Created attachment 161714 [details] Screenshot of example Research tables on OPAC Our library has research tables and lets patrons (mainly master students working on their thesis) keep items for a longer period on these tables. In order for both library staff and patrons to be able to quickly track down items, we are using the Course reserves module to set a certain research table as temporary location for a certain item. Because tables are not courses, we use a custom patch to have the research tables appear as a separate module on the OPAC. We use the authorized value category DEPARTMENT to distinguish courses from tables. The tables have a separate value "Research tables". Because some of the columns used for the course reserves are not relevant for the tables, we also change the display of these on the OPAC. The following columns are renamed: “Course #” => “Table #” “Instructors” => “Researcher” “Notes” => “Topic” And these columns are hidden: “Dept.”, “Section”, “Term”. Notes: 1) Because of possible privacy issues, we are no longer displaying the name of the researcher, so this column might also be hidden. 2) The topic is optional. Some like to see what others are doing research on. It also helps to know where to look for a book on a certain topic if it is not on the shelf, because keeping the 'table reserves' up to date is a bit of a challenge sometimes, depending on the cooperation of the patron. Ideally this should be a separate module on both the Staff client and the OPAC. It might be called 'Table reserves' if 'Research tables' is too specific.
Created attachment 161802 [details] [review] Bug 35972: Add thesis tables feature This patch adds a new 'Thesis tables' feature to Koha based on the existing 'Course reserves' system.
Created attachment 161803 [details] [review] Bug 35972: Tidy for QA scripts
Attached are the commits as they currently exist. Some additional tidying and modernisation will need to take place before they would pass quality assurance, but I'm interested to get some testing done and guage interest before continuing with that work.
Wanted to see this in a sandbox, but it appears the patch failed to apply: Bug 35972 - Add a 'Research tables' feature, that builds upon Course reserves 161802 - Bug 35972: Add thesis tables feature 161803 - Bug 35972: Tidy for QA scripts Apply? [(y)es, (n)o, (i)nteractive] Applying: Bug 35972: Add thesis tables feature Using index info to reconstruct a base tree... M C4/CourseReserves.pm M koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/bootstrap/en/includes/masthead.inc Falling back to patching base and 3-way merge... CONFLICT (add/add): Merge conflict in opac/opac-thesis-tables.pl Auto-merging opac/opac-thesis-tables.pl CONFLICT (add/add): Merge conflict in opac/opac-thesis-table-details.pl Auto-merging opac/opac-thesis-table-details.pl Auto-merging koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/bootstrap/en/includes/masthead.inc CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in koha-tmpl/opac-tmpl/bootstrap/en/includes/masthead.inc Auto-merging C4/CourseReserves.pm CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in C4/CourseReserves.pm error: Failed to merge in the changes. Patch failed at 0001 Bug 35972: Add thesis tables feature [33mhint: Use 'git am --show-current-patch=diff' to see the failed patch[m When you have resolved this problem run "git bz apply --continue". If you would prefer to skip this patch, instead run "git bz apply --skip". To restore the original branch and stop patching run "git bz apply --abort". Patch left in /tmp/Bug-35972-Add-thesis-tables-feature-xerdsj5j.patch
I like that this doesn't seem to duplicate a lot of the code, which is nice. It looks like the "course reserves" hits a nerve in multiple ways as there is also: Bug 12141 - On Display Module Some things/ideas from having a first look: * Terminology: Is there maybe a more general term we could use? Libraries might implement this as special shelves, carts, tables, desks, carrels, ... I think right now would be the best moment to give this some thought. * The code currently has a mix of research table in the GUI and thesis table in the code, showing a first rename I think. * If you are using course reserves, the new entry will show up in navigation right away. To avoid that, we could only show the navigation entry, if a course of that type exists. * Instead of re-using the department, could we imagine adding a "type" column driven by a new AV? We could then use the type to define displays for other use cases, like the "On display". We might even pull the description off the type... I know, translatability, but we could still have some harcoded "codes" like RT = research table in the templates to help adoption. * Should we adapt/rename the system preference (UseCourseReserves)? * Should we adapt OPAC detail view for reserve items (display text)? * Should we add to sample AV in installer? * Should we adapt permission description?
(In reply to Katrin Fischer from comment #5) > * Terminology: Is there maybe a more general term we could use? Libraries > might implement this as special shelves, carts, tables, desks, carrels, ... > I think right now would be the best moment to give this some thought. I agree this could see a lot of varied use if the naming/labeling of it all is sufficiently broad or customizable.
My library would be interested by this feature, I would like to test it. But from https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=35972#c5 I understand it is better to wait for improvements before testing?