Circulation

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Article requests

ArticleRequests

Asks: ___ patrons to place article requests.

Default: Don’t enable

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Description:

• This preference controls whether or not patrons can request articles.

• This is the main switch for the article request functionality.

ArticleRequestsLinkControl

Asks: ___ article request link on search results.

Default: Use algorithm to show or hide

Values:

• Always show

• Use algorithm to show or hide

Description:

• On the OPAC results page, either always show the ‘Request article’ link or check the branch, patron and item type combination to determine whether or not an article can be requested from this particular record before displaying the link.

ArticleRequestsMandatoryFields

Asks: For records that are record level or item level requestable, make the following fields mandatory: ___

Default: None selected

Values:

• [Select all]

• Author

• Chapters

• Date

• Issue

• Pages

• Title

• Volume

Description:

• This preference controls what fields must be filled in before an article request can be placed for either a record level or item level request. Choosing [Select all] indicates that all fields listed (Author, Chapters, Date, Issue, Pages, Title, Volume) must be completed before the article request can be placed.

ArticleRequestsMandatoryFieldsItemsOnly

Asks: For records that are only item level requestable, make the following fields mandatory: ___

Default: None selected

Values:

• [Select all]

• Author

• Chapters

• Date

• Issue

• Pages

• Title

• Volume

Description:

• This preference controls what fields must be filled in before an article request can be placed for an item level request only. Choosing [Select all] indicates that all fields listed (Author, Chapters, Date, Issue, Pages, Title, Volume) must be completed before the article request can be placed.

ArticleRequestsMandatoryFieldsRecordOnly

Asks: For records that are only record level requestable, make the following fields mandatory: ___

Default: None selected

Values:

• [Select all]

• Author

• Chapters

• Date

• Issue

• Pages

• Title

• Volume

Description:

• This preference controls what fields must be filled in before an article request can be placed for a record level request only. Choosing [Select all] indicates that all fields listed (Author, Chapters, Date, Issue, Pages, Title, Volume) must be completed before the article request can be placed.

ArticleRequestsOpacHostRedirection

Asks: ___ redirection from child to host based on MARC21 773$w when the child has no items when requesting articles on the OPAC.

Default: Disable

Values:

• Disable

• Enable

Description:

• When enabled, if a patron attempts to place an article request from an analytic record the system will automatically populate some details in the request from using data from the host record.

ArticleRequestsSupportedFormats

Asks: The following article request formats are supported: ___

Default: PHOTOCOPY

Values: Valid choices are currently PHOTOCOPY and SCAN

Description:

• This system preference controls the choices available in the ‘Format’ drop- down menu when placing an article request.

• The valid choices are PHOTOCOPY and SCAN.

• Separate choices with a pipe (|), for example PHOTOCOPY|SCAN

• The first choice in the list will be the default choice in the article request form.

Batch checkout

BatchCheckouts

Asks: ___ batch checkouts

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This system preference is the main switch for the batch checkout functionality

• Make sure to add the patron categories allowed to have batch checkouts in BatchCheckoutsValidCategories

See also:

• BatchCheckoutsValidCategories

• SCOBatchCheckoutsValidCategories

BatchCheckoutsValidCategories

Asks: Patron categories allowed to checkout in a batch: ___

Values:

• Values are the patron categories; multiple categories can be selected.

Default: none

Description:

• Check the patron categories for which batch checkouts are allowed

• BatchCheckouts must be enabled for this preference to have any effect

See also:

• BatchCheckouts

• SCOBatchCheckoutsValidCategories

Checkin policy

AutomaticConfirmTransfer

Asks: ___ automatically confirm a transfer when the modal is dismissed without clicking ‘Yes’.

Default: Don’t

Values:

• Don’t

• Do

Description:

• This system preference is used to control the transfer behavior when a staff member clicks away from the transfer confirmation pop-up.

• When set to “Don’t”, clicking away from the pop-up will leave the item as is.

• When set to “Do”, clicking away from the pop-up will confirm the transfer and put the item in transit.

• It is only possible to click away from the pop-up if the TransfersBlockCirc system preference is set to “Don’t block”.

BlockReturnOfLostItems

Asks: ___ returning of items that have been lost.

Default: Don’t block

Values:

• Block

• Don’t block

Description:

• This preference controls whether and item with a lost status (952$1 in MARC21) can be checked in or not.

BlockReturnOfWithdrawnItems

Asks: ___ returning of items that have been withdrawn.

Default: Block

Values:

• Block

• Don’t block

Description:

• This preference controls whether and item with a withdrawn status (952$0 in MARC21) can be checked in or not.

CalculateFinesOnBackdate

Asks: ___ calculate and update overdue charges when an item is returned with a backdated return date.

Default: Do

Values:

• Do

• Don’t

Description:

• This system preference is similar to CalculateFinesOnReturn but is used when checkins are backdated either through the book drop mode or the specified return date (see SpecifyReturnDate).

CalculateFinesOnReturn

Asks: ___ calculate and update overdue charges when an item is returned.

Default: Do

Values:

• Do

• Don’t

Description:

• If this preference is set to “Do” and the fines cron job is off then Koha will calculate fines only when items are returned. If you have the fines cron job on and this preference set to “Do” then this preference will calculate fines based on the cron (usually run nightly) and then again when you check the item in. This option is best for those who are doing hourly loans. If this preference is set to “Don’t” then fines will only be accrued if the fines cron job is running.

Warning

If you are doing hourly loans, this should be set to ‘Do’.

Warning

The finesMode system preference must be set to ‘Calculate and charge’ in order for this system preference to have any effect.

HidePersonalPatronDetailOnCirculation

Asks: ___ hide patrons phone number, email address, street address and city in the circulation page

Default: Don’t

Values:

• Don’t

• Do

Description:

• This preference controls the display of the patron’s phone number, email address, and physical address from the left side of the screen (under their picture, if they have one) on the circulation page.

• When set to ‘Do’, this information will only be visible on the patron’s detail page.

HoldsAutoFill

Asks: ___ automatically fill holds instead of asking the librarian.

Default: Don’t

Values:

• Do

• Don’t

Description:

• If set to ‘Do’, the holds confirmation pop-up will not appear upon checking in an item placed on hold.

HoldsAutoFillPrintSlip

Asks: ___ automatically display the holds slip dialog for auto-filled holds.

Default: Don’t

Values:

• Do

• Don’t

Description:

• If set to ‘Do’, the holds slip print pop-up will appear automatically upon checking in an item placed on hold.

• HoldsAutoFill must be set to ‘do’ for this preference to have any effect.

HoldsNeedProcessingSIP

Asks: ___ holds automatically if matching item is returned via SIP protocol.

Default: Fulfill

Values:

• Fulfill

• Don’t fulfill

Description:

• This system preference controls whether or not holds are automatically filled by items returned via SIP (sorter, auto check-in stations, etc.)

SkipHoldTrapOnNotForLoanValue

Asks: Never trap items with ‘not for loan’ values of ___ to fill holds.

Description:

• This system preference is used to completely exclude items with ‘not for loan’ values from filling holds.

• Enter NOT_LOAN authorized values separated by pipes (|).

StoreLastBorrower

Asks: ___ the last patron to return an item.

Default: Don’t store

Values:

• Don’t store

• Store

Description:

• This preference allows you to store the last patron to borrow an item even if the patron has chosen to have their reading history anonymized.

Note

This setting is independent of opacreadinghistory and AnonymousPatron.

TransfersBlockCirc

Asks: ___ staff from continuing to checkin items when a transfer is triggered.

Default: Block

Values:

• Don’t block

• Block

Description:

• This system preference controls whether or not the transfer pop-up blocks further checkins.

• If this is set to “Don’t block”, the AutomaticConfirmTransfer system preference determines what happens if the pop-up is dismissed without confirming the transfer.

TrapHoldsOnOrder

Asks: ___ items that are not for loan but holdable (notforlan < 0) to fill holds.

Default: Trap

Values:

• Don’t trap

• Trap

Description:

• This system preference controls whether or not items that have a NOT_LOAN authorized value smaller than 0 (which means that the item can be put on hold, but not checked out), should be used to fill holds.

UpdateItemLocationOnCheckin

Asks: This is a list of value pairs. The first value is followed immediately by colon, space, then the second value.

Description:

• This system preference affects the item’s current and permanent locations when the item is checked in (whether it was checked out or not).

• If the location value on the left of the colon (:) matches the item’s current location, it will be updated to match the location value on the right of the colon (:).

• The values are the LOC authorized values.

• For example, STAFF: GEN will move an item from the staff office to the general collection when the item is checked in.

• Special terms

  • PROC: Processing center. When using PROC, only the current location will be affected.

  • CART: Shelving cart. When using CART, only the current location will be affected.

  • _PERM_: This will use the item’s permanent location, whatever that location is.

  • _BLANK_: Used on the left as a first value, it will add a location if there is none. Used on the right as a second value, it will remove the location.

  • _ALL_: Used on the left as a first value, it will affect all items and override all other rules.

Warning

Requires YAML syntax to work

This means

• Make sure there is NO space between the first value and the colon

• Make sure there IS a space between the colon and the second value

• Make sure each pair is on its own line

• If using PROC or CART, use the cart_to_shelf cron job to return the items to their permanent location after a determined number of hours.

UpdateNotForLoanStatusOnCheckin

Version

The system preference was expanded in version 23.11 of Koha to include item types. In previous versions, only use not for loan value pairs.

Asks: This is a list of item types and value pairs. When an item is checked in, if its item type matches, and if the value on the left matches the item’s not for loan value it will be updated to the value on the right.

Description:

• This system preference affects the item’s ‘not for loan’ status when the item is checked in (whether it was checked out or not).

• For each item type, there can be multiple not for loan status pairs.

• If the status value on the left of the colon (:) matches the item’s current status, it will be updated to match the status value on the right of the colon (:).

• The values are the NOT_LOAN authorized values.

• The item type codes are from the item types.

• For example, ‘-1: 0’ will cause an item that was set to ‘Ordered’ to now be available for loan

• The _ALL_ code can be used in place of an item type code to apply to all item types. This will not override other rules, if any are defined for specific item types.

• This system preference can also be used to only display the not for loan status. To do so, enter ONLYMESSAGE on the right of the colon.

Example:

_ALL_:
 -1: 0

CR:
 1: 0

BK:
 -1: ONLYMESSAGE

• For all item types, except BK, a value of -1 will be changed to 0.

• For CR item type, a value of 1 will be changed to 0.

• For BK item type, a value of -1 will show the description of the -1 not for loan status, without changing it.

Warning

Requires YAML syntax to work

This means

• The item type code should be followed by a colon

• Make sure all not for loan value pairs for an item type are preceded by a space

• Make sure there is NO space between the first value and the colon

• Make sure there IS a space between the colon and the second value

• Make sure each pair is on its own line

Checkout policy

AgeRestrictionMarker

Asks: Restrict patrons with the following target audience values from checking out inappropriate materials: ___

Description:

• This preference defines certain keywords that will trigger Koha to restrict checkout based on age. These restrictions can be overridden by the AgeRestrictionOverride preference. Enter in this field a series of keywords separated by bar (|) with no spaces. For example PG|R|E|EC|Age| will look for PG followed by an age number, R followed by an age number, Age followed by an age number, and so on. These values can appear in any MARC field, but Library of Congress recommends the 521$a (Target Audience Note). Whatever field you decide to use you must map the word agerestriction in the biblioitems table to that field in the Koha to MARC Mapping. When cataloging you can enter values like PG 13 or E 10 in the 521$a and Koha will then notify circulation librarians that the material may not be recommended for the patron based on their age.

  Important

  You must map the word agerestriction in the biblioitems table to the MARC field where this information will appear via the Koha to MARC Mapping administration area.

AgeRestrictionOverride

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ staff to check out an item with age restriction.

