Koha Question of the Week: How Do You Create a Staff Patron in Koha?

by Kelly McElligott on Dec 23, 2022

Each Friday, we will bring you a new Koha Question of the Week. We will select real questions that we receive and share the answers with you!

Question: How Do You Create a Staff Account in Koha?

Answer: A staff account is created just like a patron account in Koha, with a few other options.

In this short tutorial, Jessie and Kelly break down creating a patron account in Koha.

The first thing you want to do is set up your Patron Category for a Staff Patron. Patron categories allow you to organize your patrons into different roles, age groups, and patron types. Go to Administration > Patrons & Circulation > Patron Categories. Make sure you have a patron category set for Staff. Librarians (and library workers) should be assigned to the staff category so that you can set their permissions and give them access to the staff client.

Next, creating the Patron. Patrons are added by going to the ‘Patrons’ module. Once there, click on + New patron. From the dropdown select Staff (or whatever you called the staff patron). Fill out the following form and make sure to assign them a username and password. The Staff/OPAC asks for the username and password to be used by the patron (and/or staff member) to log into their account in the OPAC and for staff to log in to the staff client. Once finished, click save.

Permissions

The last step is to set the patron permissions. These allow staff members access to the staff client. On the patron, record click More and choose Set Permissions to alter patron permissions.

In order for a staff member to log into the staff interface they must have (at the very least) ‘catalogue’ permissions which allow them to view the staff interface. You will be presented with a list of preferences, some of which can be expanded by clicking the plus sign to the left of the section title. Each Permission is defined in the Koha Manual.

Additional Resources

New Director: Patron Categories

Self Paced Learning in Koha: Patrons