Background
Catalyst collaborated with the Commerce Commission(external link) Library to develop their new Koha website.
Challenges
Three challenges presented themselves:
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Commerce Commission staff use ADFS(external link) (Active Directory Federation Services) to log in to different systems using a single set of login credentials. The Commission wanted to keep using ADFS to log in to any new library system.
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Due to the small library team and the physical set-up of the library itself, tracking checked out items out of the library was not always easy. Therefore, they required a means of enabling library users to record when they checked an item out themselves.
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Considering how to reflect the Commerce Commission's identity in Koha. Its appearance had to blend in with the look and feel of their other systems while highlighting the library's services and collections.
Solution
Single Sign On (SSO)
Catalyst's Rōpū Kohinga team implemented Single Sign On SSO between Koha and the Commerce Commission authentication provider. Thus, when the Commerce Commission staff logged in at the start of the day, they would be automatically logged in to Koha too. The time-saving approach to authentication also kept Koha use in line with other Commerce Commission systems.
Self-checkout module
Out-of-the-box Koha enables end-users to check out books themselves from the Koha OPAC (Online Public Access Catalogue) interface, using the self checkout module. Therefore, Commerce Commission staff members could:
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come into the library,
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pick up an item,
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take it back to their desk,
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and check it out from there.
However, Koha did not pass the details of the currently logged in user to the self checkout module unlike in the rest of Koha. So when clicking the self checkout button, users were prompted to input their card number. Catalyst developer Alex Buckley's solution was to pass the identity of the currently logged in user to the self checkout module. Then the Commerce Commission staff could check out items without manually entering their details.
Attractive theme and design
Nikita Sharpe, a Catalyst front-end developer, implemented the Commerce Commission branding, including:
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the Commerce Commission's colours,
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imagery,
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and logos.
The branding lent itself to creating a beautiful display while keeping within the low-maintenance standard Koha layout.
The Commerce Commission opted to include a new books slideshow on the OPAC homepage. This highly visual feature can refresh images daily, enabling staff to easily showcase newly received titles and make them immediately visible to library users. Working together, Catalyst and the Commerce Commission Library brought a fantastic custom design to fruition.