[Koha] Loan periods

[Wagner, Alexander]

Hello!

Being pretty new to Koha I still struggle to get a solution for our loan periods.

I understand that Koha specifies loan periods based on `item types` and `patron types` and then calculates the loan period using the circulation matrix. I also believe I have an understanding of this matrix and I also know such concepts from other ILS.

However, in our library we assume that all patrons are created equal.

Now, we (currently) assume that not all books (just to take one item type) are created equal.

IOW in our current system we have books with a loan period of 4 weeks (usual default) while we also have books with a loan period of 3 days (being open 24/7 with self service checkout this is our `not for loan`) and others with 2 years. Currently, any patron (they are all equal) can have items with any of these loan periods. Eg. I got Peskin/Schroeder as as desktop reference for 2 years. Then go to the library during my usual working hours (10pm or so ;) and up pick Bailin/Love from the open shelves to prepare the next lecture and while I am there I spot this interesting "new piece over there" and add it to the lot not noticing that it should stay there for a week or so. (Telling our SIP terminal "you can not take this" will not work well, especially as most of our patrons would not notice the red frownie and no-one would notice the beeps at the entrance in the middle of the night.)

However, till here I can model most of it by creating an item type `book` along with `desktop reference` for the first two items. I do not yet see the new items shelve (a temporary location) where items stay for a week till they move to their permanent location with a regular loan period of 4 weeks. (IOW in our current system the loan period sometimes depends on temporary locations.)

Still, this requires to add a new item type for each loan period.

When it comes to databases we now have a number of different loan periods, as we model them as the subscription period minus some contract dependent time to allow for cancellation (or renewal). E.g. some are subscriptions for campus (real not for loan) with some contract running a year. The next contract runs 3 years with 4 month before it's end for cancellation.

Then we have individually licensed accesses ranging from a monthly or bi-monthly period to years. Those are currently checked out to the patrons who have the access and we use the reminders as notification to our patrons ("should we renew?") and the renewals as a notification to us that the contract should indeed be renewed for another period. How would I model this in Koha? Do I really create a host of item types with funny names like 

1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks, 6 weeks, 7 weeks, 8 weeks, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months, 7 months, 8 months, 9 months, 10 months, 11 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, 42 months, 48 months, 54 months, 60 months, 66 months, 72 months, 78 months

It looks a bit messy in cataloguing but these would also show up in the OPAC (eg. in the advanced search limiters).

In our current system I just had a subfield on item level where I could specify a loan period. Do I get it right that this concept does not exist and can not be modeled in Koha? How can I get around this? How do others handle this? Maybe I need a different angle to look at it...

-- 
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 at desy.de