILL_REQUEST_CANCEL template. It can be customized in the Notices and slips tool.
If your library allows recalls, the patron can see all their past and current recalls they have requested and their various statuses in the ‘your recalls history’ tab.
The patron can cancel a recall by clicking the ‘Cancel’ button, provided that it is not already awaiting pickup.
Curbside pickupsIf your library offers curbside pickup, the patron will be able to see their scheduled pickups under ‘Curbside pickups’.
The patron has the option to indicate that they are outside the library by clicking ‘Alert staff of your arrival’.
The patron also has the option to cancel their scheduled pickup with the ‘Cancel this pickup’ button.
If the ‘Patron-scheduled pickup’ setting is turned on in the curbside pickup configuration, the patron will be able to schedule their own curbside pickup appointment.
The patron must first choose a library at which they want to pick up their items
Note
Only libraries with curbside pickup enabled will be displayed in the drop-down menu.
Furthermore, if the ‘Enable for waiting holds only’ setting is turned on, only the libraries at which the patron has waiting holds will be enabled.
The patron must then choose a date
Note
Only dates with available time slots will be displayed.
The possible pickup times will be displayed, depending on the day of the week
Note
The number in parentheses under each time slot is the number of available appointments for that time. If the maximum number of appointments has been reached, based on the ‘Maximum patrons per interval’ setting in the curbside pickup configuration, the time slot will be greyed out and the patron will not be able to select it.
The patron can optionally add a note about their pickup
The patron must then click ‘Schedule pickup’ to save their appointment