Issues ("checking out") and returns ("checking in") are the basic tasks involved in circulation of library materials. In fact, you can perform these two basic tasks from the Koha home page, without going to the circulation page:

Figure 3.1. Basic circulation from the home page

As you can see, starting the process of issuing an item can be accomplished from the home page by typing or scanning the borrower's card number in the "Issue" box. Likewise, items can be returned by scanning or typing the barcode on the item in the "Return" box.

Normally, however, library staff will probably work from either the circulation issues or returns pages instead of the Koha home page. The issues page is the one that opens when you click on "Circulation" from the home page:

Figure 3.2. Circulation issues page

This page offers the opportunity to "Change Settings" before you begin work. It is particularly important that the branch be set correctly before starting to issue materials. If the branch is set to "Main" and you are actually issuing from "Branch1," all circulation statistics will be credited incorrectly to "Main" and Koha will assume that the item was located at "Main" instead of "Branch1." The branch setting is the way Koha determines where the transaction is actually taking place.

Note that you do not need the borrower's card number if you know the borrower's name. If you enter any part of the borrower's name (any name -- but last name works best), then Koha will retrieve a list of possible borrowers from which you can choose. For example, if you had entered "hed" you might see a display like this:

Figure 3.3. Name list

If you select a name from this list, or type in a name or card number that identifies only one person in the database, you then see a screen showing borrower information.

Figure 3.4. Borrower details

Now you are ready to get to work! This screen allows you to do a number of different tasks. (This, by the way, is the screen you will see if you scan a borrower's card number from the Koha home page.)

First of all, it allows you to check out an item. This is done by scanning or typing the item barcode in the "Item Barcode" box and either clicking on "Issue" or pressing the return (enter) key on the keyboard. (Many barcode readers can be programmed to automatically add a "return" to the end of the barcode.) This screen also allows you to change the due date for an item to a special due date; this is done by using the date pull-down menus below the barcode box before you enter the barcode number. If you want your special due date to apply to all of the items the borrower is getting, then you can check the "Sticky Due Date" box and all items subsequently issued to this borrower (during this session) will be due on that date.

Before describing what happens after you enter a barcode, note that there are two buttons beside the borrower's name: "detail" and "edit." Clicking on these buttons will either show you more details about the borrower or allow you to edit the borrower's details. (This assumes that the staff person has permission to add or modify member records: if this permission has not been granted, clicking on "edit" displays a screen with the message, "Sorry, Koha doesn't think you have permission for this page.") The process of editing or adding member records will be discussed in a later section of this chapter.

It is possible that you will see special messages, located at the bottom of the Borrower Information box, alerting you to problems with the borrower's account. These messages might be prompted by circumstances such as:

Assuming that you have set any special due date and have dealt with any special circumstances with the borrower's account, you are now ready to scan or type in the Item Barcode. Koha checks to see if there are any problems with issuing this item before it completes the transaction; if there are problems, a prominent message is displayed.

Figure 3.5. Item problem message

This problem resulted from scanning in the barcode of the first item in the list of "Previous Issues," prompting Koha to ask if we really wished to renew the loan.

There are a number of conditions which will result in a message from Koha while issuing items, some related to the borrower, some related to the item. One type of condition results in Koha asking for confirmation before proceeding, as in the example above:

Another type of condition results in Koha simply reporting that the item cannot be issued:

Once all of the error conditions have been satisfied, the item is issued:

Figure 3.6. Item issue

The most recently issued item now appears at the end of the list, with its (new) due date.