While working at the circulation desk, staff are likely to need to search the catalogue for bibliographic records. There are some differences between the information the librarian(s) will see and the information the public will see when searching the library catalogue. First, the librarian is presented with different search options than are available through the OPAC.

Figure 3.12. Librarian's catalogue search

This screen is not accessed from the Circulation menu, but from the Catalogue menu. There are a few things that appear to be missing from this screen at first glance. The Advanced OPAC Search allows all of these searches, plus the ability to search on series title, format, and publication date range. What the OPAC search does not have, however, are the search fields at the bottom of this screen.

These fields allow the librarian to search directly against the MARC record. The first box allows staff to choose an "and" or "or" (Boolean) search type for each line. The second box contains a pull-down list of all the MARC subfields which are not set as "ignored" in your default Biblio Framework; this list is also grouped according to the "tab" setting of each subfield. Choose which MARC subfield you wish to search from this list. The third box allows you to exclude a term by choosing "not" from the pull-down list. The fourth box allows you to control the search behavior; will the search look for the term contained somewhere in the subfield, at the beginning of the subfield, exactly matching the content of the subfield, etc. Finally, the fifth box is where you type in the search term.

This ability to search directly against the MARC record is a powerful tool for the librarian. Notice that there is yet another area at the bottom of this screen that does not appear in the OPAC search screen. This area allows the librarian to: set the number of titles that will be displayed on each page of the search results; select if the results will be sorted by title, author, call number, publication year, or publisher; and choose either an ascending or descending sort.

The display of the search results is also quite different from the OPAC search results. By default, Koha shows the MARC record. But a more useful display is either the "Complete" or "Normal" display, which can be accessed by clicking on the appropriate tab at the top of the display box.

Figure 3.13. Librarian's "Complete" search results

Note that other tabs across the top of the display area allow the librarian to jump directly to some other tasks, such as editing or deleting an item record attached to this bibliographic record (if the logged-in user has permission to edit catalogue records), adding the book to a virtual shelf, or placing a request (reserve) on the book.

Note also that there is more information on this screen than on the OPAC about the status of individual copies of this book. First, all copies are displayed, regardless of their current status, including lost and long overdue copies. Also the card number of the current borrower of a copy is given. This card number is a live link; clicking on it will display detailed information about the borrower.

One other live link in the "Items" list is the barcode of each copy. Clicking on the barcode will display very detailed information about the copy.

Figure 3.14. Librarian's item details display

Most of this information is self-explanatory. Note that there are again some live links: the current borrower's card number (to see borrower details); the "Accession Date," which will lead to a display of information about the order history of the copy (from the Acquisitions module); and the "Total Issues." This last link produces information about the issuing history of this copy.

Figure 3.15. Item Issue History

This screen basically keeps track of the current and the "permanent" locations of the item, the number of times it has been issued at each branch, and the date and time when it was last scanned by a librarian.