Step 1. Create a Google app password

An App Password permits a non-Google app to access Google's SMTP server. App Passwords can only be used with accounts that have 2-step verification turned on. Google recommends using "Sign in with Google" whenever possible, a more secure way to connect apps. Here, we must create an app password for GMail to work with Koha ILS. Create a dedicated Gmail account or GMail-based email service for Koha. Don't use an existing email for other purposes when SMTP is configured; the inbox will be filled with bounced emails. 

1. Visit the Google Account Security settings page and turn on 2-step verification. Here is the link to your Google Account Security Settings, https://myaccount.google.com/u/2/security.

Step 2. SMTP configuration

Open Administration > Additional parameters > SMTP servers > New SMTP Server.

Add the details.

Name: Give server name, e.g. MGU Mail

Host: Enter the server's hostname. Here, the Gmail SMTP hostname is smtp.gmail.com

Port: Enter the port number of Gmail SMTP, 587. 

Timeout (seconds): Enter the number of seconds after which an unsent email will result in an error

SSL: Choose the security protocol. STARTTLS works with Gmail.

Username: Enter the Gmail ID. 

Password: Enter the Google App Password.

Debug mode: Select debug mode to send additional output to the logs.

Default server: Select it if all libraries use the default server.

Click the ‘Submit’ button to save the configuration.

Step 3. Enable email messaging in Koha

1. Apply the following command in a Terminal to enable email services from Koha ILS.

sudo koha-email-enable library

Other configurations to prepare Koha to send email messages.

1. Enable Enhanced Messaging preferences.

Koha Administration > Global System Preferences > Patrons > Enhancedmessagingpreferences > Allow

2. Visit each patron category at Administration > Patron categories and change the configuration, Overdue notice required (Yes).

3. Overdue Notice/Status triggers

Koha >  Tools > Overdue Notice/status triggers

Many libraries started to use SMTP-based email services in Koha. Koha provides SMTP server configuration from Administration > SMTP servers > New SMTP server. Such libraries use Gmail free account as the email service provider. Gmail allow you to send 100 emails per day. Users can't send new messages for up to 24 hours if the number of messages exceeds the limit. Google says, "If a user exceeds their sending limits, their account might be suspended". Another drawback of using an ordinary Gmail account is that libraries can't add their domain to the email ID. Sending emails from an ordinary Gmail account is a non-professional approach.

What's the solution?

Libraries can use a dedicated email service to deliver emails. Hiring an SMTP email service to work with Koha is a good idea. Libraries can choose email services from an array of service providers. Such services enable sending, receiving, and tracking emails. Netcore, MailGun, and Mailchimp are examples of transactional email service providers. Libraries can subscribe to the plan based on the number of transactions per day. Email services give the SMTP server settings details to configure with Koha.

Installation of PCloud drive in Debian/Ubuntu.

Here are the steps on how to install PCloud software in Ubuntu:

1. Go to the pCloud website, and create an account.

2. Download the pCloud AppImage file for Linux.

3. Save the file to your computer.

4. Open a terminal window and navigate to the directory where you saved the file.

5. Run the following command to give the file executable permissions:

sudo chmod +x pcloud

Either double-click on the PCloud icon or run the following command to start the pCloud AppImage:

./pcloud

6. The pCloud login window will appear. Enter your pCloud email address and password, and click Log in.

A folder named pCloudDrive will be created in your home directory. This is your pCloud virtual drive. You can now start storing and accessing your files in pCloud.

To schedule Koha backup to pCloud please visit the following link,

http://kohageek.blogspot.com/2021/08/backup-with-auto-delete-old-files.html

The blog post gives the details of schedule backup in Dropbox cloud storage. The same steps can follow to schedule Koha backup to pCloud.

Problem statement

Solution

sudo mousepad /etc/koha/sites/library/koha-conf.xml

Find the location of the lines from the screenshot. Check the line number.

Reference

Patron attributes help define custom fields (e.g. blood group, Course name (BSc, BA) etc.) with patron details.

1. Enable Patron Attributes from Global System Preferences

Administration  System preferences > Patrons > ExtendedPatronAttributes > Enable

2. Create an Authorized Value for the blood group

Administration > Authorized values > New category

Add a new patron attribute type for the blood group.

Administration > Patron attribute types > New Patron attribute type

Enter details of the new Patron Attribute type

Save the Patron Attribute Type for Blood Group. 

Add a new patron and see the blood group list.

Patrons  > Add patron

A library Clearance/Discharge certificate certifies that the user has no holds, no active checkouts, and no outstanding debt. Here are the steps to generate a clearance certificate;

1. Enable useDischarge from Koha Administration > Global System Preferences. Search and find the useDischarge settings. Turn it into Allow.

2. Customize the Discharge notice at Tools > Notices and slips. Search and find the Discharge notice. The content of the notice is blank. Visit the Notice Template site and copy the content. Edit and save the notice.

3. Open the Patron account to generate Discharge. Find the Discharge button at the end of the Patron account.

4. Click on the Generate discharge button.

How patrons can intuitively navigate through the Koha OPAC, access their account information, and browse all materials.

