For as long as I've been working with Koha the default OPAC theme has had a form for specifying beginning and ending dates for reserves. I don't think that has ever served any purpose.
Owen, do you mean that beginning or ending dates are never used in the code? I recall seeing those variables addressed somewhere, but I don't remember where (nor in what version).
What I know is that there is nowhere in the reserves table for these values. That tells me the form is useless. I just wish I knew why it was put there in the first place!
It seems to me that these dates would be useful. If I want to reserve a book but am going on vacation for three weeks and don't want to get the book until I get back, then the beginning date for the reserve is useful. On the other hand, if I need the book for a class and don't want to get it after the class is over, then an ending date is also useful.
I agree absolutely, and I even filed a bug about this the last time I got worked up about this issue: http://bugs.koha.org/cgi-bin/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=607 ...But that's an enhancement bug, and we all know what happens to those ;) -- Owen