Monday Minutes: Circulation Rules Default Values

by Jessie Zairo on Apr 12, 2021

This is part three of a four-part series covering all things Circulation Rules in Koha. This week Jessie and Kelly cover Default checkout, hold, and return policies, including by patron category and Default lost item fee refund on return policy.

Default checkout, hold, and return policy

You can set a default maximum number of checkouts, a default maximum number of holds, and a hold policy that will be used if none is defined below for a particular item type or category. This is the fallback rule for defaults. This allows you to set a default to apply to all item types and patrons in the library if no other option is set in the forms below.

• Total current checkouts allowed enter the total number of items patrons can have checked out at one time

• Total current on-site checkouts allowed enter the total number of items patrons can have checked out on-site at a time (OnSiteCheckouts needs to be set to ‘Enable’)
• Maximum total holds allowed (count) enter the total number of pending holds patrons can have at the same time.
• You can control where patrons can place holds by using the ‘Hold Policy’ menu
  • From Any Library: Patrons from any library may put this item on hold. (default if none is defined)
  • From Local Hold Group: Only patrons from a library in the item home library’s local hold group may put this book on hold.
  • From Home Library: Only patrons from the item’s home library may put this book on hold.
  • No Holds Allowed: No patron may put this book on hold.
• Control where a patron can pick up holds using the “Hold Pickup Library Match” menu. You can define these rules by:
  • any library
  • item’s hold group
  • patron’s hold group
  • item’s home library
  • item’s holding library
• Control where the item returns to once it is checked in by these rules:
  • Item returns home
  • Item returns to issuing branch
  • Item floats
    • When an item floats it stays where it was checked in and does not ever return home.
• Once your policy is set, you can unset it by clicking the Unset link to the right of the rule.

Default checkout and hold policy by patron category

For this library, you can specify the maximum number of checkouts, on-site checkouts and holds that a patron of a given category can have, regardless of the item type.

If the total amount of checkouts, on-site checkout and holds for a given patron category is left blank, no limit applies, except for a limit you define in the circulation rules above.

Default lost item fee refund on return policy

Here, you can specify the default policy for lost item fees on return. This policy will apply to this library. This rule is to be used with the RefundLostOnReturnControl system preference.

• If a lost item is returned, you can apply the refunding rules defined in the check-in library, item holding branch, or the item home branch.

You can limit the number of days during which a lost item is refundable using the NoRefundOnLostReturnedItemsAge system preference.

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

More Monday Minutes in this Series

Part 1: Monday Minutes: Circulation Rules

Part 2: Monday Minutes: Circulation Rules for Multi-Branch Systems

Part 4: Monday Minutes: Circulation Rules Default Hold Policies by Item Type