This webinar covers the basics of the Koha Staff interface and how staff can intuitively navigate the models.

The Koha Staff Experience July 14, 2022

In this 30 minute, The Koha Staff Experience, we will cover the basics of the Koha Staff interface and how staff can intuitively navigate through the models

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BN0k0VrSSm6ykhwHLSgRpQ?timezone_id=Asia%2FKolkata

Discover the Koha OPAC on August 9, 2022

In this 30-minute webinar, Discover the Koha OPAC, we will cover how patrons can intuitively navigate through the Koha OPAC, access their account information, and browse all materials!

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VtjLAB1pTGO7kQn0inK9lA?timezone_id=Asia%2FKolkata

Technical Services Overview September 15, 2022

In this 30-minute webinar, Technical Services Overview, we will cover the basics of cataloging, acquisitions, serials, and the tools for technical services workflows in Koha!

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9P5y1AWFQQ-4et1v2UqChQ?timezone_id=Asia%2FKolkata

The Koha Staff Experience October 18, 2022

In this 30-minute, The Koha Staff Experience, we will cover the basics of the Koha Staff interface and how staff can intuitively navigate through the models.

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MHW5H9DCQbm1jOuF1JV-gw?timezone_id=Asia%2FCalcutta

The Basics of Circulation November 16, 2022

In this 30-minute webinar, The basics of circulation, we will cover how staff can utilize the circulation functionality and integrate it into their daily workflows for a successful customer experience.

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qAxK67LATByqxRulY9ZBQQ?timezone_id=Asia%2FCalcutta

An Administrators Overview December 8, 2022

In this 30-minute webinar, An Administrators Overview, we will cover how Koha’s administration functionality can help users easily perform their day-to-day jobs at the library.

Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cRK3MarjQny_ZuJlKye3qA?timezone_id=Asia%2FKolkata

Add the Mono repository to your system

Apply the following commands one by one,

sudo apt install gnupg ca-certificates

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys 3FA7E0328081BFF6A14DA29AA6A19B38D3D831EF

echo "deb https://download.mono-project.com/repo/ubuntu stable-focal main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mono-official-stable.list

sudo apt update

Install Mono

No need to install the full Mono package to run MARCEdit.

The following package mono-xsp4 is enough for running ASP.NET applications.

sudo apt install mono-xsp4

Installation of MarcEdit

Download the MarcEdit package suitable for Linux based OS from here, https://marcedit.reeset.net/downloads

The filename would be marcedit7.run

Give permission to MarcEdit package,

sudo chmod +x marcedit7.run

Apply the following command to install the package,

sudo ./marcedit7.run --target ~/Documents/marcedit

If the installation succeeds, the MarcEdit icon will appear on the desktop. Don't worry if the icon does not appear on the screen. We can run the MarcEdit software from the folder. The MarcEdit folder appeared on the Document folder. Change the permission of the marceditor folder.

cd Documents
sudo chmod -R 777 marcedit

Open the marcedit folder and find the MarcEdit.exe, double click on it. 

MarcEdit starts.

Socket file helps to facilitate communication between different processes of the MySQL and MariaDB server. The file associated with the process is, mysqld.sock and is located at the folder, /var/run/mysqld/. Due to many reasons, MariaDB cannot establish a connection with the socket file. Sometimes socket files are missing from the location. It results in the stopping of the MariaDB service. The problem with the socket file also affects the working of Koha. Often Koha screen shows the following error on the screen.

Possible solutions

We can try to apply three solutions to evoke socket files; restarting the MariaDB service, changing user permissions, and reinstalling MariaDB. 

Solution 1: Try to restart the MariaDB service and check whether it's working.

sudo systemctl start mariadb

Refresh the Koha page. If it works, it means the socket file works. If it does not open, we go to the next solution.

Solution 2: Next, we will check whether the mysqld. sock file missing or not. Apply the following command,

ls -a /var/run/mysqld

The file is there, we can see a file with the name, mysqld.sock. If the file is missing from there, the reason may be that MariaDB has no proper permissions to create it. Give the directory permission to MariaDB users to make necessary changes.

sudo chown mysql:mysql /var/run/mysqld/
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/run/mysqld/

Restart the MariaDB service,

sudo systemctl restart mysql

If it is reluctant to start the service and shows the error, find other ways to solve it. The last resort is to reinstall the MariaDB.

Solution 3: Reinstall MariaDB

The first step is the uninstall the MariaDB without removing the Koha databases  (e.g. koha_library). The default location of the data directory of MariaDB is at /var/lib/mysql/, where we can see the Koha database directory.

The location of MariaDB data directory, /var/lib/mysql/

sudo apt purge "mariadb*" -y

Apply the following command to remove unwanted packages after the uninstallation of MariaDB.

