[Koha-devel] RFC: Koha 3.2 : Mandate item-level circulation rules

[Ryan Higgins]

[ this text also available at:
http://wiki.koha.org/doku.php?id=en:development:rfcs3.2:rfc32_item_level_itemtypes]

RFC: Koha 3.2

Mandate item-level circulation rules.

Currently we use the system preference item-level_itypes to indicate whether
Koha
should use the itemtype stored at the bibliographic level or the item level
to control
circulation parameters.  This seems to be one of the more significant
distinctions in general policy
between US and French libraries, and was also one of the major limitations
of Koha 2.x
in the eyes of US libraries.

Koha 3.0 offers the option to define your itemtypes at either the bib-level
or item-level.
However, this option adds unnecessary complexity and offers an easy spot for
bugs to
appear.  I propose that this option be removed for the 3.2 release, and that
steps be taken
to make this feature-removal relatively painless and invisible for those
libraries that do
maintain circulation policy at the bib level.

I propose the following:

1:  the item-level_itypes system preference be removed.
2:  biblioitems.itemtype be renamed to biblioitems.default_itemtype
3: items.itype be renamed to items.itemtype
4: all circulation parameters will be determined by items.itemtype.
5: AddItem and ModItem will automatically fill items.itemtype from
biblioitems.default_itemtype if items.itemtype is not supplied.

This should allow French (and others using bib-level circ rules) libraries
to continue
with their current workflows, and should essentially be unnoticeable to
them, while allowing
us to remove the bug-prone distinction of item/bib level itemtypes.

Comments and suggestions welcome.


-- 
Ryan Higgins

LibLime  *  Open-Source Solutions for Libraries
Featuring KohaZOOM ILS
888-564-2457  x704
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