Koha 23.05: Guarantee Checkouts/Charges Visible on Guarantor Account

by Heather Rommens on Nov 9, 2023

Many libraries, especially public libraries, utilize the guarantee/guarantor patron feature (ex: child patron linked to an adult patron) to organize patron relationships and help keep everyone informed and accountable. Prior to the 23.05 upgrade, staff and patrons could go into the guarantee’s account to see any fines or fees, and no messages displayed on the guarantor account to alert them. With bug 26598: Display guarantee’s fines on guarantor’s details page, any fines on the patron’s guarantee accounts will now be visible on the guarantor’s Details page in the staff interface with links to the accounts of the guarantees for easy access. This information will be visible in various locations in the OPAC, as well.

There are four system preferences that need to be considered and set for these new features to work properly. If you would like patrons to be able to choose their own privacy settings for showing the patron's checkouts to the patron's guarantor, you will set the AllowPatronToSetCheckoutsVisibilityForGuarantor system preference to "Allow". If you want patrons to be able to choose their own privacy settings for showing the patron's charges to the patron's guarantor, set the AllowPatronToSetFinesVisibilityForGuarantor system preference to "Allow". Setting the AllowStaffToSetCheckoutsVisibilityForGuarantor preference to "Allow" will enable staff to set the ability for a patron's checkouts to be viewed by linked patrons in the OPAC, and finally, set the AllowStaffToSetFinesVisibilityForGuarantor preference to "Allow" so your staff can set the ability for a patron's charges to be viewed by linked patrons in the OPAC.

When editing or creating the guarantee's account, add the Patron guarantor to the account and select “Yes” for Show checkouts to guarantors and Show charges to guarantors. You can select yes for just one of these options, as they are mutually exclusive.

Checkouts Visible on Guarantor Accounts

When enabled, the checkouts for guarantee accounts will be visible in the guarantor’s Checkout screen in the Relative’s checkouts tab. Here is the view from the staff interface:

Here is the view of guarantee checkouts from the guarantor’s account in the OPAC:

Charges Visible on Guarantor Accounts

To view any associated charges for items on the guarantee account, click over to the guarantor’s Details page in the staff interface where those will be listed:

From the OPAC, the guarantor will be able to view those charges in the Relatives’ charges tab of their Summary page, as well as from the Charges page:

Visit our 23.05 Koha Upgrade Hub to find out more features and enhancements coming soon!

Koha 23.05: Upgrades Hub