by Alex Buckley and Aleisha Amohia
Libraries have evolved in a big way since their inception. Nowadays, you can access all types of resources through the library – books, magazines, journals, as well as electronic files. Koha provides a useful tool that allows libraries to upload their own electronic files. This tutorial aims to make the process more straightforward so your library can link PDFs and articles easily to your catalogue.
How to upload a file
Step 1: Start by accessing the Upload feature. It can be found in the staff client, under the Additional Tools section of the Tools module.
Step 2: When uploading new files, we recommend you select an upload category, otherwise the upload will be marked as temporary. The category dropdown will not show if your Koha has none stored.
Upload categories are populated from the UPLOAD authorised value category. New authorised values can be added to the UPLOAD category under Koha Administration > Authorised values.
Note: You can still choose to upload a temporary file by leaving the category option empty, however temporary files may be wiped upon server reboot, and automatically cleaned out by the cleanup_database.pl cronjob.
Step 3: Browse to select the file you would like to upload, choose an upload category, and tick the 'Allow public downloads' checkbox. This checkbox must be checked if you’d like the upload to be accessible via the OPAC.
Step 4: Once the upload is complete, you’ll see the file has been allocated a hashvalue. This hashvalue is the unique identifier you will use to access the uploaded file around Koha.
There will also be a public link that can be used to access the file that looks like /cgi-bin/koha/opac-retrieve-file.pl?id=235782b6aae58d51e3ce61a25cbbd115. This needs to be added onto the end of your OPAC base URL. Clicking ‘Yes’ will copy the link to your clipboard so you can paste it where you need to use it.
Using your upload
If you need to find your upload’s hashvalue or public link again, you can search for the file. Using the search field in the Upload tool, you can search for the file by its filename and its hashvalue.
You can use the uploaded file in a news item or HTML customisation which shows on the OPAC homepage. The file can be inserted as an image or a hyperlink.
You can catalogue a bibliographic record with your uploaded file linked in the 856$u field. You can also link the uploaded file to a particular item, in the Uniform Resource Identifier field.
Koha gives you the flexibility to provide access to your own files in your catalogue and on your homepage.
Written by Alex Buckley and Aleisha Amohia, Catalyst Koha Developers.
Catalyst Koha
If you have any questions or comments about this News item, or would like some support with your Koha instance, you are welcome to email us at [email protected] (New Zealand) or [email protected] (Australia).
Follow Catalyst Koha on Twitter!