Bug 34746

Summary: Branch preferences should not be tied to staff preferences
Product: Koha Reporter: Christopher Brannon <cbrannon>
Component: Staff interfaceAssignee: Bugs List <koha-bugs>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact: Testopia <testopia>
Severity: enhancement    
Priority: P5 - low CC: gmcharlt
Version: Main   
Hardware: All   
OS: All   
GIT URL: Change sponsored?: ---
Patch complexity: --- Documentation contact:
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Description Christopher Brannon 2023-09-08 16:35:44 UTC
We run a tight ship, and don't create separate accounts for personal library accounts and staff login accounts.  That being said, the login for staff is different than patron login, and a staff member's default pickup location is not always the same as the branch they work at.

It would be nice if the branch and credentials you use to work as a staff member didn't touch the home branch and credentials used as a library patron in the OPAC.

Some possible suggestions would be:
* Default branch and credentials for staff login under user permissions
* Staff credentials can't be used for OPAC patron logins
* OPAC patron logins can't be used for staff logins

This would allow an existing patron account to be added and removed as staff, without changing their patron experience or defaults.

The only sticky issue would be patron category.  How could an account that serves as both patron and staff have both?  Could a category be set for the staff side of things, and a separate category be used for the patron side of things?  Should there be a setting in system preferences to use the staff category on the account when they are logged in on the staff side, and retain the patron category when not?

Am I asking too much of Koha?  It has always been a little odd that we use the same patron database for both patron and staff (based on my previous ILS experience), and because of that, it has led us to trying to maintain a single account for a person.  If they were separated out as separate databases or tables, rather than blended together, then I wouldn't have so much of a problem having an account in each.  A separate staff table would be much nicer for staff management, but might alter things quite a bit in Koha.