[Koha-bugs] [Bug 34479] Clear saved patron search selections after certain actions

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.koha-community.org]

https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=34479

--- Comment #18 from Emily Lamancusa <emily.lamancusa at montgomerycountymd.gov> ---
The main problem is that adding the "saved patron" functionality was a behavior
change in the first place, and if staff aren't aware of it or forget to pay
attention to the "patrons selected" box, it can lead to data loss.

Most notably, if a staff member merges Patron A and Patron B (we'll call the
resulting account Patron AB), the merged patron remains selected. If they don't
remember or realize they need to clear selected patrons before trying to do a
separate merge of Patron C and Patron D, then Koha will merge Patron AB, C, and
D all together, and Patron AB will be lost, with no good way to undo the
action.

The consequences to accidentally keeping an "old" selected patron when adding
to a list or doing a batch modification are less permanent, but they will still
lead to data errors that are likely to go unnoticed.

In our library system, staff have also reported confusion about going to the
patron page and finding that there are already "mysteriously" selected patrons.
(Presumably, those patrons are still saved from an earlier action.) This means
that even if a staff member is conscientious about clearing selected patrons in
between actions, they might still have a leftover selected patron on their
"first" action when they're not expecting to have one, and therefore are less
likely to notice it.

I think it's pretty reasonable to ask a staff member to actively confirm
whether they still want to keep their selected patrons after performing an
action on them. I imagine it's more common to perform one action on a patron
set and then move on, rather than perform an additional, separate batch action
on the exact same set. More importantly, it's safer to assume the staff member
is finished with their selected patrons after performing an action, unless
specified otherwise:

 -> If a staff member accidentally fails to keep their selected patrons, it may 
    cause them a bit more work re-selecting the patrons, but their attempted 
    action will fail and they will be able to correct the issue right away.

 ->If a staff member accidentally keeps their selected patrons when they don't 
   intend to, their attempted action will succeed with unintended side effects 
   that may go unnoticed and may not be easy to correct.

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