Values:

• Allow

  

• Don’t allow

  

Description:

• When the AgeRestrictionMarker preference is set, Koha will try to warn circulation librarians before checking out an item that might have an age restriction listed in the MARC record. This preference asks if you would like the staff to be able to still check out these items to patrons under the age limit.

AllFinesNeedOverride

Default: Require

Asks: ___ staff to manually override all fines, even fines less than noissuescharge.

Values:

• Don’t require

• Require

Description:

• This preference let’s you decide if you want to always be warned that the patron has fines when checking out. If you have it set to ‘Require’ then no matter how much money the patron owes a message will pop up warning you that the patron owes money.

AllowFineOverride

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ staff to manually override and check out items to patrons who have more than noissuescharge in fines.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This preference lets you decide if you staff can check out to patrons who owe more money than you usually let them carry on their account. If set to ‘Allow’ staff will be warned that the patron owes, but it won’t stop the staff from checking out to the patron.

AllowItemsOnHoldCheckoutSCO

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ checkouts of items reserved to someone else in the SCO module. If allowed do not generate RESERVE_WAITING and RESERVED warning. This allows self checkouts for those items.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

  Important

  This system preference relates only to Koha’s web based self checkout.

Description:

• When this preference is set to ‘Allow’ patrons will be able to use Koha’s web based self checkout to check out a book to themselves even if it’s on hold for someone else. If you would like Koha to prevent people from checking out books that are on hold for someone else set this preference to “Don’t allow”.

AllowItemsOnHoldCheckoutSIP

Asks: ___ checkouts of items reserved to someone else via SIP checkout messages.

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

  Important

  This system preference relates only to SIP-based self-checkout, not Koha’s web based self checkout.

Description:

• When this preference is set to ‘Allow’ patrons will be able to use your external self check machine to check out a book to themselves even if it’s on hold for someone else.

• If you would like Koha to prevent people from checking out books that are on hold for someone else set this preference to ‘Don’t allow’.

AllowMultipleIssuesOnABiblio

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ patrons to check out multiple items from the same record.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• If this preference is set to ‘Allow’ then patrons will be able to check out multiple copies of the same title at the same time. If it’s set to “Don’t allow” then patrons will only be allowed to check out one item attached to a record at a time. Regardless of the option chosen in this preference records with subscriptions attached will allow multiple check outs.

  Important

  This will only effect records without a subscription attached.

AllowNotForLoanOverride

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ staff to override and check out items that are marked as not for loan.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This parameter is a binary setting which controls the ability of staff (patrons will always be prevented from checking these items out) to check out items that are marked as “not for loan”. Setting it to “Allow” would allow such items to be checked out, setting it to “Don’t allow” would prevent this. This setting determines whether items meant to stay in the library, such as reference materials, and other library resources can be checked out by patrons.

AllowRenewalLimitOverride

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ staff to manually override the renewal limit and renew a checkout when it would go over the renewal limit.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This preference is a binary setting which controls the ability of staff to override the limits placed on the number of times an item can be renewed. Setting it to “Allow” would allow such limits to be overridden, setting it to “Don’t allow” would prevent this. This is a preference in which if it is set to “allow” it would allow the library staff to use their judgment for overriding the renew limit for special cases, setting it to “Don’t allow” prevents an opportunity for abuse by the library staff.

AllowRenewalOnHoldOverride

Asks: ___ staff to renew items that are on hold by manually specifying a due date.

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This preference enables items that are on hold to be renewed with a due date specified by the user.

  It can appear in two locations:

  1. In the “Checkouts” table on the Patron Details screen. It is possible to select on loan items that would otherwise fulfill a hold request to be renewed. When such an item is selected, an additional date selection box is displayed to allow the user to specify the due date for all on hold items that are to be renewed.

  2. In the Circulation > Renew alert screen. When a barcode of an on loan item that would ordinarily fulfill a hold request is entered, the usual alert is displayed indicating that the item is on hold, it is still possible to override this, and renew. With this preference enabled it is also possible to specify a due date.

AllowReturnToBranch

Default: to any library

Asks: Allow materials to be returned to ___

Values:

• either the library the item is from or the library it was checked out from.

• only the library the item is from.

• only the library the item was checked out from.

• to any library.

Description:

• This preference lets the library system decide how they will accept returns. Some systems allow for items to be returned to any library in the system (the default value of this preference) others want to limit item returns to only specific branches. This preference will allow you to limit item returns (checkins) to the branch(es) set in the value.

AllowTooManyOverride

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ staff to override and check out items when the patron has reached the maximum number of allowed checkouts.

Values:

• Allow

  

• Don’t allow

  

Description:

• If this preference is set to “Allow” then staff all will be presented with an option to checkout more items to a patron than are normally allowed in the circulation and fines rules. If this preference is set to “Don’t allow” then no staff member will be able to check out more than the circulation limit.

AutomaticItemReturn

Default: Do

Asks: ___ automatically transfer items to their home branch when they are returned.

Values:

• Do

• Don’t

Description:

• This preference is a binary setting which determines whether an item is returned to its home branch automatically or not. If set to “Don’t”, the staff member checking an item in at a location other than the item’s home branch will be asked whether the item will remain at the non-home branch (in which case the new location will be marked as a holding location) or returned. Setting it to “Do” will ensure that items checked in at a branch other than their home branch will be sent to that home branch.

AutoReturnCheckedOutItems

Asks: ___ require librarians to manually confirm a checkout where the item is already checked out to another patron.

Values:

• Do

• Don’t

Default: Do

Description:

• This preference controls whether Koha asks for a confirmation when trying to check out an item that is already checked out to another patron.

• Set to ‘Do’, Koha will ask the staff member to confirm the check out.

  

• Set to ‘Don’t’, Koha will simply return the item from the previous patron’s file and check it out to the actual patron and show a message.

  

CircControl

Default: the library the item is from

Asks: Use the checkout and fines rules of ___

Values:

• the library the item is from

  • The circulation and fines policies will be determined by the item’s library where HomeOrHoldingBranch chooses if item’s home library is used or holding library is used.

• the library the patron is from

  • The circulation and fines policies will be determined the patron’s home library

• the library you are logged in at

  • The circulation and fines policies will be determined by the library that checked the item out to the patron

CircControlReturnsBranch

Asks: To determine whether an item is transferred or remains in the library after checkin, use the circulation rules of ___.

Default: the library the item is owned by (homebranch)

Values:

• the library the item is checked in at (checkin library)

• the library the item is currently held by (holdingbranch)

• the library the item is owned by (homebranch)

Description:

• This system preference controls which return policy rule (item returns home, item returns to issuing library, or item floats) is used when checking in items.

ConsiderLibraryHoursInCirculation

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: When checking out an hourly loan that will be due after the library closes, ___

Default: shorten the loan period and set the checkout to be due at the library’s close time.

Values:

• shorten the loan period and set the checkout to be due at the library’s close time.

• do not consider the library’s opening hours.

• extend the loan period and set the checkout to be due at the library’s open time.

Description:

• This system preference determines the fate of an hourly checkout which would be due after the library’s opening hours.

• Set the library’s opening hours in Administration > Libraries.

ConsiderOnSiteCheckoutsAsNormalCheckouts

Asks: ___ on-site checkouts as normal checkouts. If enabled, on-site checkouts will count toward the checkout limit for regular checkouts. The on-site limit will still apply for on-site checkouts. If disabled, both values will be checked separately.

Default: Consider

Values:

• Consider

• Don’t consider

Description:

• This preference allows you to decide if checkouts that are considered on-site checkouts are counted toward the total checkouts a patron can have. You can also set your circulation and fines rules to allow only a certain number of normal and on-site checkouts.

DefaultLongOverduePatronCategories

Version

This system preference was added in Koha version 24.05.

Asks: Set the default patron categories to receive overdues to ___

Values:

• Values are the patron categories; multiple categories can be selected.

• Default: none

Description:

Important

This system preference will only be active if DefaultLongOverdueSkipPatronCategories is empty.

• This system preference is used to limit the automatic long overdue process (enabled by the DefaultLongOverdueLostValue and DefaultLongOverdueDays system preferences) to specific patron categories.

  • For example, you might want to only process long overdues automatically for students but not anybody else.

• If this field is empty, all patron categories will be subject to the long overdue process.

• This system preference is used when the longoverdue cron job is called without the --category parameter.

• This system preference allows libraries to set the values of the longoverdue cron job without having to edit the crontab.

DefaultLongOverdueSkipPatronCategories

Version

This system preference was added in Koha version 24.05.

Asks: Set the default patron categories to not receive overdues to ___

Values:

• Values are the patron categories; multiple categories can be selected.

• Default: none

Description:

Important

This system preference overrides the DefaultLongOverduePatronCategories system preference. Therefore, if it is filled, all patron categories except the ones listed will be processed, regardless of the values in DefaultLongOverduePatronCategories.

• This system preference is used to exclude specific patron categories from the automatic long overdue process (enabled by the DefaultLongOverdueLostValue and DefaultLongOverdueDays system preferences).

  • For example, you might want to process long overdues automatically for everyone except students.

• If this field is empty, all patron categories will be subject to the long overdue process.

• This system preference is used when the longoverdue cron job is called without the --skip-category parameter.

• This system preference allows libraries to set the values of the longoverdue cron without having to edit the crontab.

HomeOrHoldingBranch

Default: the item’s home library (homebranch).

Asks: Use the checkout and fines rules of ___

Values:

• the item’s home library (homebranch).

• the item’s holding library (holdingbranch).

Description:

• This preference does several things.

  • If CircControl is set to ‘the library the item is from’ then the circulation and fines policies will be determined by the item’s library where HomeOrHoldingBranch chooses if item’s home library is used or holding library is used.

  • If IndependentBranches is set to ‘Prevent’ then the value of this preference is used in figuring out if the item can be checked out. If the item’s home library does not match the logged in library, the item cannot be checked out unless you have the superlibrarian permission.

  Important

  It is not recommend that this setting be changed after initial setup of Koha because it will change the behavior of items already checked out.

IssuingInProcess

Default: Don’t prevent

Asks: ___ patrons from checking out an item whose rental charge would take them over the limit.

Values:

• Don’t prevent

• Prevent

Description:

• This preference determines if a patron can check items out if there is an overdue fine on the account and any of the materials the patron wishes to check out will potentially tip the account balance over the maximum fines policy the library has in place.

Example: Your library has a $5 limit set for ‘fines’ (i.e., after incurring $5 in fines, a patron can no longer check out items). A patron comes to the desk with 5 items to check out (4 books and a video) The patron has $4 in charges already on their account. One of the videos has a rental charge of $1, therefore making the total fines on the patron’s account suddenly $5 (the limit).

ItemsDeniedRenewal

Asks: Define custom rules to deny specific items from renewal.

Description:

• This preference allows you to specify items that should not be renewed either from the OPAC or staff client. You can enter any combination of fields (from the items table in the Koha database) followed by a colon then a space then a bracketed list of values separated by commas. e.g:

  ccode: [NEWFIC,NULL,DVD]
  itype: [NEWBK,""]
  

• The word ‘NULL’ can be used to block renewal on undefined fields, while an empty string “” will block on an empty (but defined) field.

  Note

  If using automatic renewal notices your notice text should be updated to account for the new reason that renewals may be denied “item_denied_renewal”.

LoadCheckoutsTableDelay

Version

This system preference was added in Koha version 23.11.

Asks: Delay the automatic loading of the checkouts table on the checkouts page by ___ seconds when “Always show checkouts automatically” is enabled.

Default: 0

Description:

• This system preference is used to delay the loading of the checkouts table in a patron’s account to prevent too many service queries when checking out a number of items in a row.

• Enter a positive integer, such as 5, to delay the loading of the table and prevent it from reloading after each check out.

maxoutstanding

Default: 5

Asks: Prevent patrons from making holds on the OPAC if they owe more than ___ USD in fines.

noissuescharge

Asks: Prevent patrons from checking out items if they have more than ___ {currency} in fines.

Default: 5

Description:

• This preference is the maximum amount of money owed to the library before the user is banned from borrowing more items.

