Enter KOHA, Theatre Alberta’s Online Library Catalogue by clicking the portal. Look below for more information and tips on how to use KOHA. Need more help using KOHA or finding the right materials for your production, research, or audition? Ask our librarian. Happy script hunting!
Tips for using KOHA
By logging into your account you can: see what you have checked out and when items are due, reserve items, renew items, look up fines information, create and save your own book lists, save your search histories to use again, keep a list of items you have checked out, submit new contact information, suggest a play title to be added to the library.
Group memberships: The two contacts specified on your membership may borrow items from the library. Written authorization is required to change contact information.
A keyword search may be done from the library home page. Enter nt: in the search field, followed by your search terms in quotation marks and choose ‘Library Catalog’ from the dropdown menu. An example would be: nt: ‘solo performance’ (make sure there is a space behind nt:). If using nt: on the Advanced Search page, use keyword or notes/comments from the drop down menu to search the comments field.
The search engine will only recognize things in the way they are written in the description field. Therefore, if you are looking for a cast size of 16 characters, you will have to write the number out in a word (sixteen characters), just like it appears in the title notes field. The same applies for cast breakdown; so you would enter 9 male; 3 female as: nine male; three female.
Use the dropdown menus on the advanced search page to help you focus your search. Choose an item from the dropdown menu, add your term and then using the ‘and/or/not’ functions, add to that search term. You may also select the type of play by using the radio buttons; and/or specify a publication date range.
Make sure that you set your message preferences on your account page. This will ensure that you receive your due date warning emails as you would like them to!
Also, remember that you can open any link on a new tab. So, if you want to compare different scripts from your search results list, just choose to open the description fields in new tabs when you click on the title of the item. Then you can go back and forth between the play descriptions without having to go back and forth through the results page.
Similarly, you can create a list of items to go back to later. First, select the box next to the title. Choose Add to: and then [new list] from the drop down menu found at the top of the list of titles you found. You will be prompted to name your list. You may then add any title you want to that list by checking the box next to the title, click save and follow the prompts. When you are done adding to the list, you can retrieve the list to review the items by clicking on the List icon in the black line at the top of the page beside Koha and Cart. You may make more than one list at a time.
To place a hold on an item, click any 
icon near your title, and follow the prompts. You can hold several items from one page of search results by checking the boxes beside the titles and clicking the icon above your results list.
ALL of the collection items in KOHA are marked ‘not for loan’. This doesn’t mean that you can’t get the play, just that you need to take out the whole collection that it is in. The name of the collection appears in the holdings tab under Notes. It may also appear as a link under the title of the play. Use the link, or do a search on the title to see if the collection is in the library, and to see what else is in the collection. An example is below:
