Koha 20.05 was released on June 1st and contains many useful features, some of which are quite topical indeed. For example, there is now the ability to batch extend the due dates of items that are on loan. The tool to do this is found on the tools page as “Batch extend due dates”.
Koha 20.05 also includes a new point-of-sale module, which lets you set up items for sale that can be sold to patrons anonymously:
The public catalog now has a new page listing information about all of the libraries defined in Koha:
Do you have patrons who would like to give feedback about catalog records or issues with the site? Koha’s public catalog now includes a feedback form on every page:
Speaking of catalog records, the MARC record editor now lets you drag and drop fields and subfields:
MARC fields can now be marked as important in the frameworks — not mandatory, but good to have:
Batch actions on catalog records can also now be initiated from the staff search results page:
Other features of note include:
- Acquisitions now has a search-to-order feature similar to the search-to-hold function, allowing easier creation of new orders.
- Koha now includes a “cashup” feature to ease doing periodic reconciliation of cash registers.
- The library groups mechanism has been extended to allow defining groups of libraries that are local to each other for the purpose of filling holds. This will allow a consortium using Koha to better manage transits between their members.
- Item labels can now be printed for barcode ranges, allowing the library to preprint sets of barcodes.
- Improvements to the display of records in the public catalog, including displaying the 041, 385$a, and 508.
There are many more enhancements and features in Koha 20.05. More details can be found in the release announcement.
Koha 20.05 was released during a period of global uncertainty, but we’re all looking forward to supporting this next step in Koha’s evolution.