• By default, this includes all debit types (overdue fines, account creation fees, hold fees, manual fees, rental fees, etc.), but it’s possible to exclude debit types or to include custom manual debit types using the ‘Included in noissuescharge’ option when creating or editing a debit type.

See also:

• maxoutstanding

• NoIssuesChargeGuarantees

• NoIssuesChargeGuarantorsWithGuarantees

• AllFinesNeedOverride

• AllowFineOverride

NoIssuesChargeGuarantees

Asks: Prevent a patron from checking out if the patron has guarantees owing in total more than ___ USD in fines.

Description:

• Allows a library to prevent patrons from checking out items if his or her guarantees owe too much in fines.

NoIssuesChargeGuarantorsWithGuarantees

Asks: Prevent a patron from checking out if the patron has guarantors and those guarantor’s guarantees owing in total more than ___ (currency) in fines.

Description:

• Allows a library to prevent patrons from checking out items if their guarantees or their guarantees’ other guarantors owe too much in fines.

• This effectively blocks the entire family.

NoRenewalBeforePrecision

Default: date

Asks: Calculate “No renewal before” based on ___.

Values:

• date

• exact time

  Note

  Only relevant for loans calculated in days, hourly loans are not affected.

Description:

• This preference allows you to control how the ‘No renewal before” option in the circulation and fines rules administration area.

NoticeBcc

Asks: Send all notices as a BCC to this email address ___

This preference makes it so that a librarian can get a copy of every notice sent out to patrons.

Note

If you’d like more than one person to receive the blind copy you can simply enter in multiple email addresses separated by commas.

OnSiteCheckoutAutoCheck

Default: Don’t enable

Asks: ___ onsite checkout by default if last checkout was an onsite one.

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Description:

• This preference allows you specify that if a preceding checkout was an onsite checkout, then the ‘On-site checkout’ checkbox will be ticked ready for the next checkout.

OnSiteCheckouts

Default: Disable

Asks: ___ the on-site checkouts feature.

Values:

• Disable

• Enable

  

Description:

• This preference lets you check out items that are ‘not for loan’ to patrons. A checkbox is added to the checkout screen when this preference is set to ‘Enable’ labeled ‘On-site checkout’. This allows you to track who’s using items that are normally not for loan or are in a closed stack setting.

OnSiteCheckoutsForce

Default: Disable

Asks: ___ the on-site for all cases (Even if a user is debarred, etc.).

Values:

• Disable

• Enable

  

Description:

• This preference lets the staff override any restrictions a patron might have and check out items for use within the library. The OnSiteCheckouts preference must first be set to ‘Enable’ for this preference to be considered.

OPACFineNoRenewalsBlockAutoRenew

Default: Allow

Asks: If a patron owes more than the value of OPACFineNoRenewals, ___ his/her auto renewals.

Values:

• Allow

• Block

OverdueNoticeCalendar

Asks: ___ when working out the period for overdue notices

Default: Ignore calendar

Values:

• Ignore calendar

  • Notices do not take holidays into account, so they will be sent even if holidays have meant the item is not actually overdue yet

• Use calendar

  • Notices take holidays into account, so they will not be sent if holidays mean the item is not actually overdue yet

OverdueNoticeFrom

Asks: Organize and send overdue notices using the ___.

Default: command-line option

Values:

• command-line option

• item home library

• checkout library

• patron home library

  Version

  The “patron home library” option was added in Koha version 23.11.

Description:

• This system preference determines which library’s information will be used in the overdue notices (if there is information in the notice template such as <<branches.branchname>> or <<branches.branchphone>>, or, in the new syntax, [% branch.branchname %] or [% branch.branchphone %]) and which email address will be used to send the notices.

• This system preference overrides the –frombranch parameter in the overdue_notices.pl cronjob.

• When set to “command-line option”, the library information will be that of the –frombranch parameter in the overdue_notices.pl cronjob or the checkout library if the parameter is absent.

• When set to “item home library”, the library information will be that of the overdue item’s home library.

• When set to “checkout library”, the library information will be that of the library at which the overdue item was checked out.

• When set to “patron home library”, the library information will be that of the library where the patron receiving the notice is from.

OverduesBlockCirc

Default: Ask for confirmation

Asks: ___ when checking out to a borrower that has overdues outstanding

Values:

• Ask for confirmation

  • Will not let you check an item out to patrons with overdues until a librarian confirms that it is okay

• Block

  • Block all patrons with overdue items from being able to check out

• Don’t block

  • Allow all patrons with overdue items to continue to check out

OverduesBlockRenewing

Default: allow renewing

Asks: When a patron’s checked out item is overdue, ___

Values:

• allow renewing

• block renewing for all the patron’s items

• block renewing for only this item

PrintNoticesMaxLines

Asks: Include up to ___ item lines in a printed overdue notice.

Note

If the number of items is greater than this number, the notice will end with a warning asking the borrower to check their online account for a full list of overdue items.

Note

Set to 0 to include all overdue items in the notice, no matter how many there are.

Important

This preference only refers to the print notices, not those sent via email.

RecordStaffUserOnCheckout

Asks: When checking out an item, ___ the user who checked out the item.

Default: don’t record

Values:

• don’t record

• record

Description:

• This system preference determines whether the staff account who checks out an item to a patron is recorded along with the checkout.

• When set to ‘record’ the staff account will be displayed in the staff interface in the patron’s circulation history as well as the record’s checkout history.

RenewAccruingItemInOpac

Asks: If a patron pays off all fines on an overdue item that is accruing fines in the OPAC via a payment plugin, ___ the item automatically.

Default: Don’t renew

Values:

• Don’t renew

• Renew

Description:

• This system preference allows you to control whether or not overdue items are renewed if the patron pays the fine online.

  Note

  If the RenewalPeriodBase system preference is set to ‘due date’, renewed items may still be overdue even after renewal.

RenewAccruingItemWhenPaid

Asks: If a patron pays off all fines on an overdue item that is accruing fines ___ the item automatically.

Default: Don’t renew

Values:

• Don’t renew

• Renew

Description:

• This system preference allows you to control whether or not overdue items are renewed if the fine is paid in the staff interface.

  Note

  If the RenewalPeriodBase system preference is set to ‘due date’, renewed items may still be overdue even after renewal.

RenewalPeriodBase

Default: the old due date of the checkout

Asks: When renewing checkouts, base the new due date on ___

Values:

• the old due date of the checkout

• the current date

RenewalSendNotice

Default: Don’t send

Asks: ____ a renewal notice according to patron checkout alert preferences.

Values:

• Don’t send

• Send

Description:

• If a patron has chosen to receive a check out notice in their messaging preferences and this preference is set to ‘Send’ then those patrons will also receive a notice when they renew materials. You will want to set up a new notice with the code of RENEWAL (if you don’t already have it) with custom text for renewing items.

  Important

  This preference requires that you have EnhancedMessagingPreferences set to ‘Allow’

RentalFeesCheckoutConfirmation

Default: do not ask

Asks: When checking out an item with rental fees, ___ for confirmation.

Values:

• ask

• do not ask

Description:

• If you are charging rental fees for items this preference will make it so that you can show (or not show) a confirmation before checking out an item that will incur a rental charge.

ReturnBeforeExpiry

Default: Don’t require

Asks: ___ patrons to return books before their accounts expire (by restricting due dates to before the patron’s expiration date).

Values:

• Don’t require

• Require

Description:

• This is preference may prevent a patron from having items checked out after their library card has expired. If this is set to “Require”, then a due date of any checked out item can not be set for a date which falls after the patron’s card expiration. If the setting is left “Don’t require” then item check out dates may exceed the expiration date for the patron’s library card.

StaffSearchResultsDisplayBranch

Default: the library the item is held by

Asks: For search results in the staff client, display the branch of ___

Values:

• the library the item is from

• the library the items is held by

SwitchOnSiteCheckouts

Default: Don’t switch

Asks: ___ on-site checkouts to normal checkouts when checked out.

Values:

• Don’t switch

• Switch

TransfersMaxDaysWarning

Asks: Show a warning on the “Transfers to receive” screen if the transfer has not been received ___ days after it is sent.

Default: 3

Description:

• This system preference allows for a warning to appear after a set amount of time if an item being transferred between library branches has not been received. The warning will appear in the Transfers to receive report.

UnseenRenewals

Asks: ___ renewals to be recorded as “unseen” by the library, and count against the patrons unseen renewals limit.

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Don’t allow

• Allow

Description:

• This system preference enables the unseen renewals functionality. It allows staff to mark renewals as “unseen”, i.e. the staff didn’t actually see the item.

• If you activate this preference, make sure to add a value in the ‘Unseen renewals allowed (count)’ column of the circulation and fine rules.

UpdateItemLocationOnCheckout

Version

This system preference was added in Koha version 23.11.

Asks: This is a list of value pairs. The first value is followed immediately by colon, space, then the second value.

Description:

• This system preference affects the item’s current and permanent locations when the item is checked out.

• If the location value on the left of the colon (:) matches the item’s current location, it will be updated to match the location value on the right of the colon (:).

• The values are the LOC authorized values.

• For example, STAFF: GEN will move an item from the staff office to the general collection when the item is checked out.

• Special terms

  • PROC: Processing center. When using PROC, only the current location will be affected.

  • CART: Shelving cart. When using CART, only the current location will be affected.

  • _PERM_: This will use the item’s permanent location, whatever that location is.

  • _BLANK_: Used on the left as a first value, it will add a location if there is none. Used on the right as a second value, it will remove the location.

  • _ALL_: Used on the left as a first value, it will affect all items and override all other rules.

Warning

Requires YAML syntax to work

This means

• Make sure there is NO space between the first value and the colon

• Make sure there IS a space between the colon and the second value

• Make sure each pair is on its own line

• If using PROC or CART, use the cart_to_shelf cron job to return the items to their permanent location after a determined number of hours.

UpdateNotForLoanStatusOnCheckout

Asks: This is a list of value pairs. When an item is checked out, if the not for loan value on the left matches the items not for loan value it will be updated to the right-hand value.

Description:

• This system preference affects the item’s ‘not for loan’ status when the item is checked out.

• If the status value on the left of the colon (:) matches the item’s current status, it will be updated to match the status value on the right of the colon (:).

• The values are the NOT_LOAN authorized values.

• For example, ‘-1: 0’ will cause an item that was set to ‘Ordered’ to now be available for loan

• This system preference can also be used to only display the not for loan status. To do so, enter ONLYMESSAGE on the right of the colon. For example

  -1: ONLYMESSAGE
  

  This will simply show the label for -1 without changing the status.

Warning

Requires YAML syntax to work

This means

• Make sure there is NO space between the first value and the colon

• Make sure there IS a space between the colon and the second value

• Make sure each pair is on its own line

UseBranchTransferLimits and BranchTransferLimitsType

Defaults: Don’t enforce and collection code

Asks: ___ branch transfer limits based on ___

UseBranchTransferLimits Values:

• Don’t enforce

• Enforce

BranchTransferLimitsType Values:

• collection code

• item type

BranchTransferLimitsType Description:

• This parameter is a binary setting which determines whether items are transferred according to item type or collection code. This value determines how the library manager is able to restrict what items can be transferred between the branches.

useDaysMode

Asks: ___ when calculating the date due.

Default: Use the calendar to skip days the library is closed

Values:

• Use the calendar to skip days the library is closed

• Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open day

• Ignore the calendar

• Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open matching weekday for weekly loan periods, or the next open day otherwise (Note: This preference setting only works with loan periods in multiples of 7).

Description:

• This preference controls how scheduled library closures affect the due date of a material.

• The ‘Use the calendar to skip all days the library is closed’ setting allows for a scheduled closure not to count as a day in the loan period.

• The ‘Ignore the calendar’ setting would not consider the scheduled closure at all

• The ‘Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open day’ would only affect the due date if the day the item is due would fall specifically on the day of closure.

