Koha Hacks: How to Perform Batch Item Checkouts in Koha

At various points during the day, your library’s circulation desk will suddenly get very busy. One of those times is likely going to be toward the end of day, especially if you are a university or public library. Everyone decides now is the perfect time to check out 10 books each and in no time at all, a long queue forms. Frustration pents up, emotions fray, tempers rise and … well, you know the rest of the story.

This is why Koha library management system’s batch checkout module is such a valuable tool. Instead of checking out one book at a time, Koha enables you to checkout multiple items to your patrons in one transaction. But this function isn’t enabled by default so you first have to configure the module.

Read on to learn how you can enable batch item checkouts and restore sanity to your library during those busy periods.

Koha Hacks: How to Perform Batch Item Checkouts in Koha

At various points during the day, your library’s circulation desk will suddenly get very busy. One of those times is likely going to be toward the end of day, especially if you are a university or public library. Everyone decides now is the perfect time to check out 10 books each and in no time at all, a long queue forms. Frustration pents up, emotions fray, tempers rise and … well, you know the rest of the story.

This is why Koha library management system’s batch checkout module is such a valuable tool. Instead of checking out one book at a time, Koha enables you to checkout multiple items to your patrons in one transaction. But this function isn’t enabled by default so you first have to configure the module.

Read on to learn how you can enable batch item checkouts and restore sanity to your library during those busy periods.

Enabling batch item checkouts in Koha

1. Enable batch item checkouts in system preferences 

  • Login to your Koha staff interface
  • Go to Koha administration > Global system preferences
  • Click on Circulation > Batch checkout preference (right at the top)
  • Under Batch checkout, choose “Allow” batch checkouts.
  • Under BatchCheckoutsValidCategories, select the patron categories for which batch checkouts will be enabled.
  • Click Save all circulation preferences.

2. Checkout Batch Items to Patrons in Circulation

  • Go to Home > Circulation and attempt to checkout items to a patron
  • You will now see Batch Checkout as one of the options in the left hand tabs in your checkout screen
  • To use the Batch Checkout system, you can either:
    • Scan the barcodes one by one into the barcode list text area (recommended), or
    • Upload a file with the barcodes of the items you want to checkout to the patron (enter the barcodes into a .txt file).

When you are done, click Check Out and voila! In one fell swoop, you have checked out mountain of books and can serve you next patron.

Batch checkouts will greatly improve the efficiency of your library, something both you and your patrons will no doubt appreciate. You will have more time to do other important things and maybe for once, leave work on time and avoid the crazy rush hour traffic.  

The batch checkouts module is only one of the many useful features that Koha will give you. Koha stands out as being the first, the best and most affordable world-class library system available today. It is highly scalable, feature rich, easy to use  and you can have it in your library today.

Koha Support provides hassle-free Koha installation and cloud hosting as well as training, data migration, customization and technical support. Check out our packages and get a quick quote today. Looking forward to hearing from you!

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3 Comments

  1. Amanda
    Amanda on 5 August, 2016 at 6:50 PM

    Is there hopes for batch check in to be a thing at some point? Checking in one item at a time seems to be another thing that takes forever when you have patrons checking out 20+ items and returning them all at once. Thanks!

    • Lennon Mazonde
      Lennon Mazonde on 22 September, 2016 at 8:13 AM

      I just thought of a work-around that might help in the mean-time: you could use the Koha offline circulation tool to batch check-in and check-out items quickly if you find that the circulation desk is super-busy. Check out my article on How to Enable Offline Circulation in Koha. Once you have that enabled, you can simply scan multiple items into the check in box and commit your entries (or apply them directly)

    • Lennon Mazonde
      Lennon Mazonde on 22 September, 2016 at 8:06 AM

      Hi Amanda, I agree, this would be a very handy tool to have. I’ve checked the Koha Bugzilla list and it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone working on that particular system enhancement at the present moment. I’ll work on opening up a ticket and see if anyone is willing to sponsor what would be a very useful addition to Koha