This document provides information about a Pacifika Koha Workshop held on September 10, 2012 at the University of the South Pacific Laucala Campus in Suva, Fiji. The workshop covered customizing the Koha OPAC interface through system preferences and HTML coding to make it more unique and useful for patrons. Tips were provided on customizing different areas like the navigation, headers, blocks, and CSS. Sample HTML code was shown for customizing the navigation areas. The workshop emphasized exploring the many system preferences to further tune the Koha interface.

1. Pacifika Koha Workshop
September 10, 2012
University of the South Pacific
Laucala Campus, Suva, FIJI.
Koha customisations
www.calyx.net.au

2. Use your Koha!
DIY: How to make your Opac
unique?

3. Customising your Koha OPAC is easier than
you think....
Professional Koha hosting & support companies can
provide you with an amazing OPAC, but DIY is always
more fun, you can learn fun new skills (and amaze your
colleagues).
You need:
- access to a Koha admin interface and the OPAC
- have superlibrarian permissions
- a stable internet connection
- a test system or a not yet live Koha system
- time and curiosity

4. In this presentation
- we use Koha 3.8.4
- older Koha systems have different system
preferences, so please check the online
manual
- HTML language to format text
- the free w3school.com website to test our
HTML
- the Koha online manual is your good friend!
- all HTML code used in this presentation, is
available to copy and share - ask me for a
handout!

5. Overview of Koha's OPAC
Customisable fields on your OPAC, with the name of
corresponding system preference.

6. OpacNav
This is where you put useful links,
relevant information you want
your patrons to find easily:
opening hours, the location of the
library, the postal address and
other important information.

7. OpacNavBottom
This is a good location to add useful links to different collections, organizations,
or even to a short video on how to use your new Opac
OpacNav
OpacNavBottom

8. OpacHeader
The top of your Opac site is always visible. It is
a good idea to put here the name of your
library, the logo, or image you use to identify
your library. Keep in mind: this is a long, narrow
space - long, narrow images work best.
OpacHeader is also an excellent location to put
the Google Analytics code if you are signed up
for it.

9. OpacMainUserBlock
This is the prime location on your OPAC site,
this location attracts the most attention, so you
want to keep it as interesting as you can.
- You can use the News feature to inform your
patrons of library related news
- With some help from your support company
you can show the newest/most popular titles
available from your library- Ask for custom RSS
feeds!

10. OPACUserCSS
This is a very powerful field if you know CSS. If
you don't, just stick with this easy solution to
change the colour of the banner on your OPAC.
h1#libraryname {
width:220px;} Editing the highlighted
h1#libraryname a { number in the code will
padding:100px 0 0; determinate the colour of
width:220px;} your banner.
#fluid {margin-left: 224px;} This link may help you
#opac-main-search {
determine which colour is the
background-image:none;
best match for your library
background-color:#000000;
}
logo.

11. OPAC before and after
Little changes make a big difference!

12. Websites used in this presentation
● http://manual.koha-community.org/3.8/en/
● http://www.w3schools.com/html/tryit.asp?
filename=tryhtml_intro
● http://www.w3schools.com/html/
● demo384.calyx.net.au demo384-admin.
calyx.net.au (anne + koha)
● http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette
http://koha-community.org
www.calyx.net.au

13. Sample HTML for OpacNav
<table width="92%" border="0"> <tr align="center">
<th>Opening Hours</th> </tr>
<tr align="center">
<td>Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday<br>9.30am - 5.00pm</td> </tr>
<tr align="center">
<td>Saturday<br>9.00am - 12.00pm</td> </tr>
<tr align="center">
<td>Closed Wednesdays, Sundays and Public Holidays</td> </tr>
<table width="92%" border="0"> <tr align="center">
<th>Contact information</th> </tr>
<tr align="center">
<td><a href="http://goo.gl/maps/McTtb">42 The Road, Sydney, NSW 2000</a></td> </tr>
<tr align="center">
<td>Ph: +61 123 456 789 </td> </tr>
<tr align="center">
<td><a href="mailto:enquiries@calyx.net.au?">enquiries@calyx.net.au</a></td> </tr>

14. Sample HTML for OpacNavBottom
<table width="92%" border="0"> <tr align="center">
<tr align="center">
<th>Useful links</th> </tr>
<tr align="center"> <td>
<a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au">National Library of Australia: Trove</a></td>
</tr>
<tr align="center"><td><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=hFgpH3YVwiI" target="_blank">How to use this site? </a></td> </tr>
<tr align="center"><td>
<a href="http://koha-community.org">Koha Library Software Community
</a></td> </tr>

15. Sample code for OPACUserCSS
h1#libraryname {
width:220px;}
h1#libraryname a {
padding:100px 0 0;
width:220px;}
#fluid {margin-left: 224px;}
#opac-main-search {
background-image:none;
background-color:#000000;
}

16. Is that it?
Actually no : there is a lot more to it
Let's explore a few of the many system preferences that will tune
your Koha ...

17. Go to Home > Administration > System preferences
...What an incredible opportunity we have...
to use
Use our Koha
Decide on the values to give to various system preferences
Administration preferences: noItemTypeImages and virtualshelves ...
Cataloguing preferences: hide_marc and ISBD ...
OPAC preferences: BibliodDfaultView and Opaclayoutstylesheet ...
Staff client preferences: intranetstylesheet ...
|18N/L10N preferences: OpacLanguages and opaclanguagesdisplay
Enhanced content preferences: OPACFRBRIZEEditions and Google Jacket
and localCoverImages and Tagging .....

18. How new ways of learning are changing
universities
CAUL : The Committee of Australian University Librarians mission statement says:
Improving access by the staff and students of Australian universities to the information
resources that are fundamental to the advancement of teaching, learning and research.
http://www.caul.edu.au/
Our patrons choose the time,
place and device to interact
with our content ...

19. Koha customisation is about
● usability,
● better access to content,
● achieving value from measurement,
● speed,
● patron's self management online
● improved services to students
● It’s about business optimisation
● understanding our goals
● understanding our audience needs
● and reducing the gap in between.

20. Questions and Comments?
Feedback to Irma@calyx.net.au
Thank you for your interest
Vinaka
www.calyx.net.au