• The final option, ‘Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open matching weekday for weekly loan periods, or the next open day otherwise’ allows libraries to accommodate patrons who may only be able to visit the library on a certain day of the week, such as part-time students or patrons who rely on public transport.

Example:

• The library has put December 24th and 25th in as closures on the calendar. A book checked out by a patron has a due date of December 25th according to the circulation and fine rules.

  • If this preference is set to ‘Ignore the calendar’ then the item will remain due on the 25th.

  • If the preference is set to ‘Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open day’, then the due date will be December 26th.

  • If the preference is set to ‘Use the calendar to skip all days the library is closed’ then the due date will be pushed to the 27th of December to accommodate for the two closed days.

  • If the preference is set to ‘Use the calendar to push the due date to the next open matching weekday for weekly loan periods, or the next open day otherwise’ the item would be due back on January 1st. If January 1st was also a closed day then the item would be due back on the next available open day.

The calendar is defined on a branch by branch basis. To learn more about the calendar, check out the Calendar section of this manual.

UseTransportCostMatrix

Default: Don’t use

Asks: ___ Transport Cost Matrix for calculating optimal holds filling between branches.

Values:

• Don’t use

• Use

Description:

• If the system is configured to use the Transport cost matrix for filling holds, then when attempting to fill a hold, the system will search for the lowest cost branch, and attempt to fill the hold with an item from that branch first. Branches of equal cost will be selected from randomly. The branch or branches of the next highest cost shall be selected from only if all the branches in the previous group are unable to fill the hold.

  The system will use the item’s current holding branch when determining whether the item can fulfill a hold using the Transport Cost Matrix.

Course reserves

UseCourseReserves

Default: Don’t use

Asks: ___ course reserves

Values:

• Don’t use

• Use

Description:

• The Course Reserves module in Koha allows you to temporarily move items to ‘reserve’ and assign different circulation rules to these items while they are being used for a specific course.

Curbside pickup module

CurbsidePickup

Asks: ___ the curbside pickup module.

Values:

• Disable

• Enable

Default: Disable

Description:

• This system preference is the main switch for the curbside pickup module.

Fines policy

finesCalendar

Asks: ___ when calculating the period for fines.

Default: Use the calendar

Values:

• Ignore the calendar

• Use the calendar

Description:

• This preference will determine whether or not fines will be accrued on days where the library is closed. Examples include holidays, library in-service days, etc.

• If set to ‘Use the calendar’, Koha will skip closed days when calculating the overdue fines.

• If set to ‘Ignore the calendar’, fines will be calculated directly, with no consideration of closed days.

Important

To make use of this setting your system administrator must first access Koha’s :ref:calendar<calendar-label>` and mark closed days as ‘holidays’ ahead of time.

The calendar is defined on a branch by branch basis. To learn more about the calendar, check out the calendar section of this manual.

FinesIncludeGracePeriod

Default: Include

Asks: ___ the grace period when calculating the fine for an overdue item.

Values:

• Don’t include

• Include

Description:

• This preference lets you control how Koha calculates fines when there is a grace period. If you choose to include the grace period when calculating fines then Koha will charge for the days in the grace period should the item be overdue more than those days. If you choose not to include the grace period then Koha will only charge for the days overdue after the grace period.

finesMode

Asks: ___ fines

Default: Don’t calculate

Values:

• Don’t calculate

• Calculate and charge

  Important

  If this system preference is set to ‘Calculate and charge’, you must either add the fines cron job to your crontab, or enable CalculateFinesOnReturn

  If the cronjobs/fines.pl cronjob is being run, accruing and final fines will be calculated when the cron runs and accruing fines will be finalized when an item is returned. If CalculateFinesOnReturn is enabled, final fines will be calculated when an item is returned.

HoldFeeMode

Default: only if all items are checked out and the record has at least one hold already.

Asks: Charge a hold fee ___

Values:

• any time a hold is collected.

• any time a hold is placed.

• only if all items are checked out and the record has at least one hold already.

NoRefundOnLostReturnedItemsAge

Asks: Don’t refund lost fees if a lost item is checked in more than ___ days after it was marked lost.

Description:

• Enter a number of days after which lost items are not refunded.

Note

Set the refund policy in the default lost item fee refund on return policy rule in the circulation and fines rules.

ProcessingFeeNote

Asks: Set the text to be recorded in the column ‘note’, table ‘accountlines’ when the processing fee (defined in item type) is applied.

RefundLostOnReturnControl

Asks: If a lost item is returned, apply the refunding rules defined in the ___

Default: check-in library.

Values:

• check-in library.

• item holding branch.

• item home branch.

Description:

• This refers to the default lost item fee refund on return policy rule in the circulation and fines rules.

Note

You can limit the number of days after which a lost item is not refunded using the NoRefundOnLostReturnedItemsAge system preference.

SuspensionsCalendar

Default: not including the days the library is closed

Asks: Calculate suspension expiration based on days overdue ___

Values:

• Ignore the calendar

• Use the calendar

Description:

• This system preference determines whether the calendar is taken into account when making suspension calculations. Suspension rules can be configured within the circulation rules. If set to ‘directly’ the suspension period will ignore any closed days that have been added to the calendar. If set to ‘not including the days the library is closed’ any days marked as closed within the calendar will be skipped when calculating the end date for the suspension.

useDefaultReplacementCost

Default: Don’t use

Asks: ___ the default replacement cost defined in item type.

Values:

• Don’t use

• Use

Description:

• This preference enables the use of the replacement cost set on the item type level

WhenLostChargeReplacementFee

Default: Charge

Asks: ___ the replacement price when a patron loses an item.

Values:

• Charge

• Don’t charge

Description:

• This preference lets you tell Koha what to do with an item is marked lost. If you want Koha can ‘Charge’ the patron the replacement fee listed on the item they lost or it can do nothing in reference to the patron and just mark the item lost in the catalog.

WhenLostForgiveFine

Default: Don’t forgive

Asks: ___ the fines on an item when it is lost.

Values:

• Don’t forgive

• Forgive

Description:

• This preference allows the library to decide if fines are charged in addition to the replacement fee when an item is marked as lost. If this preference is set to ‘Forgive’ then the patron won’t be charged fines in addition to the replacement fee.

Holds policy

AllowHoldDateInFuture

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ hold requests to be placed that do not enter the waiting list until a certain future date.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

AllowHoldItemTypeSelection

Asks: ___ hold fulfillment to be limited by itemtype.

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• If this system preference is set to ‘Allow’, staff and patrons will be able to choose a specific item type when placing a hold in the staff interface or placing a hold in the OPAC.

AllowHoldPolicyOverride

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ staff to override hold policies when placing holds.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This preference is a binary setting which controls whether or not the library staff can override the circulation and fines rules as they pertain to the placement of holds. Setting this value to “Don’t allow” will prevent anyone from overriding, setting it to “Allow” will allow it. This setting is important because it determines how strict the libraries rules for placing holds are. If this is set to “Allow”, exceptions can be made for patrons who are otherwise normally in good standing with the library, but there is opportunity for the staff to abuse this function. If it is set to “Don’t allow”, no abuse of the system is possible, but it makes the system entirely inflexible in respect to holds.

AllowHoldsOnDamagedItems

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ hold requests to be placed on damaged items.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This parameter is a binary setting which controls whether or not hold requests can be placed on items that are marked as “damaged” (items are marked as damaged by editing subfield 4 on the item record). Setting this value to “Don’t allow” will prevent anyone from placing a hold on such items, setting it to “Allow” will allow it. This preference is important because it determines whether or not a patron can place a request for an item that might be in the process of being repaired or not in good condition. The library may wish to set this to “Don’t allow” if they were concerned about their patrons not receiving the item in a timely manner or at all (if it is determined that the item is beyond repair). Setting it to “Allow” would allow a patron to place a hold on an item and therefore receive it as soon as it becomes available.

AllowHoldsOnPatronsPossessions

Default: Allow

Asks: ____ a patron to place a hold on a record where the patron already has one or more items attached to that record checked out.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• By setting to “Don’t allow,” you can prevent patrons from placing holds on items they already have out, thus preventing them from blocking anyone else from getting an item.

AllowRenewalIfOtherItemsAvailable

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ a patron to renew an item with unfilled holds if other available items can fill that hold.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

AutomaticCheckinAutoFill

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 23.11.

Asks: ___ holds to be automatically filled after being automatically checked in.

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This system preference is used when automatic check-in is enabled.

• Upon check-in, the next hold will be automatically filled and a notification will be sent to the patron to let them know that their hold is waiting.

• This system preference requires the automatic_checkin.pl cronjob.

AutoResumeSuspendedHolds

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ suspended holds to be automatically resumed by a set date.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• If this preference is set to ‘Allow’ then all suspended holds will be able to have a date at after which they automatically become unsuspended. If you have this preference set to ‘Allow’ you will also need the Unsuspend Holds cron job running.

  Important

  The holds will become unsuspended the date after that entered by the patron.

CanMarkHoldsToPullAsLost

Asks: ___ from the ‘Holds to pull’ screen

Default: Do not allow to mark items as lost

Values:

• Allow to mark items as lost

• Allow to mark items as lost and notify the patron

• Do not allow to mark items as lot

Description:

• This preference lets you choose whether the staff can mark items as lost directly from the ‘Holds to pull’ list if they can’t find the item on the shelf.

• The actual lost value that will be assigned to the item is defined in the UpdateItemWhenLostFromHoldList system preference.

• If the patron is notified, the message sent will be based on the CANCEL_HOLD_ON_LOST template. It can be customized in the Notices and slips tool.

Warning

This only applies to item-level holds.

canreservefromotherbranches

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ a user from one library to place a hold on an item from another library

Description:

• This preference is a binary setting which determines whether patrons can place holds on items from other branches. If the preference is set to “Allow” patrons can place such holds, if it is set to “Don’t allow” they cannot. This is an important setting because it determines if users can use Koha to request items from another branch. If the library is sharing an installation of Koha with other independent libraries which do not wish to allow interlibrary borrowing it is recommended that this parameter be set to “Don’t allow”.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow (with IndependentBranches)

ConfirmFutureHolds

Default: 0

Asks: Confirm future hold requests (starting no later than ___ days from now) at checkin time.

Description:

• When confirming a hold at checkin time, the number of days in this preference is taken into account when deciding which holds to show alerts for. This preference does not interfere with renewing, checking out or transferring a book.

  Note

  This number of days will be used too in calculating the default end date for the Holds to pull-report. But it does not interfere with issuing, renewing or transferring books.

  Important

  This preference is only looked at if you’re allowing hold dates in the future with AllowHoldDateInFuture or OPACAllowHoldDateInFuture

decreaseLoanHighHolds, decreaseLoanHighHoldsDuration, decreaseLoanHighHoldsValue, decreaseLoanHighHoldsControl, and decreaseLoanHighHoldsIgnoreStatuses

Asks: ___ the reduction of loan period ___ to days for high demand items with more than ___ holds ___ . Ignore items with the following statuses when counting items ___

decreaseLoanHighHolds default: Don’t enable

decreaseLoanHighHoldsControl default: on the record

Values:

decreaseLoanHighHolds

• Don’t enable

• Enable

decreaseLoanHighHoldsControl

• over the number of holdable items on the records

• on the record

decreaseLoanHighHoldsIgnoreStatuses

• [Select All]

• Damaged

• Lost

• Not for loan

• Withdrawn

Description:

• These preferences let you change the loan length for items that have many holds on them. This will not affect items that are already checked out, but items that are checked out after the decreaseLoanHighHoldsValue is met will only be checked out for the number of days entered in the decreaseLoanHighHoldsDuration preference.

  

DefaultHoldPickupLocation

Asks: When placing a hold via the staff interface default the pickup location to the ___ .

Values:

• item’s holding library

• item’s home library

• logged in library

Default: logged in library

Description:

• This system preference lets you determine which library is the default pickup location while placing holds in the staff interface.

Warning

This system preference only applies to item-level holds.

