I think that the course reserves module could be used for displays, except that there is a lot of language that would need to be changed and a few fields we wouldn't need (department, term, instructor). Basically a display module would do almost the same thing as Course Reserves though. When you have a display you create a 'Display' and add titles to it. You temporarily change their item type and/or location and/or collection code while it's on display. Displays can be browsed through a link on the main page (like course reserves) or seen just in the general search results. Then when a display is disabled or deleted the titles all go back to their original item type, collection code and/or shelving location. This would a great feature for public libraries and academic libraries alike.
I think shelving location is an obvious candidate for designating that something is on display. However, right now the only way to change something's shelving location is through cataloging or batch modification--two things you probably don't want to give the circ staff the required permission to do. See Bug 6615.
But a display module would be more than just changing the shelving location, it would be a link on the OPAC to see what displays the library currently has - kind of like a cross between course reserves and lists - also shelving locations would have to be changed back once off of display and doing things the way they're done in course reserves lets Koha remember the original shelving location so when you remove it from display the location is changed back to where it belongs.
This is something that I have had a number of public libraries really want. As it stands they have a complicated process of changing locations for items that are on "display". By using the Course Reserve functionality it will address the permissions issue that Owen mentioned and allow a library to have items that regularly can be set to display such as Christmas, gardening, and cooking books.
I agree with Nicole and Ed. An "On display" module similar to the course reserves module would make the process of building display collections, changing their associated locations, itypes, collection codes, etc, and keeping statistics on their use easier than anything we're currently able to do.
We will probably be using Ed's jquery setup the course reserves as a display module for now, but I would much prefer a built in module for a couple of reasons. 1. At KohaCon 2018 there was interest in some academic libraries in using BOTH the course reserves and the displays modules. 2. jquery is not the most stable way to make changes in Koha and isn't always available to the community.
We have academic libraries that use Course Reserves, but would also use a Display module if it were available. (As Lisette states!)
There might be ways around it to do both course reserves and displays at the same time, but it would be clunky at best. I agree that it would be great to duplicate this module to be an exclusive display module.
This is a great idea, and would be terribly useful to our libraries.
Based on the feed back I got during KohaCon2018 this is a popular idea. I think Khall had an idea for working the code and some others bounced ideas around but nothing was firm. As was stated in the OP might there be a good way to utilize the core code that runs Course Reserves and create a separate functionality that could be turned on or off via sys pref. to work with displays. This would allow public and academic libraries to manage displays in a more organized fashion. I was asked during my presentation at KohaCon2018 if this is just as staff workflow tool or a better way to display what is on display to patrons. By duplicating the Course Reserves functionality, it would provide the added benefit of having a clear Display link on the OPAC pointing individuals to a concise list of the libraries displays and items within the displays. Ed
(In reply to Ed Veal from comment #9) > Based on the feed back I got during KohaCon2018 this is a popular idea. I > think Khall had an idea for working the code and some others bounced ideas > around but nothing was firm. > > As was stated in the OP might there be a good way to utilize the core code > that runs Course Reserves and create a separate functionality that could be > turned on or off via sys pref. to work with displays. This would allow > public and academic libraries to manage displays in a more organized > fashion. > > I was asked during my presentation at KohaCon2018 if this is just as staff > workflow tool or a better way to display what is on display to patrons. By > duplicating the Course Reserves functionality, it would provide the added > benefit of having a clear Display link on the OPAC pointing individuals to a > concise list of the libraries displays and items within the displays. > > Ed My idea would be to add a 'type' column to the course reserves. This would most likely be an authorised value. We could then duplicate all the course reserves tables as a set of tables in tabs split by type.
Kyle, I would have to see this. There were a number of academic libraries interested in this as well. My question is how would this work if you wanted to display both as a display and course reserve. Ed
Kyle, I agree with Ed. I would want to see what that looked like because we are in a situation where we're about to add an academic library that wants to use course reserves. Initially when I heard about Ed's idea of using the course reserves module for a displays manager, I thought it was great, but then when we had the academic library that wants to join us that kind of messes with the idea of using that 1 course reserves module for 2 different purposes. If you can manage something where the Opac can show a button or link that says "Course reserves" next to a different button or link that says "Items on display" out of one module, then I'm all for that. But if the two functions require two separate modules, then I'm for adding a separate module. George
I'm in favor of duplicating the module. It would allow course reserves to be turned on and off without effecting a display module. There are also several fields that are not needed for displays that could go away, and it would also be great to have a feature added to the display module that would allow you to indicate that an alert be displayed on check in for items in the display. Ed's model works great. We simply lack a sufficient alert at check in at this point, but all other modifications make this a perfect idea. Another thing that would need to be addressed is how items in either course reserves or the displays would show when viewing the record. Currently, if I recall correctly, course reserve items add another column in the record listing the items, showing "Course reserves". I would hate to add another column. Perhaps the column could be modified to read as "Groups" or "Special" or something more generic like that, and have each occurrence in the column prefixed with "Display: " or "Course reserve: " or something similar?
We would still love something like this. Lisette
This enhancement is still relevant - especially for libraries that can't turn the Course Reserves module into a displays module.
+1 We still need a dedicated display mechanism. This is a very common need, and an overlooked workflow.
+1 This would be a fantastic feature. As others have mentioned, we have some school libraries that may want to use Course Reserves, so having both Course Reserves and Display would be ideal.
This would be very helpful! Our library would help be a fiscal sponsor for such a development if needed.
+1 This is a feature that our libraries would love to see and use daily. Our displays are short-lived (2-3 weeks), so it would be beneficial to us to have the item converted back to its "regular" location once it has been checked out and returned. Recommend this be an on/off option to allow customization for different systems.
We would be very interested in this module. We've been looking for a way to manage displays.
Our library would LOVE this and would also use it daily! I agree with Rebecca, that the feature will be most helpful if there's the ability to auto-remove the "display" designation via check-out or check-in actions, so that the item is converted back to it's original shelving location upon check-out/in. There is currently no way for our Circ staff to know if an item was previously on display because they are using third party RFID software for check-ins. We've created a negative Not for Loan authorized value to indicate when items are on display because the status can be auto-updated (removed) at the time of check-in. But it's not a good work around (pretty problematic actually) to use a Not for Loan status for display workflows.
+1 Yes please. Right now all of our circ staff have permission to bulk edit the location field, which isn't ideal, but it's the only option we had. A display module would be grand.
I have now seen a 3rd use for this module (to temporarily make items or collections unavailable), and am convinced that it might be worth revamping the module so that it can be repeatable for different applications, and customizable. So, create an instance for Course Reserves, another instance for Displays, another instance for Temporarily Unavailable Collections, etc.
As we have both academic libraries and public libraries, we would love for there to be separate course reserve and display modules.
+1