Koha How-To

Koha Integration with Bibliotheca (Cloud Library)

by Kelly McElligott on Jan 4, 2019

What's New

The new integration with Bibliotheca will allow users to checkout, check-in, search for titles and place holds on their items directly through the Koha OPAC. This blog post and video contains directions on how to set this up in Koha, what is needed from your Bibliotheca vendor and how patrons will use this new feature on the Koha OPAC. This blog post contains directions on how to set this up in Koha, what is needed from your Bibliotheca vendor and how patrons will use this new feature on the Koha OPAC. A tutorial video with Jessie and Kelly can be found at the end of this blog post!

Needed Bibliotheca Information

Setting up this integration will require a few details from your Bibliotheca account/vendor. The library's client ID, client secret and library ID will need to be provided to allow this to be set up in line with Koha.

Client ID (this is also known as Account ID)
Client Secret (this is also known as Account Key)
Library ID

Setting Up the Plugin

If your library has not used any Plugins for Koha, there is a system preference that needs to be turned on to enable the use of plugins: useKohaplugins.

The Bibliotheca plugin can be obtained from the ByWater Github site. The steps on how to download this plugin are found on this page also. If you are a ByWater partner and would prefer for us to do this, please submit a ticket to install this Bibliotheca plugin.

After this plugin has been installed on your Koha site, the plugin now needs to be configured with the Client ID, Client Secret, and Library ID. To do this, go to the Administration Module- Manage Plugins. Find the Bibliotheca plugin - and under actions, choose Configure.

On the configuration page, here is where you will add your Client ID, Client Secret and Library ID. In addition, you will add an Item Type code for what item type you would like your Bibliotheca records to be assigned. If a library already uses an E-Resource item type and would like to add these records to the existing item type, enter this item type code. If a library would like a specific item type for all their Bibliotheca records, a new item type can be created. Item Types can be created in the Administration module under the Basic Parameters subcategory. Regardless of what item type your library chooses to use, in the configuration of the plugin, Koha would like the code that has been designated for this item type, not the description.

Below is an example of the Configuration- every library will have a unique Client ID, Client Secret and Library ID. The item type code will also be specific to your library.

The next step that is required for this plugin in the Run Tool action from the Bibliotheca plugin actions option. The run tool action will go grab your library’s records from the Bibliotheca site and harvest all new ones since the date you enter in. Any existing records will be deleted and updated. After this first harvest, a cron job can be set up which will add new records into your system automatically. If a record already exists in your system, it will update that record. Any records that need to be removed from your system will have to be done manually, currently, there is not an API for this. If you would like ByWater to set up this cron to run for you, please submit a ticket and we would be happy to assist with this.

OPAC side of the Bibliotheca Integration

Now for the fun part! When a patron chooses to search in the public OPAC without logging in, they will see results for items that are available for loan from Bibliotheca. Below is an image that shows the box that will be displayed if patron is not logged in, as well as the Item Type dedicated to this type of record over on the left in the Facets.

Once a patron logs in, on their account summary page, there will be a new tab for the Cloud Library Account. On this tab, the patron can see any checkouts they have in their Cloud Library account, any items on hold, and any items that are available on hold.

Now when a patron searches in the Koha OPAC, they have the ability to checkout an item from Bibliotheca right from the results screen. Also, if the book is currently checked out to the patron, they can return it from the results screen or from the account summary.