DisplayMultiItemHolds

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: ___ the ability to place holds on different items at the same time in staff interface and OPAC.

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Default: Don’t enable

Description:

• This system preference is used to enable the possibility of placing multiple item-level holds on one record.

• If enabled, staff and patrons will be able to select multiple items in the ‘Hold a specific item’ section.

• This system preference applies to both the staff interface and the OPAC.

• For this feature to work, circulation rules must allow multiple holds per record.

DisplayMultiPlaceHold

Default: Don’t enable

Asks: ___ the ability to place holds on multiple biblio from the search results

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

emailLibrarianWhenHoldIsPlaced

Default: Don’t enable

Asks: ___ sending an email to the Koha administrator email address whenever a hold request is placed.

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Description:

• This preference enables Koha to email the library staff whenever a patron requests an item to be held. While this function will immediately alert the librarian to the patron’s need, it is extremely impractical in most library settings. In most libraries the hold lists are monitored and maintained from a separate interface. That said, many libraries that allow on shelf holds prefer to have this preference turned on so that they are alerted to pull an item from the shelf.

  Important

  In order for this email to send you must have a notice template with the code of HOLDPLACED

  Important

  This notice will only be sent if the process_message_queue.pl cron job is being run periodically to send the messages.

EmailPatronWhenHoldIsPlaced

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 23.11.

Asks: ___ a patron when they have placed a hold.

Default: Don’t email

Values:

• Don’t email

• Email

Description:

• This system preference determines whether an email is sent to the patron after they place a hold.

• The notice sent is based on the HOLDPLACED_PATRON template, which can be customized in the notices and slips tool.

EnableItemGroupHolds

Asks: ___ the ability to place holds on item groups.

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Default: Don’t enable

Description:

• This system preference allows users to place holds on item groups.

• This is useful if you need to place holds on a subset of items on a bibliographic record, rather than a specific item or the next available item.

• Requires EnableItemGroups

EnableItemGroups

Attention

As of version 23.11 of Koha, this system preference is under cataloging preferences.

See EnableItemGroups.

Asks: ___ the item groups feature to allow collecting groups of items on a record together.

Description:

• This system preference enables the item groups feature.

• It can be used with EnableItemGroupHolds to allow holds on item groups.

ExcludeHolidaysFromMaxPickUpDelay

Asks: ___ when calculating the period for a hold’s max pickup delay.

Default: Ignore the calendar

Values:

• Ignore the calendar

• Use the calendar

Description:

• This system preference determines whether or not closed days in the calendar are taken into account when calculating the time period for patrons to pick up their holds (see ReservesMaxPickUpDelay).

• If set to ‘Ignore the calendar’, the pickup delay will be calculated directly.

• If set to ‘Use the calendar’, holidays will be excluded from the pickup delay.

ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelay

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ holds to expire automatically if they have not been picked by within the time period specified in ReservesMaxPickUpDelay

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• If set to ‘allow’ this will cancel holds that have been waiting for longer than the number of days specified in the ReservesMaxPickUpDelay system preference. Holds will only be cancelled if the Expire Holds cron job is running.

ExpireReservesAutoFill

Asks: ___ automatically fill the next hold using the item.

Default: Don’t

Values:

• Don’t

• Do

Description:

• If ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelay is set to ‘Allow’, you can choose to automatically fill the next hold when a hold is cancelled.

• If this system preference is set to “Don’t”, the expired hold will be cancelled, but the item will not be used to fill the next hold, if there is one. Staff must manually check in the item in order to trigger the next hold.

• If this system preference is set to “Do”, the item will be used to fill the next hold, if there is one, without manual input from staff members.

  • If they opted to receive ‘Hold filled’ notices, a notification will be sent to the next patron to advise them that they can now come pick up their hold.

    Note

    The notice sent is based on the HOLD template, which can be customized in the Notices and slips tool.

  • A notification will also be sent to the email address in ExpireReservesAutoFillEmail to alert staff that the hold is now waiting for someone else.

    Note

    The notice sent is based on the HOLD_CHANGED template, which can be customized in the Notices and slips tool.

Warning

This system preference will not have any effect unless ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelay is set to ‘Allow’.

ExpireReservesAutoFillEmail

Asks: Send email notification of the new hold filled with a canceled item to ___.

Description:

• If ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelay is set to ‘Allow’, and ExpireReservesAutoFill is set to ‘Do’, an email will be sent to alert staff that the hold is now waiting for someone else.

  Note

  The notice sent is based on the HOLD_CHANGED template, which can be customized in the Notices and slips tool.

• If this system preference is empty, the notification will be sent to the library’s reply-to address.

Warning

This system preference will not have any effect unless ExpireReservesAutoFill is set to ‘Do’.

ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelayCharge

Default: 0

Asks: If using ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelay, charge a borrower who allows his or her waiting hold to expire a fee of ___ USD

Description:

• If you are expiring holds that have been waiting too long you can use this preference to charge the patron for not picking up their hold. If you don’t charge patrons for items that aren’t picked up you can leave this set to the default which is 0. Holds will only be cancelled and charged if the Expire Holds cron job is running.

ExpireReservesOnHolidays

Default: Allow

Asks: If using ExpireReservesMaxPickUpDelay, ___ expired holds to be canceled on days the library is closed per the calendar.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

HoldRatioDefault

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: Default the holds ratio report to ___.

Default: 3

Description:

• This system preference determines the default value for the hold ratios report.

HoldsQueuePrioritizeBranch

Asks: The holds queue should prioritize filling a hold by matching the patron’s home library with an item having a matching ___.

Values:

• holding library (holdingbranch)

• home library (homebranch)

Default: home library (homebranch)

Description:

• This system preference determines whether a hold should be filled in priority by an item currently at the library the hold will be collected from (holding library option) or by an item whose home library matches the pickup library (home library option).

• Setting this preference to ‘holding library (holdingbranch)’ will help minimize the number of items transferred between libraries.

• This preference may be of special interest to library services that float items (who have set the Return policy in the Default holds policy by item type to either ‘Item floats’ or ‘Item floats by library group’). These services will likely have many items whose holding library does not match the home library.

• This preference can be used either on its own or in conjunction with the LocalHoldsPriority, LocalHoldsPriorityPatronControl and LocalHoldsPriorityItemControl preferences. After checking LocalHoldsPriority, Koha will look at HoldsQueuePrioritizeBranch to decide how to fill the waiting holds.

  Note

  The difference between HoldsQueuePrioritizeBranch on one hand and LocalHoldsPriority, LocalHoldsPriorityPatronControl, LocalHoldsPriorityItemControl on the other is that the first only affects which item is chosen to fill a hold, whereas the latter apply to which patron is given priority in getting that item.

HoldsSplitQueue

Default: nothing

Asks: In the staff client, split the holds queue into separate tables by ___

Values:

• pickup library

• pickup library and itemtype

• hold itemtype

• nothing

Description:

• This feature allows you to separate holds by pickup library or itemtype in the holds page of a record (not in the global holds queue found on the circulation page).

• When using the up and down arrows the priorities will be changed only in the group the holds belongs to.

HoldsSplitQueueNumbering

Default: the actual priority, which may be out of order

Asks: If the holds queue is split, show librarians ___

Values:

• the actual priority, which may be out of order

• ‘virtual’ priorities, where each group is numbered separately

Description:

• This system preference is only effective if HoldsSplitQueue is set to any value except ‘nothing’.

• This system preference controls the priority numbering on the holds page of a record (not in the global holds queue found on the circulation page).

LocalHoldsPriority, LocalHoldsPriorityPatronControl, LocalHoldsPriorityItemControl

Asks: ___ priority for filling holds to patrons whose ___ matches the item’s ___

LocalHoldsPriority Values:

• Don’t give

• Give

LocalHoldsPriorityPatronControl Values:

• home library

• pickup library

LocalHoldsPriorityItemControl Values:

• holding library

• home library

Description:

• This feature will allow libraries to specify that, when an item is returned, a local hold may be given priority for fulfillment even though it is of lower priority in the list of unfilled holds.

• This means that when LocalHoldsPriority is set to ‘Give’, matching patrons will potentially jump the queue and be given priority for the item over other patrons whose holds were placed earlier.

• Prioritization of items in the holds queue can be refined using the HoldsQueuePrioritizeBranch system preference.

maxreserves

Default: 50

Asks: Patrons can only have ___ holds at once.

OPACAllowHoldDateInFuture

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ patrons to place holds that don’t enter the waiting list until a certain future date.

Values:

• Allow

  • AllowHoldDateInFuture must also be enabled for this to work

• Don’t allow

OPACAllowUserToChangeBranch

Asks: Allow users to change the library to pick up a hold for these statuses: ___

Default: none

Values (multiple values allowed):

• [Select all]

• In transit

• Pending

• Suspended

Description:

• This system preference is used to allow patrons to change the pickup location of their holds through their account in the OPAC.

• This system preference allows multiple values. Check all that apply.

• By default, patrons cannot change the pickup location of their holds from the OPAC.

• When one or more status is selected, a ‘Change’ link will appear under the current pickup library’s name for holds that have that status in the holds tab of the patron’s account.

  

OPACAllowUserToChooseBranch

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ a user to choose the library to pick up a hold from.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• Changing this preference will not prevent staff from being able to transfer titles from one library to another to fill a hold, it will only prevent patrons from saying they plan on picking a book up at a library other than their home library.

• The list of available pickup locations will include all libraries that have ‘Pickup location’ set to ‘Yes’ on the library configuration page.

OPACHoldsIfAvailableAtPickup

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ to pickup holds at libraries where the item is available.

Values:

• Don’t allow

• Allow

Description:

• Prevents borrowers from requesting items that are on the shelf at the same branch at which they wish to pick up those items.

OPACHoldsIfAvailableAtPickupExceptions

Asks: Patron categories not affected by OPACHoldsIfAvailableAtPickup: ___

Values:

• Values are the patron categories; multiple categories can be selected.

Default: none

Description:

• Patron categories selected here are unaffected by OPACHoldsIfAvailableAtPickup.

RealTimeHoldsQueue

Asks: ___ updating the holds queue in real time.

Default: Disable

Values:

• Disable

• Enable

Description:

• This system preference is used to enable the automatic updating of the holds queue.

• If this system preference is set to ‘Disable’, the build_holds_queue.pl cronjob should be run regularly to build the holds queue.

ReservesControlBranch

Default: item’s home library

Asks: Check the ___ to see if the patron can place a hold on the item.

Values:

• item’s home library.

• patron’s home library.

ReservesMaxPickUpDelay

Default: 7

Asks: Mark a hold as problematic if it has been waiting for more than ___ days.

Description:

• This preference (based on calendar days, not the Koha holiday calendar) puts an expiration date on an item a patron has on hold. After this expiration date the staff will have the option to release the unclaimed hold which then may be returned to the library shelf or issued to the next patron on the item’s hold list. Items that are ‘expired’ by this preference are moved to the ‘Holds Over’ tab on the Holds Awaiting Pickup report.

Note

This can be set at a more granular level in the circulation and fine rules.

ReservesNeedReturns

Default: Don’t automatically

Asks: ___ mark holds as found and waiting when a hold is placed specifically on them and they are already checked in.

Values:

• Automatically

• Don’t automatically

Description:

• This preference refers to ‘item specific’ holds where the item is currently on the library shelf. This preference allows a library to decide whether an ‘item specific’ hold is marked as “Waiting” at the time the hold is placed or if the item will be marked as “Waiting” after the item is checked in. This preference will tell the patron that their item is ‘Waiting’ for them at their library and ready for check out.

StaticHoldsQueueWeight, HoldsQueueSkipClosed and RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight

StaticHoldsQueueWeight Default: 0

HoldsQueueSkipClosed Default: open or closed

RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight Default: in that order

Asks: Satisfy holds using items from the libraries ___ (as branchcodes, separated by commas; if empty, uses all libraries) when they are ___ ___.

HoldsQueueSkipClosed Values:

• open or closed

• open

RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight Values:

• in random order

  • If StaticHoldsQueueWeight is left at the default Koha will randomize all libraries, otherwise it will randomize the libraries listed.

• in that order

  • If StaticHoldsQueueWeight is left at the default then this will use all of your branches in alphabetical order, otherwise it will use the branches in the order that you entered them in the StaticHoldsQueueWeight preference.

Descriptions:

• These preferences control how the Holds Queue report is generated using a cron job.

  If you do not want all of your libraries to participate in the on-shelf holds fulfillment process, you should list the the libraries that *do* participate in the process here by inputting all the participating library’s branchcodes, separated by commas ( e.g. “MPL,CPL,SPL,BML” etc. ).

  By default, the holds queue will be generated such that the system will first attempt to hold fulfillment using items already at the pickup library if possible. If there are no items available at the pickup library to fill a hold, build_holds_queue.pl will then use the list of libraries defined in StaticHoldsQueueWeight. If RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight is disabled ( which it is by default ), the script will assign fulfillment requests in the order the branches are placed in the StaticHoldsQueueWeight system preference.

  For example, if your system has three libraries, of varying sizes ( small, medium and large ) and you want the burden of holds fulfillment to be on larger libraries before smaller libraries, you would want StaticHoldsQueueWeight to look something like “LRG,MED,SML”.

  If you want the burden of holds fulfillment to be spread out equally throughout your library system, simply enable RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight. When this system preference is enabled, the order in which libraries will be requested to fulfill an on-shelf hold will be randomized each time the list is regenerated.

  Important

  The Transport Cost Matrix takes precedence in controlling where holds are filled from, if the matrix is not used then Koha checks the StaticHoldsQueueWeight. To use the Transport Cost Matrix simply set your UseTransportCostMatrix preference to ‘Use’

SuspendHoldsIntranet

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ holds to be suspended from the intranet.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• The holds suspension feature can be turned on and off in the staff client by altering this system preference. If this is set to ‘allow’ you will want to set the AutoResumeSuspendedHolds system preference.

SuspendHoldsOpac

Default: Allow

Asks: ___ holds to be suspended from the OPAC.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• The holds suspension feature can be turned on and off in the OPAC by altering this system preference. If this is set to ‘allow’ you will want to set the AutoResumeSuspendedHolds system preference.

TransferWhenCancelAllWaitingHolds

Default: Don’t transfer

Asks: ___ items when cancelling all waiting holds.

Values:

• Don’t transfer

• Transfer

Description:

• When TransferWhenCancelAllWaitingHolds is set to “Don’t transfer”, no branch transfer records are created. Koha will not allow the holds to be transferred, because that would orphan the items at the library where the holds were awaiting pickup, without any further instruction to staff as to what items are at the library or where they need to go. When that system preference set to “Transfer”, branch transfers are created, so the holds may be cancelled.

UpdateItemWhenLostFromHoldList

Asks: Update item’s values when marked as lost from the hold to pull screen.

Description:

• This is a list of values to update an item when it is marked as lost from the holds to pull screen. For example, write “itemlost: 1” to set the items. itemlost value to 1 when the item is marked as lost. This will use the authorized value 1 from the LOST authorized value category.

• Examples of keywords:

  • itemlost: lost status, uses the LOST authorized value category

  • notforloan: not for loan status, uses the NOT_LOAN authorized value category

  • withdrawn: withdrawn status, uses the WITHDRAWN authorized value category

  • damaged: damaged status, uses the DAMAGED authorized value category

  • location: location code, uses the LOC authorized value category

  • ccode: collection code, uses the CCODE authorized value category

• This preference requires that the CanMarkHoldsToPullAsLost system preference be set to either ‘Allow’ option

Warning

Requires YAML syntax to work.

This means

• Make sure there is NO space between the field name and the colon

• Make sure there IS a space between the colon and the value

• Make sure each pair is on its own line

Housebound module

HouseboundModule

Default: Disable

Asks: ___ housebound module

Values:

• Disable

• Enable

Description:

• This preference enables or disables the Housebound module which handles management of circulation to Housebound readers.

Interface

AllowAllMessageDeletion

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ staff to delete messages added from other libraries.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

AllowCheckoutNotes

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ patrons to submit notes about checked out items.

Values:

• Don’t allow

• Allow

This preference if set to allow will give your patrons the option to add a note to an item they have checked out on the OPAC side. This note will be seen on the staff side when the item is checked in.

AllowOfflineCirculation

Attention

This system preference was removed in Koha version 23.11. The offline circulation module was deprecated. Only the Firefox plugin and Windows tool are now supported.

Default: Do not enable

Asks: ___ offline circulation on regular circulation computers.

Values:

• Do not enable

• Enable

Description:

• Setting this preference to ‘Enable’ allows you to use the Koha interface for offline circulation. This system preference does not affect the Firefox plugin or the desktop application, any of these three options can be used for offline circulation without effecting the other.

AutoSwitchPatron

Asks: ___ the automatic redirection to another patron when a patron cardnumber is scanned instead of an item barcode.

Default: Don’t enable

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Description:

• Enabling this system preference allows staff to scan a patron barcode instead of an item barcode in the checkout box to switch patron records.

Warning

This should not be enabled if you have overlapping patron cardnumbers and item barcodes.

CircAutoPrintQuickSlip

Asks: When an empty barcode field is submitted in circulation ___ .

Default: open a print quick slip window

Values:

• clear the screen

• do nothing

  Version

  The option to ‘do nothing’ was added to Koha in version 24.05.

• open a print quick slip window

• open a print slip window

Description:

• If this preference is set to open a quick slip (ISSUEQSLIP) or open a slip (ISSUESLIP) for printing it will eliminate the need for the librarian to click the print button to generate a checkout receipt for the patron they’re checking out to. If the preference is set to clear the screen then “checking out” an empty barcode will clear the screen of the patron you were last working with.

CircConfirmItemParts

Asks: ___ staff to confirm that all parts of an item are present at checkin/checkout.

Default: Don’t require

Values:

• Don’t require

• Require

Description:

• This system preference controls whether a message or an alert asking for confirmation is shown when checking out or checking in an item with accompanying materials.

• The message/alert will appear if the item has a value in the “3 - Materials specified (bound volume or other part)” item field (952$3)

• If the value is set to “Don’t require”, a simple message will appear at checkin and checkout

  

• If the value is set to “Require”, there will be an alert asking staff to confirm that they checked that all parts are present

  At checkout

  

  At checkin

  

CircSidebar

Default: Deactivate

Asks: ___ the navigation sidebar on all Circulation pages.

Values:

• Deactivate

• Activate

DisplayClearScreenButton

Asks: ___ to clear the current patron from the screen on the circulation screen.

Values:

• Show print quick slip and clear buttons

• Show print slip and clear buttons

• Don’t show clear screen button

Default: Don’t show clear screen button

Description:

• This system preference is used to display a small button in the corner of the checkout box to print either the quick slip or the slip, and go back to the main checkout page

  

ExportCircHistory

Asks: ___ the option to export patron checkouts.

Default: Don’t show

Values:

• Don’t show

• Show

Description:

• This system preference enables the option to export patrons’ checkouts in MARC or CSV format.

Warning

Contrary to what its name suggests, this option is not available for the patrons’ checkout history. It is only for current checkouts.

ExportRemoveFields

Asks: The following fields should be excluded from the patron checkout CSV or MARC (ISO 2709) export: ___

Description:

• This space separated list of fields (e.g. 100a 245b) will automatically be excluded when exporting the patron’s current checkouts.

  

• This system preference requires that ExportCircHistory be enabled.

FilterBeforeOverdueReport

Default: Don’t require

Asks: ___ staff to choose which checkouts to show before running the overdues report.

Description:

• Koha’s overdue report shows you all of the overdue items in your library system. If you have a large library system you’ll want to set this preference to ‘Require’ to force those running the report to first limit the data generated to a branch, date range, patron category or other such filter. Requiring that the report be filtered before it’s run prevents your staff from running a system heavy report and slowing down other operations in the system.

  

Values:

• Don’t require

• Require

FineNotifyAtCheckin

Default: Don’t notify

Asks: ___ librarians of overdue fines on the items they are checking in.

Values:

• Don’t notify

• Notify

Description:

• With this preference set to ‘Notify’ all books that have overdue fines owed on them will pop up a warning when checking them in. This warning will need to acknowledged before you can continue checking items in. With this preference set to ‘Don’t notify,^ you will still see fines owed on the patron record, you just won’t have an additional notification at check in.

  

HoldsToPullStartDate

Default: 2

Asks: Set the default start date for the Holds to pull list to ___ day(s) ago.

Description:

• The Holds to Pull report in circulation defaults to filtering holds placed 2 days ago. This preference allows you to set this default filter to any number of days.

itemBarcodeFallbackSearch

Default: Don’t enable

Asks: ___ the automatic use of a keyword catalog search if the phrase entered as a barcode on the checkout page does not turn up any results during an item barcode search.

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

  

Description:

• Sometimes libraries want to checkout using something other than the barcode. Enabling this preference will do a keyword search of Koha to find the item you’re trying to check out. You can use the call number, barcode, part of the title or anything you’d enter in the keyword search when this preference is enabled and Koha will ask you which item you’re trying to check out.

  Important

  While you’re not searching by barcode a barcode is required on every title you check out. Only titles with barcodes will appear in the search results.

itemBarcodeInputFilter

Default: Don’t filter

Asks: ___ scanned item barcodes.

Values:

• Convert from CueCat format

• Convert from Libsuite8 form

• Don’t filter

• EAN-13 or zero-padded UPC-A from

• Remove spaces from

• Remove the first number from T-prefix style

  • This format is common among those libraries migrating from Follett systems

NoticeCSS

Asks: Include the stylesheet at ___ on Notices.

Important

This should be a complete URL, starting with http://

Description:

• If you would like to style your notices with a consistent set of fonts and colors you can use this preference to point Koha to a stylesheet specifically for your notices.

numReturnedItemsToShow

Default: 20

Asks : Show the ___ last returned items on the checkin screen.

PatronAutoComplete

Asks: ___ to guess the patron being entered while typing a patron search for circulation or patron search. Only returns the first 10 results at a time.

Default: Try

Values:

• Try

• Don’t try

Description:

• This system preference enables the auto-complete feature in the patron search in the Patrons and Circulation modules.

• Setting it to “Try” would enable a staff member to begin typing a name or other value into the field and have a menu pop up with suggestions for completing it. Setting it to “Don’t try” would disable this feature.

• This preference can make staff members’ jobs easier or it could potentially slow down the page loading process.

  

previousIssuesDefaultSortOrder

Asks: Sort previous checkouts on the circulation page from ___ due date.

Default: earliest to latest

Values:

• earliest to latest

• latest to earliest

Description:

• This system preference controls how you want the previous checkouts to appear in the patron’s checkout tab.

• If you choose ‘earliest to latest’, the oldest checkout will be at the top.

• If you choose ‘latest to earliest’, the most recent checkout will be at the top.

RecordLocalUseOnReturn

Default: Don’t record

Asks: ___ local use when an unissued item is checked in.

Values:

• Don’t record

• Record

Description:

• When this preference is set to “Don’t record” you can record local use of items by checking items out to the statistical patron. With this preference set to “Record” you can record local use by checking out to the statistical patron and/or by checking in a book that is not currently checked out.

ShowAllCheckins

Default: Do not show

Asks: ___ all items in the “Checked-in items” list, even items that were not checked out.

Values:

• Do not show

• Show

Description:

• When items that are not currently checked out are checked in they don’t show on the list of checked in items. This preference allows you to choose how you’d like the log of checked in items displays.

SpecifyDueDate

Asks: ___ staff to specify a due date for a checkout.

Default: Allow

Values:

• Don’t allow

• Allow

Description:

• This preference allows for circulation staff to change a due date from the automatic due date, defined by circulation and fines rules, to another calendar date during checkout.

