[Koha] Item Types, Collection Codes and Other Mysteries : a guide for newbies.

[Joshua Ferraro]

On Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 6:08 PM, Joann Ransom <jransom at library.org.nz> wrote:
> This is my understanding of the use of Item Types and CCodes based on the
> emails and list discussion. If my understanding is wrong - please correct
> it. If I have it clear then I think this would be useful for the Koha 3.0
> Manual (certainly would have helped me!) Would love someone to please add in
> the marc fields where you would enter the information which will display in
> these fields(are we heading into mapping territory now?)
>
> BIBLIO LEVEL INFORMATION
>
> Search results display Biblio level info; which can  include:
>
>  * Format (book, DVD, video cassette)
>
> * Audience (children, young adult, adult)
>
> * Content (bibliography)
The examples I provided were just examples, Koha can display icons for
any authorized value you create at the bib-level. Koha 3.0 doesn't
ship with any of the above authorized values already created, you have
to create them and link them to bib fields, and link them to icons
after you install Koha.

> * Material Type (using XLST search will display wee icons.)
These are available out of the box with Koha 3, if you want to change
the icons that display, or the criteria, you have to edit the XSLT
stylesheets.

> ITEM LEVEL INFORMATION
>
> The holdings table displays Item level info, which can include:
>
>  * Item Types
>
> * CCodes
>
> * Shelving Location
>
> * Call Number
Again, this is not an exhaustive list. You can have as many item-level
fields linked to authorized values as you want. The most common ones
are item type, shelving location, and collection code; to create
another one, just add the authorized value and link it to an
item-level MARC tag/subfield.

Images associated with item-level authorized values don't display in
search results pages, but should display on details pages (though I
haven't had time to take a look at Owen's claim that they don't). In
any case, it is trivial to get them to display on the detail page, but
non-trivial to get them to display on the results page, because the
results aren't an item view, they are a bib-level view. How do you
display item-level information on the results page when you've got 500
items on a given bib?

>  ADVANCED SEARCH
>
> The Advanced Search interface displays either Item Types (with their
> associated icons) OR Collection Codes (with their associated icons). You
> cannot set both as Advanced Search options, although there is general
> agreement that this would be a cool enhancement.
This is not a limitation of the search API, it's a limitation of the
current templating options for the advanced search page. That is, if
you created a custom template for the advanced search page, you could
display both item types, collection codes, or really any field you
wanted that was linked to a Zebra index. What we need to create is a
back-end management interface to allow the librarian (rather than a
template designer) control what search types and values are available
for the advanced search page. This would be an interesting enhancement
for someone to sponsor.

>  NOTES ON ITEM TYPES
>
> *set circulation policy
> * you must have item types
> * you don’t have to have CCodes
> * can be used to define collections
> * can be OPAC advanced search points
Yep, though I'd remove the mention of 'ccodes' and 'collections'.

> NOTES ON CCODESs
>
> * have no relationship to circulation policy
> * any number of CCodes can have the same the Item Type
> * are optional
> * are used to define collections
> * can be OPAC advanced search points
There is really no formal hierarchical relationship between ccodes
(collections) and 'item types' other than the fact that they are both
item-level fields.

>  NOTES ON CALL NUMBER
> Shows an items shelf position, can include alpha and numeric characters.
>
>
> NOTES ON SHELVING LOCATION
> Denotes a physical location ie a floor or building. (Not sure if this
> displays in OPAC or not.)
Yes, it does display in the OPAC.

> GENERAL RULE OF THUMB
>
> If you don’t have to have CCodes to distinguish between Item Types and
> Collection Codes, then don’t – just use Item Types.
>
> An example of when you would need CCodes, is where you have a policy which
> says borrowers may have no more than 10 AV items on loan at a time, but they
> may be taken from arange of different collections. So Item Type is set as AV
> and a bunch of CCodes are created: DVD, JDVD, Video, JVideo, CDROM, Audio
> Book on Tape, Teen Audio Book on CD, etc. A borrow a total of 10 AV
> materials from any of the CCodes related to Item Type=AV.
Perhaps, but there is not a hierarchical relationship between ccodes
and itypes. Libraries that use ccodes typically use them to denote
'Collections' ... ie, groupings of materials, such as 'Science
Fiction' or 'Mysteries'. But, Science Fiction books and Mystery books,
probably have the same circulation policy as each other, and that's
where Item Types come in. Patrons don't typically care about your
circulation policy, but they do care about where a given item is
located in the library. So that's really the distinction -- Call
Numbers, Collection Codes, Shelving Locations, typically refer to
physical location, Item Type just says what the Circulation Rules are.

Cheers,

Josh

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