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

[Nicolas Morin]

On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 10:57 PM, Ryan Higgins <ryan.higgins at liblime.com> wrote:
>
> [ 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.

Actually, I think there's some nuance, there: it's not a functional
requirement for French libraries as such. They would be perfectly
happy, I think, to work with item-level itypes (some of them already
do). It's rather a historical fact as far as I can tell: when Koha was
first implemented in French libraries, biblio-level type was the way
Koha handled things and it suited them because these small libraries
didn't need the flexibility of an item level type. So far we
(BibLibre) have insisted on biblio level because our whole client-base
(bar a few clients) work that way: it's a legacy issue for us, not
really a functional issue.
But now that Koha is being implemented in bigger libraries in France
(as in the US and elsewhere), we need the item level types. And we do
agree with you that it's much better.
So we would be quite willing to entirely let go of the biblio-level
option, on condition that the RFC would take into account the
scripting of the switch from "3.0 with biblio-level" to "3.2 with
item-level".
On a related note: while the circulation rules should be applied to
the item level itype, the search limits and document icons in the opac
should still use something coming out of the biblio : the biblio level
type should still be used for that.
Regards,
Nicolas


Regards,
Nicolas





>
> 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
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