• This option would be used for circumstances in which the due date may need to be decreased or extended for any reason.

SpecifyReturnDate

Default: Don’t allow

Asks: ___ staff to specify a return date for a check in.

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This preference lets you decide if staff can specify an arbitrary return date when checking in items. If an arbitrary return date is specified then fines are recalculated accordingly.

todaysIssuesDefaultSortOrder

Asks: Sort today’s checkouts on the circulation page from ___ due date.

Default: latest to earliest

Values:

• earliest to latest

• latest to earliest

Description:

• This system preference controls how you want today’s checkouts to appear in the patron’s Checkout tab.

• If you choose ‘earliest to latest’, the oldest checkout will be at the top.

• If you choose ‘latest to earliest’, the most recent checkout will be at the top.

UpdateTotalIssuesOnCirc

Default: Do not

Asks: ___ update a bibliographic record’s total issues count whenever an item is issued

Values:

• Do

  Important

  This increases server load significantly; if performance is a concern, use the cron job to update the total issues count instead.

• Do not

Description:

• Koha can track the number of times and item is checked out and store that on the item record in the database. This information is not stored by default. Setting this preference to ‘Do’ will tell Koha to track that info every time the item is checked out in real time. Otherwise you could use the cron job to have Koha update that field nightly.

UseCirculationDesks

Asks: ___ circulation desks with circulation

Default: Don’t use

Values:

• Don’t use

• Use

Description:

• This preference enables the ability to manage various circulation desks within a single library.

WaitingNotifyAtCheckin

Default: Don’t notify

Asks: ___ librarians of waiting holds for the patron whose items they are checking in.

Values:

• Don’t notify

• Notify

  

Description:

• When checking in books you can choose whether or not to have a notice pop up if the patron who returned the book has a hold waiting for pick up. If you choose ‘Notify’ for WaitingNotifyAtCheckin then every time a hold is found for the patron who had the book out last a message will appear on your check in screen.

WaitingNotifyAtCheckout

Version

This system preference was introduced in Koha version 24.05.

Asks: ___ librarians of waiting holds for the patron whose items they are checking out.

Default: Don’t notify

Values:

• Don’t notify

• Notify

Description:

• This system preference is used to enable a pop-up in the circulation module alerting staff that the patron they are checking out items to also has holds waiting for them.

  

Note

The pop-up currently appears after each checkout, even checkouts to the same patron.

Item bundles

BundleLostValue

Asks: Use the LOST authorized value ___ to represent ‘missing from bundle’ at return.

Values:

• Values are from the LOST authorized value category

Default: Missing from bundle

Description:

• This system preference is used when circulating item bundles to set the lost status of the item when it is missing from its bundle upon checkin.

• The default value for this preference is the ‘Missing from bundle’ status in the default values for the LOST authorized value category. If you didn’t install the default values, make sure the system preference value refers to an actual lost status.

Attention

Prior to Koha version 23.11, you have to enter a numerical value in this system preference, representing a lost status in the LOST authorized values category.

BundleNotLoanValue

Asks: Use the NOT_LOAN authorized value ___ to represent ‘added to bundle’ when an item is attached to bundle.

Values:

• Values are from the NOT_LOAN authorized value category

Default: Added to bundle

Description:

• This system preference is used when creating item bundles, to set the not for loan status of the item when it is added to a bundle so that the item itself cannot be circulated by itself, but only as part as the bundle.

• The default value for this preference is the ‘Added to bundle’ status in the default values for the NOT_LOAN authorized values category. If you didn’t install the default values, make sure the system preference value refers to an actual not for loan status (the status should be positive so that patrons cannot place holds on the bundled item).

Attention

Prior to Koha version 23.11, you have to enter a numerical value in this system preference, representing a not for loan status in the NOT_LOAN authorized values category.

Lost item policy

DefaultLongOverdueChargeValue

Asks: Charge a lost item to the borrower’s account when the LOST authorized value of the item changes to ___

Values:

• Values are from the LOST authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• Leave this field empty if you don’t want to charge the user for lost items. If you want the user to be charged, enter the LOST authorized value you are using in the DefaultLongOverdueLostValue preference.

• This preference is used when the longoverdue cron job is called without the –charge parameter.

Attention

Prior to Koha version 23.11, you have to enter a numerical value in this system preference, representing a lost status in the LOST authorized value category.

DefaultLongOverdueLostValue and DefaultLongOverdueDays

Asks: By default, set the LOST authorized value of an item to ___ when the item has been overdue for more than ___ days.

Values for DefaultLongOverdueLostValue:

• Values are from the LOST authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• These system preferences are used to enable the automatic overdue item loss process. Leave these fields empty if you don’t want to activate this feature.

• Setting the values to ‘Lost’ and 30 for example will mark the item with the ‘Lost’ status after the item is 30 days overdue.

• These system preferences are used when the longoverdue cron job is called without the --lost parameter.

• These system preferences allow users to set the values of the longoverdue cron without having to edit the crontab.

Attention

Prior to Koha version 23.11, you have to enter a numerical value in DefaultLongOverdueLostValue, representing a lost status in the LOST authorized value category.

DefaultLongOverdueSkipLostStatuses

Asks: When using the automatic item loss process, skip items with LOST values matching any of ___ .

Values:

• Values are from the LOST authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• This system preference works in conjunction with the DefaultLongOverdueLostValue and DefaultLongOverdueDays system preferences.

• When lost items are not marked as returned and if the library is using DefaultLongOverdueLostValue/DefaultLongOverdueDays or the long overdue cron job, they are still subject to the long overdue cron job. So an item that has already been marked as lost may automatically roll to ‘Long Overdue’. A library may not want that lost value to change. This becomes especially important with the introduction of claims returned, which uses a variety of lost statuses.

• Leave this field empty if you don’t want to skip any lost statuses.

• Set to a list of comma separated values from the LOST authorized value category, e.g. 5,6,7.

IssueLostItem

Asks: When issuing an item that has been marked as lost, ___.

Values:

• display a message

• require confirmation

• do nothing

Default: display a message

Description:

• This system preference is used to define if and how staff members are notified that an item with a lost status is being checked out. If they are notified, they can change the status if necessary.

• If the system preference is set to ‘display a message’, the item will be checked out, but there will be a message displayed reading ‘This item has been lost with a status of “X”.’

  

• If the system preference is set to ‘require confirmation’, the item will not be checked out and the staff member will have to click either ‘Yes, check out’, or “No, don’t check out” to confirm.

  

• If the system preference is set to ‘do nothing’, the item will be checked out as normal without any notification to the status.

MarkLostItemsAsReturned

Asks: Mark items as returned when flagged as lost ___

Values:

• [Select All]

• from the ‘Holds to pull’ list

• from the batch item modification tool

• from the items tab of the catalog module

• from the longoverdue cronjob

• when cataloging an item

• when marking an item as a return claim

• when receiving a payment for the item

Default:

By default, the following options are selected

• from the ‘Holds to pull’ list

• from the batch item modification tool

• from the items tab of the catalog module

• from the longoverdue cronjob

• when cataloging an item

• when receiving a payment for the item

Description:

• This system preference allows the library to choose which of these actions trigger the return of an item from the patron’s account when the item is marked as lost.

• If no option is selected, the lost item will stay checked out in the patron’s account.

UpdateItemLostStatusWhenPaid

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: Update item status to ___ when the outstanding balance is paid.

Values:

• Values are from the LOST authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• This system preference can be used to automatically change the lost status of a lost item when the patron pays for the item.

• For example, if the system preference has the value ‘Lost and paid for’, when a patron pays the replacement cost of the lost item, the item’s lost status will change to ‘Lost and paid for’.

UpdateItemLostStatusWhenWriteoff

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: Update item status to ___ when the outstanding balance is written off.

Values:

• Values are from the LOST authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• This system preference can be used to automatically change the lost status of a lost item if the patron’s charge is written off.

• For example, if the system preference has the value ‘Lost and paid for’, when staff writes off the replacement cost of the lost item from a patron’s account, the item’s lost status will change to ‘Lost and paid for’.

Patron restrictions

AutoRemoveOverduesRestrictions

Asks: When returning items ___ remove OVERDUES restriction triggered by sent notices.

Default: don’t

Values:

Version

Prior to version 23.11 of Koha, the options for this system preference were ‘do’ or ‘do not’. As of version 23.11, options were expanded to check for other checkouts in the patron’s account before lifting the restriction.

• don’t

• if patron has no remaining overdue items

• if patron has no remaining items that is cause for debarment

Description:

• Using the Overdue Notice/Status Triggers you can restrict patrons after they receive an overdue notice. This preference lets you define whether Koha will automatically remove that restriction once the overdue items in question are returned or not.

• The difference between removing restriction when no remaining overdue items exists and doing so only when any of the items would result in debarment is that the latter option will respect possible grace periods of overdue rules also on returns and not only when generating overdue notices.

CumulativeRestrictionPeriods

Asks: ___ the restriction periods.

Default: Don’t cumulate

Values:

• Don’t cumulate

• Cumulate

Description:

• This system preference controls whether or not restriction periods should be served concurrently or consecutively.

• If set to “Don’t cumulate”, the patron will be restricted only for the longest period. (For example, if a patron has a restriction of 10 days and another restriction of 15 days, they will be restricted for 15 days.)

• If set to “Cumulate”, the patron will be restricted for the sum of all the restriction period. (For example, if a patron has a restriction of 10 days and another restriction of 15 days, they will be restricted for 25 days.)

PatronRestrictionTypes

Asks: ___ the type of patron restriction to be specified when applying manually.

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This preference allows staff the ability to pick a restriction type when adding a manual restriction to a patron.

RestrictionBlockRenewing

Default: Allow

Asks: If patron is restricted, ___ renewing of items from the staff interface and via the misc/cronjobs/automatic_renewals.pl cronjob.

Values:

• Allow

• Block

Description:

• This preference affects all forms of renewals made from the staff interface and the automatic renewals cron job.

Recalls

The recalls feature allows users to recall items that are currently checked out.

RecallsMaxPickUpDelay

Asks: Mark a recall as problematic if it has been waiting to be picked up for ___ days.

Default: 7

Description:

• This system preference defines the number of days a user has to come pick up their recalled item.

• The recalls that have been awaiting pickup for more than this number of days will be highlighted in the circulation module.

• This preference is applied if there is no defined waiting period in the circulation rules.

UseRecalls

Asks: ___ recalls.

Default: Don’t use

Values:

• Don’t use

• Use

Description:

• This is the main switch for the recalls feature.

• Make sure you configure circulation and fines rules for recalls once enabled.

Return claims

These system preferences are used by the return claims feature, where staff can mark checkouts as ‘claimed returned’ when a patron says they returned an item, and track those claims.

AutoClaimReturnStatusOnCheckin

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: Automatically resolve the claim and change the resolution to the RETURN_CLAIM_RESOLUTION authorized value ___ upon check in.

Values:

• Values are from the RETURN_CLAIM_RESOLUTION authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• This system preference is used to automatically resolve return claims when the item is checked in.

• If the system preference is empty, the feature is disabled and return claims must be resolved manually.

AutoClaimReturnStatusOnCheckout

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: Automatically resolve the claim and change the resolution to the RETURN_CLAIM_RESOLUTION authorized value ___ upon check out.

Values:

• Values are from the RETURN_CLAIM_RESOLUTION authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• This system preference is used to automatically resolve return claims when the item is checked out.

• If the system preference is empty, the feature is disabled and return claims must be resolved manually.

ClaimReturnedChargeFee

Asks: When marking a checkout as “claims returned”,

Values:

• Ask if a lost fee should be charged (default)

• Charge a lost fee

• Don’t charge a lost fee

Description:

• This preference allows a library to choose if a lost fee is charged at the time an item being claimed is returned. If set to ask, there is a checkbox to either charge or don’t charge per transaction. If set to charge, Koha will charge the patron the replacement price of the item. If set to don’t charge, Koha will not charge the patron.