Apply the following command to reinstall the MariaDB,

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server mariadb-client

I faced the socket problem with MariaDB 10.3 on Ubuntu 20.04. I used the opportunity and installed a higher version of MariaDB (10.04) by adding a repository. The download page in the MariaDB home page gives you instructions to install a higher version of the package. Please check it, https://mariadb.org/download/?t=repo-config

References

How To Troubleshoot Socket Errors in MySQL https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-troubleshoot-socket-errors-in-mysql

MariaDB installation - dependency problems and failed to start service https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb-installation-dependancy-problems-and-failed-to-start-service/

Eight regional languages in India were placed in the Koha translation project. Hindi and Telugu translation is almost finished, and other languages work is in progress. Except for Hindi and Telugu, no other Indian languages received community participation in the translation process.

How to participate in Koha translation

Koha Software community maintains an online platform for translation activities. The Koha translation website is available at https://translate.koha-community.org. The Koha software community uses free software called Pootle to manage translations. Each version of Koha is treated as a project and contains languages and translation files. Translation entries are saved in .po files and multiple .po files for different modules of Koha ILS. You can participate in translation activities by creating an account on the website. No technical knowledge is required to participate in translation activities.

Select the language (e.g. Malayalam) from the top of the website. Translation work on the four Koha editions is underway at the same time. 

Select the latest version of Koha for translation. Enter into the translation activities by clicking on the Koha version. When a new version of Koha is released, the current translation entries carry over to the latest one.

The translation entries are stored in different files. For ease of translation, lines related to various modules such as online catalogue, staff interface, messages and installer are stored in separate files. Clicking on the file link will allow you to enter into the file and view the lines to be translated.

Click on the Untranslated link, and it will list out the entries that need a translation. Translate the highlighted entries. 

Translate the highlighted English entries. Type the translated entries in the regional language in the box. Use Google Chrome browser, and the  Input Tools extension (Google Input Tools) to input translated entries. The translated entry can be submitted by clicking on the Submit / Suggest button. Suggested translations become part of the Malayalam translation once approved by the Administrator.

If there is a variable in the entries, it should be left as it is. Numbers, amounts, dates, etc., appear in the variable position. %s can be found where the variable appears. Even if you change the structure of the lines, add the variable note in the desired position. Do not delete the variable part.

When the translation of each line is complete, the next line is highlighted for translation.

Participation in the Koha translation project does not require technical expertise. Best collaboration space for LIS students and professionals. Participation in the Koha translation project helps the students and professionals acquaint themselves with Free Software’s sharing culture. Become a contributor and help in Koha translation.

Zebra is the default search engine with Koha. Koha project preparing to adopt Elasticsearch as the default search in the near future. Koha users can try Elasticsearch with Koha. Elasticsearch offers speed and more functionality than its counterparts and is considered an innovative search engine suitable to match the latest requirements. 

Install the Koha dependencies and the Java JDK

Koha users can share the installation details with the Koha community. It helps the developers and other community members to get an idea of Koha installations in all regions. The facility is available at Koha Administration > Additional parameters > Share your usage statistics,

Enter the details of the library. The details sent to the website maintained by the Koha community, https://hea.koha-community.org. The global usage statistics of Koha available on the website.

A system preference, stafflogininstructions available for this purpose. This feature available since the release of Koha version 18.04. 

How it works

Copy the logo to htdocs

Prepare the logo image and put it in an internal folder or in an external server. You can place the image in the folder, /usr/share/koha/opac/htdocs to save in the Koha server. Apply the following command to copy the logo image from the home folder to htdocs.

sudo cp mgu-logo.jpg /usr/share/koha/opac/htdocs

Replace the file name (mgu-logo.jpg) match with the logo name with you.

Add image details in stafflogininstructions

Open Koha Staff Client, visit and find Administration > Global System Preference > Staff Interface > StaffLoginInstructions.

Otherwise, find the specific option by using the search feature in Administration > Global System Preferences. Put the term, StaffLoginInstructions in search box and find.

HTML tag to display logo

<center> <img src="http://127.0.1.1/mgu-logo.jpg" style="width:45%; height:45%;"> </center>

Change the IP (http://127.0.1.1/mgu-logo.jpg) match with yours. Save the settings. Sign out from Koha Staff Client and check the login page.

Inventory feature assists the libraries in stock taking. After the inventory process over, the library gets a picture of missing books. Here are the steps to initiate stocktaking with Koha.

Prepare text file of barcodes
Prepare a text file of barcodes (accession number) either using barcode scanner visiting shelves. Otherwise, prepare the text file with barcodes manually. If you have collected the barcodes in other formats like a spreadsheet, copy it into the text file.

Check Export to CSV file box to generate the result in a CSV file. Click on Submit button to start the inventory process with Koha. The CSV file will be downloaded to the computer. 

Open the CSV file. Inventory report with missing documents information available in the CSV file

Koha made use Google Indic Transliteration (Global System Preferences > OPAC > GoolgeIndicTransliteration) addon in OPAC with the search box. It was useful for search bibliographic details in regional languages. This service not available with Koha now. The reason is that the service seized by Google. But an alternative not added with Koha yet. Anyhow, libraries with bibliographical details in regional languages can make use of Google Input Tools extension with Chrome browser. Koha OPAC needs to load with Chrome browser to make avail this service.

1. Install Google Chrome browser and install Google Input Tools from the following link,

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-input-tools/mclkkofklkfljcocdinagocijmpgbhab?hl=en

2. Enable regional languages