Problem
The ability is needed to search for patrons on many different fields, including email address, street address, phone number, etc. Using additional patron attributes is not a viable solution as it would require a tremendous amount of duplicate data on all fields that would need to be searchable.

Possible Solution #1
Create a standard search API that functions for both circulation and patron searches and supports the ability to search on many different fields.

Possible Solution #2
Create a member search API that supports the ability to search for patrons on many different fields.

Technical Notes

System preference should exist for what patron fields are able to be searched
When a Staff member clicks on the Patron menu item, they should immediately be taken to the advanced search screen, which could exist below the browse by last name. This display would be in a similar format to what Staff see when they click on the Search menu item.
Patron Attribute types that are able to be searched should appear in the advanced search.

http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php?id=en:development:rfcs3.2:rfc32_advancedpatronsearch

Any thoughts, questions, or comments?

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Danny Bouman
Web Programmer
Howard County Central Library
10375 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, MD 21044
410.313.7924