<!-- TMPL_INCLUDE NAME="doc-head-open.inc" -->Online Help: System Preferences -- Item types management<!-- TMPL_INCLUDE NAME="doc-head-close.inc" -->
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<h1>Item types management</h1>
<p>You can define as many itemtypes as you want.</p>

<p>The item types are the "categories" into which your library items fall. For instance, you probably want to have videocassettes in a different category from non-fiction books, and mysteries in a different category from children's picture books. If you already are using a commercial ILS, you almost certainly already have all of your materials divided up into such categories. Now you need to tell Koha what your categories are.</p>

<p>The itemtype code is limited to four characters. This code is rarely displayed by Koha; instead the description of the type will be what users see.</p>

<p>"Rental charge" is any amount you might charge to users for borrowing items of a certain type (like videos).</p>

<p>"Renewals allowed" says how many times an items of this type may be renewed.</p>

<p>Item types are useful for many things, and <b>very</b> important in controlling how Koha works :</p>
<ul>
    <li>Borrowers can search on itemtypes</li>
    <li>Issuing rules are set for item types (and for borrower types / branches)</li>
</ul>
<p>Setting up item types is one of the first things you should do after installing the Koha software.</p>
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