Hello Caroline!
Maybe someone else will have a genius idea, but I don't really see a way around creating specific item types, or simplifying your rules.
In a way they are a lot simpler than what Koha can actually do. The vast majority is just "4 weeks" :)
(A software change is always a good time to review policies imo...)
Of course.
I mean, you could always do manual loan periods (https://koha-community.org/manual/latest/en/html/circulationpreferences.html...), but it's a hassle to do it for every loan...
Right. I envisioned something on those lines as a last resort for the database "loans". Maybe there is a better way to track this db-stuff. They are similar to a personal journal subscription. I really like them to be visible with the users account and have them in the catalogue, though.
I wanted to address this however
Thank you :)
It looks a bit messy in cataloguing but these would also show up in the OPAC (eg. in the advanced search limiters).
This can be hidden in with the OpacAdvancedSearchTypes system preference.
Aha! This might be helfpul.
If you use ElasticSearch, the facets in the search results can be hidden in Administration > Search engine configuration (Elasticsearch) > Bibliographic records, uncheck the itype facet at the bottom of the screen.
Not sure about this yet. At the moment I still try to avoid any additional modules beyond the bare minimum (as the schedule is a bit tight...) But thank you. I noted it in my section on ES.
In the detailed record, you can hide the item type column by unchecking the item_itemtype column in Administration > Table settings > OPAC > holdingst.
So in a way I can actually treat the "item type" as a (strange) name for "loan period". I'll explore that road.
That way, the item types should not appear in the OPAC (although for transparency, patrons might be interested to know how long they can take something out).
Indeed they'd be. However, given the circulation matrix it might not be that easy for them in general anyway, right? (Say if role X for item type A implies 4 weeks while role Y for the same item implies 8 weeks.)
For cataloguers, I don't really see the difference for them to enter a loan period in an item field vs choosing an item type in an item field.
It seems strange to me to call a book "4 weeks". And I had the idea that the categories (have to) show up in OPAC all the time so I had the feeling that I would need to create something like display name `Book`, ending up in 20 entries that are labeled `Book` and just add a different vocabulary term in the backend. (Display `Book` store `6 weeks`, display `Book` store `4 weeks` and so on. Sort of "I take the 9th entry from the list to get the proper period stored".)
Good luck with all of that!
Thanks :) -- Kind regards, Alexander Wagner Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY Library and Documentation Building 01d Room OG1.444 Notkestr. 85 22607 Hamburg phone: +49-40-8998-1758 e-mail: alexander.wagner@desy.de