This blog post was updated in 2025.
1. How to add library news to the bottom of a notice or slip
Adding library news, such as dates when the library will be closed onto library notices and slips is a great way to share library updates.
In Koha, you can add news items to the issue slip (which has a code ISSUESLIP) by following these steps:
1. To create the news item go to Tools->News.
2. Select ‘New entry’.
3. Fill out the form to create the news item.
Important note: You need to set the ‘Display location’ of the news item to ‘Slip’.
Pictured: OPAC and Koha news page showing the 'Display location' is set to 'Slip'.
4. Now, amend the ISSUESLIP notice in the staff client by going to Tools->Notices & slips. Scroll down the list of notices until you find ISSUESLIP and select its ‘Edit’ button.
Pictured: A range of issue slips.
5. Click on the ‘Email’ and ‘Print’ drop down boxes to amend these different formats of the ISSUESLIP.
6. Each time scroll down the ‘Message body’ list until you get to ‘ ---OPAC_NEWS---’
7. Then select the parts of the news item that you want to be displayed in the slip and click ‘Insert’ button to add them to the notice.
8. It is recommended that you add the following parts of the news item:
- opac_news.branchcode -> So the patron knows which branches the news item relates to.
- opac_news.title -> Concise summary of the event/information that patrons need to know.
- opac_news.content -> This forms the majority of the news item and will give more context to the title
Important note: You must surround the OPAC news values with and opening <news> tag at the start and a closing </news> at the end.
9. Then save the changes to the news item.
10. To test it, you can go to a patrons account page in the staff client, select the ‘Print’ drop-down button at the top of the page and select the ‘Print slip’ option.
The news item will display when the next notice is printed.
2. How to add a logo or images to notices in Koha
To add an image to a Koha notice you firstly need to upload the image to the server if you have server access. Otherwise, you would need to ask your service provider to upload the image to the server.
The filepath that the image should be added to is: /var/www/files/<instancename>/images/
Once the image is added all you need to do in the Koha staff client is go to: Tools->Notices and slips. Choose a report and select ‘Edit’. Add a <img> HTML element to the notice like below:
<img src="<opacurl>/files/hlt/images/<filename>" style="width:96%;"/>
Then, as long as the image is in that filepath and the web server has permissions to it then the image will be displayed on the notice.
3. How users can change their password online
Head to Administration->Global system preferences->OPAC and enable the OPACResetPassword system preference (syspref).
Pictured: OpacResetPassword page.
After this syspref is enabled a ‘Forgot your password’ link will be displayed under the login form on the OPAC.
To change their password after clicking this link, the user will need to input their username or email address for a password reset email to be sent to them.
Pictured: Forgotten password recovery with login details.
