Hi there, I wondered if anyone would like to share their take on item types in Koha 3.0. I'm trying to get a handle on how we could better group our collection in preparation for a conversion to Koha 3.0. Currently we have a system which determines the first character in terms of format: ie D = DVD, V = Video, B = Book, P = Periodical The second character is about which age group the item belongs to: J = junior ( childrens), Y = Young Adult, blank = adult (default position) Then the third character is whether its a rental item or not: P = Pay, blank = free (default position) Item types are then built from these building blocks eg: BN = Nonficiton book in the adult library PP = Rental periodical in adult library DJ = Free DVD in Junior library How do other libraries handle item types? * Are they based on format or media : DVD, Book, Magazine, File packet etc as our currently are. * Or are they based on collection? * Is it best to settle on a few Item types and then use other koha fields to indicate collections? * How do you reflect genre? ie Free adult fiction - romance, free adult fiction - western etc. * I think rental items need to have distinct item types within each format, so 2 for adult fiction : 1 free and 1 rental to make sure the lending and charging rules work. * How do you indicate where an item is shelved in terms of being part of a collection, or sub collection, for example a free junior fiction book, from the Easy Readers subcollection? * Thinking about marc now (and I am a complete MARC virgin) what fields do people use to indicate these collections, format, subcollections and genre details. * Do we use home branch to indicate which library collection it belongs to? Would really appreciate finding out how other libraries use Item Types. Kind regards, Joann Ransom. Horowhenua Lirbrary Trust.