Updates to the Acquisitions Module

by Kelly McElligott on Dec 6, 2018

Here are just a few enhancements that are added to Koha in version 18.05 that will benefit the Acquisitions department of libraries. This blog post will cover three new enhancements that are now available in 18.05. For more information about other enhancements, features and bug fixes in 18.05, please see the newest Koha Manual or 18.05 Release Notes.

Uncertain prices hide ‘close basket’ without explanation :

Although this seems to be a small change in Koha, an essential one for the Acquisitions process. Prior to 18.05, if an item was marked as an uncertain price - when the basket would try to be closed, this was not an option. The “Close Basket” button was greyed out and unfortunately, there was no way of knowing why this was not able to be closed. Now it is still greyed out, but if you hover over the Close Basket option, there is a message that explains why you can’t close the basket. Link to bug: [10032]

Allow Keyword to MARC mapping for acquisitions searches (subtitle) :

There is now the ability to see the 245$b and 245$n in Acquisitions. The functionality that this enhancement brings to the Acquisitions module is available in other modules within Koha, however, was not visible in Acquisitions.

This patch adds the 'subtitle' field to the results display on acquisitions search for adding an order form an existing item. Now any field mapped to 'subtitle' in 'Keyword to MARC mapping' will be fetched and displayed in the results of an acquisitions search. ‘Keyword to MARC mapping’ can be found in the Administration Module of Koha. Here is a link to that portion of the manual.

Important

This tool only affects sites that are not using the XSLT Stylesheets and at this time the only keyword in use is 'subtitle.'

Using the Framework pull down menu, choose the Framework you would like to apply this rule to. This tool can be used to chain together pieces of the record as well. If you want the series number to show in the title on your search results you simply have to map 490 $v to 'subtitle' along with the 245 $b.

Once this has been mapped, searching in Acquisitions will show any subtitles (245$b, 245$n) on that record to ensure the library is ordering the right book. Link to Bug: [17182].

Use SearchWithISBNVariations in acquisition advanced search (histsearch.pl) :

This was an existing system preference (SearchWithISBNVariation) in Koha which is used to search for a variation of an existing ISBN in your system. However, before 18.05, even it was enabled it did not work when searching in the Acquisitions module. Searching by ISBN in Acquisitions advanced search did work however, searching by ISBN variation did not.

Now with the latest version of Koha, 18.05, the system preference, SearchWithISBNVariation, will work in the Acquisitions advanced search function.

So if your library has placed an order for a 13-digit ISBN, but want to look this order with the 10 digit (or another variation), this is now possible and will retrieve the record with this system preference enabled.

Something to note:

If you do enable this system preference, Koha does indicate that if your system preference QueryParsing is turned on, this system preference will have no effect. Also, for reference this website does give variations for existing ISBN. Link to bug: [17457]

For more 18.05 blog posts, recorded webinars and details, see our 18.05 Upgrade page.