Hi,
soon after posting my message below, I realized that Koha indeed possesses
this feature (to some extent). While on the e-book record, I can "Link to
host item", and then select the barcode of the e-reader's specific item
which actually contains that e-book.
This should fix the main issue of keeping track of loans.
The only drawback is that the call number of the e-reader would be the
same for all the e-books contained in it, which would therefore not show
up appropriately in the "Browse shelf".
Giuseppe.
On Thu, 15 Jun 2017, Giuseppe Angilella wrote:
Hi,
I've just started populating my library's catalog with e-book readers and
e-books.
I've defined different item types for either e-readers and e-books, and
classified the former as "equipment" and the latter as "monographs" in the
appropriate MARC record fields (leader etc).
For a given e-reader type (Kindle, say) I may have several items. These are
distinct, as they have a different serial number, and receive therefore a
distinct barcode. Similarly, they can be borrowed individually. Therefore,
they perfectly qualify as "Koha items".
On the other hand, an e-book is entered as a specific record (which is
distinct from the record of the corresponding hardcopy, if also available),
with a cross-link to the e-reader's record in the 773 MARC field.
Originally, I thought that no physical item should be attached to an e-book,
since it is the e-reader, and not the e-book, which can be borrowed. However,
this prevents the e-book to appear in the "Browse shelf" feature, close to
books with similar topic (which is very useful for patrons).
One solution might be that of restricting the e-book type to "no loan", but
then the cross-link to the appropriate e-reader would be contained in the
record (Koha's biblioitem), and not in the item (Koha's item), which might be
confusing for the patron.
Another solution might be that of devising some kind of "virtual items".
Several "virtual items" (say, several e-books) could be mapped onto a single
(physical) "item", so that whenever the (physical) item is on loan, all of
the "virtual items" contained by it are also set "on loan". A "virtual item"
could then be shelved, receive a call number etc appropriately, and therefore
show consistently in Koha's "browse shelf" feature.
I would very much appreciate receiving your feedback on my thoughts above.
Best regards,
Giuseppe.
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