ClaimReturnedLostValue

Asks: Use the LOST authorized value ___ to represent returns claims.

Values:

• Values are from the LOST authorized value category

Default: none

Description:

• This system preference enables the return claims feature

• This will be the status assigned to items that have been claimed as returned.

Attention

Prior to Koha version 23.11, you have to enter a numerical value in this system preference, representing a lost status in the LOST authorized values category.

ClaimReturnedWarningThreshold

Asks: Warn librarians that a patron has excessive return claims if the patron has claimed the return of more than ___ items.

Description:

• Enter a number if a library would like to set a limit to the number of returns claims that the patron can have before showing a warning on the patron’s screen.

CleanUpDatabaseReturnClaims

Asks: Remove resolved return claims older than ___ days.

Default: (empty)

Description:

• This system preference is used to delete resolved return claims.

• This system preference requires the cleanup_database.pl cron job with the --return-claims parameter.

SIP2

SIP2AddOpacMessagesToScreenMessage

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 23.11.

Asks: ___ OPAC patron messages in the SIP2 screen message field.

Default: Send

Values:

• Don’t send

• Send

Description:

• This system preference determines whether or not the OPAC messages are displayed on the screen when using SIP2.

• OPAC messages will be preceded by “Messages for you: “.

SIP2SortBinMapping

Asks: Use the following mappings to determine the sort_bin of a returned item.

Description:

• This system preference is used to set the ‘sort bin’ or CL response for SIP equipment when checking in an item. The mappings entered here will determine which bin the SIP sorter sends an item to.

• This system preference must be filled with a specific syntax.

  • Each mapping should be on its own line.

  • Each mapping should be of the form

    branchcode:item field:comparator:item field value:sort bin number
    

    where

    • ‘branchcode’ is the library where the checkin is being performed (i.e. library assigned to the SIP user)

    • ‘item field’ is a database column in the items table

    • ‘comparator’ is the type of comparison, possible values are:

    • eq (is equal to)

    • < (is less than)

    • <= (is less than or equal to)

    • > (is greater than)

    • >= (is greater than or equal to)

    • ne (is not equal to)

    • ‘item field value’ is the value to compare against the value in the specified ‘item field’

      Note

      Specifying ‘item field value’ with a leading $ and an item field name will use the value of that field in the item for comparison.

      For example, $holdingbranch will compare the item field to the item’s homebranch.

    • ‘sort bin number’ is the expected return value in the CL field of the SIP response for an item matching the rule.

Tip

The mappings will be taken into account in the order the lines are written, starting with the top one. Think carefully about the logic your mappings should follow and which order to write them in to achieve what you want.

Mapping examples

CPL:itype:eq:BOOK:1

This will return sort bin 1 for an item of itemtype code ‘BOOK’ returned to the library with branchcode ‘CPL’.

CPL:itemcallnumber:<:339.6:3

This will return sort bin 3 for an item with a callnumber less than 339.6 returned to the ‘CPL’ library.

CPL:homebranch:ne:\$holdingbranch:X

This will return sort bin ‘X’ for an item returned to CPL where the holdingbranch is not equal to the homebranch (i.e. any item belonging to a different library than ‘CPL’).

Version

Before Koha version 23.11, each line can only have one ‘item field’ mapping. From 23.11, each line can use multiple item fields mappings.

Having multiple item fields mappings allows for more refined sorting rules. For example, instead of only sorting by item type, a library may now sort by item type and collection code and not for loan status.

There is no limit on the number of item field mappings that can be used in one line.

CPL:itype:eq:BOOK:ccode:eq:TEEN:5

This will return sort bin 5 for an item with the itemtype code ‘BOOK’ and the collection code ‘TEEN’ returned to the library with branchcode ‘CPL’.

Use case

Centerville Library (branchcode ‘CPL’) has SIP equipment which sorts returned items into 4 bins.

• Bin number 1 is for CPL items to be shelved on floor 1 (items whose location code is ‘FLOOR1’).

• Bin 2 is for CPL items to be shelved on floor 2 (items whose location code is ‘FLOOR2’).

• Bin 3 is for CPL items that require specific attention, e.g. they need to be checked before shelving or they are part of a specific collection. The CPL stock team is currently recalling the floor 1 Parent collection using this bin.

• Bin 4 is solely for items that need to be transferred to other libraries (items whose homebranch is not CPL).

Here is the content of their SIP2SortBinMapping system preference.

# Items to be transferred go to bin 4

CPL:homebranch:ne:$holdingbranch:4

# CPL toys, special stock and Floor 1 parent collection go to bin 3

CPL:itype:eq:TOY:3

CPL:notforloan:>=:1:3

CPL:location:eq:FLOOR1:ccode:eq:PARENT:3

# Other floor 1 CPL stock to bin 1

CPL:location:eq:FLOOR1:1

# Floor 2 CPL stock to bin 2

CPL:location:eq:FLOOR2:2

Note that the mapping for bin 4 is at the top. This ensures that items to be transferred to other libraries are dealt with first; the next mappings will therefore only concern CPL items.

Comments are added to the preference by inserting a hash sign at the beginning of the comment line.

UseLocationAsAQInSIP

Asks: Use ___ for AQ field in SIP protocol.

Default: homebranch

Values:

• homebranch

• permanent_location

Description:

• This system preference allows you to decide which item information is used as the AQ response for SIP equipment.

• AQ is used in automated sorting bins, for example, as the item’s ‘permanent location’. For some libraries, that might mean the item’s home library, whereas for others it might mean the item’s permanent location.

Self check-in module (sci-main.pl)

SelfCheckInMainUserBlock

Attention

This system preference no longer exists in Koha version 23.11 and above. It has been moved to HTML customizations.

Asks: Include the following HTML on the self check-in screen

Description:

• HTML entered in this field will appear in the center of the main page of your self checkin screen

SelfCheckInModule

Default: Don’t enable

Asks: ___ the standalone self check-in module (available at: /cgi-bin/koha/sci/sci-main.pl

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Description:

• This system preference will activate (or deactivate) the self check- in module

SelfCheckInTimeout

Default: 120

Asks: Reset the current self check-in screen after ___ seconds

Description:

• Enter the number of seconds after which you want the self check-in screen to refresh and go back to the main page (for example, if a patron forgot to log out).

SelfCheckInUserCSS

Asks: Include the following CSS on all the self check-in screens

Description:

• The CSS code entered here will override any CSS on the self check-in screens

SelfCheckInUserJS

Asks: Include the following JavaScript on all the self check-in screens

Description:

• The JavaScript entered here will override any other JavaScript on the self check-in screens

Self check-out module (sco-main.pl)

AutoSelfCheckAllowed, AutoSelfCheckID and AutoSelfCheckPass

Important

Most libraries will want to leave this set to ‘Don’t allow’. This preference turns off the requirement to log into the self checkout machine with a staff username and password by storing the username and password for automatic login.

Asks: ___ the web-based self checkout system to automatically login with this staff login ___ and this password ___.

AutoSelfCheckAllowed default: Don’t allow

AutoSelfCheckAllowed values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

AutoSelfCheckID value:

• The username of a staff patron with the self_checkout_module permission.

AutoSelfCheckPass value:

• The password of a staff patron with the self_checkout_module permission.

Warning

The patron whose credentials are entered here must be a patron created specifically for this purpose. They will be unable to log into the OPAC.

SCOAllowCheckin

Asks: ___ patrons to return items through web-based self checkout system.

Default: Don’t allow

Values:

• Allow

• Don’t allow

Description:

• This preference is used to determine if you want to allow patrons to return items through your self check machines. By default, Koha’s self check-out interface is simply for checking items out.

SCOBatchCheckoutsValidCategories

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 24.05.

Asks: Patron categories allowed to check out in a batch while logged into the self checkout system: ___

Values:

• Values are the patron categories; multiple categories can be selected.

Default: none

Description:

• This system preference is used to determine which patron categories are allowed to use batch checkout in the self checkout system.

• If this system preference is empty, no one can batch checkout through the self checkout system. Checkouts must be done one at a time.

Note

The BatchCheckouts and WebBasedSelfCheck system preferences must be enabled for this system preference to have any effect.

See also:

• WebBasedSelfCheck

• BatchCheckouts

• BatchCheckoutsValidCategories

SCOLoadCheckoutsByDefault

Version

This system preference was added to Koha in version 23.11.

Asks: ___ the patron’s list of current checkouts by default when they log in to the self checkout module.

Default: Show

Values:

• Don’t show

• Show

Description:

• This system preference determines whether the patron’s current checkouts are displayed by default when they log into the self checkout module.

• In libraries where the self checkout machine is in a highly visible location, having the current checkouts hidden by default will protect the patron’s privacy.

• Patrons will have the option to see their current checkouts with the ‘Load your checkouts’ button.

SCOMainUserBlock

Attention

This system preference no longer exists in Koha version 23.11 and above. It has been moved to HTML customizations.

Asks: Include the following HTML on the web-based self checkout screen:

Description:

• The HTML entered in this preference will be used on the main self check-out screen.

SCOUserCSS

Asks: Include the following CSS on all pages in the web-based self checkout:

Description:

• The CSS entered in this preference will be used on all of your Koha self check-out screens.

SCOUserJS

Asks: Include the following JavaScript on all pages in the web-based self checkout:

Description:

• The JavaScript entered in this preference will affect all of your Koha self check-out screens.

SelfCheckAllowByIPRanges

Asks: Allow access to the self check from the following IP addresses: ___

Description:

• This system preference is used to limit access to the self check-out module by IP ranges.

• Use ranges or simple IP addresses separated by spaces, like ‘192.168.1.1 192.168.0.0/24’.

• If you do not want to limit access by IP range, leave this system preference blank.

SelfCheckHelpMessage

Attention

This system preference no longer exists in Koha version 23.11 and above. It has been moved to HTML customizations.

Asks: Include the following HTML in the Help page of the web-based self checkout system:

Description:

• Clicking the ‘Help’ link in the top right of the self check-out interface opens up a three step process for using the self check-out module. Adding HTML to this system preference will show that additional help text above what’s already included.

SelfCheckoutByLogin

Asks: Have patrons login into the web-based self checkout system with their ___.

Default: Username and password

Values:

• cardnumber

• username and password

Description:

• This preference lets you decide how your patrons will log in to the self checkout module. Either the patron’s card number (barcode) or their username and password (the OPAC/Staff interface login username and password fields in the patron record).

Warning

If using ‘cardnumber’ and AutoSelfCheckAllowed, you should set SelfCheckAllowByIPRanges to prevent brute force attacks to gain patron information outside the library.

SelfCheckReceiptPrompt

Asks: ___ the print receipt popup dialog when self checkout is finished.

Default: Show

Values:

• Don’t show

• Show

Description:

• This preference controls whether a prompt shows up on the web based self check-out when the patron clicks the ‘Finish’ button.

SelfCheckTimeout

Asks: Time out the current patron’s web-based self checkout system login after ___ seconds.

Default: 120

Description:

• After the machine is idle for the time entered in this preference the self check out system will log out the current patron and return to the starting screen.

ShowPatronImageInWebBasedSelfCheck

Asks: ___ the patron’s picture (if one has been added) when they use the web-based self check-out.

Default: Don’t show

Values:

• Don’t show

• Show

Description:

• If this system preference is set to ‘Show’, the patron will see their own picture when logging into the web-based self check-out module.

WebBasedSelfCheck

Asks: ___ the web-based self checkout system.

Default: Don’t enable

Values:

• Don’t enable

• Enable

Description:

• Enabling this preference will allow access to the self check-out module in Koha.

• Your self check-out module is available at: https://YOUR.OPAC.URL/cgi-bin/koha/sco/sco-main.pl

Stock rotation module

StockRotation

Asks: ___ the stock rotation module

Default: Disable

Values:

• Disable

• Enable

Description:

• If set to ‘Enable’, the stock rotation module will appear under Cataloging > Automation.