diff --git a/installer/data/mysql/kohastructure.sql b/installer/data/mysql/kohastructure.sql
index e7ad97ff9d..da1528c813 100644
--- a/installer/data/mysql/kohastructure.sql
+++ b/installer/data/mysql/kohastructure.sql
@@ -750,7 +750,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `deleteditems` (
   `uri` varchar(255) default NULL,
   `itype` varchar(10) default NULL,
   `more_subfields_xml` longtext default NULL,
-  `enumchron` varchar(80) default NULL,
+  `enumchron` text default NULL,
   `copynumber` varchar(32) default NULL,
   `stocknumber` varchar(32) default NULL,
   `marc` longblob,
@@ -1015,7 +1015,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `items` (
   `uri` varchar(255) default NULL,
   `itype` varchar(10) default NULL,
   `more_subfields_xml` longtext default NULL,
-  `enumchron` varchar(80) default NULL,
+  `enumchron` text default NULL,
   `copynumber` varchar(32) default NULL,
   `stocknumber` varchar(32) default NULL,
   PRIMARY KEY  (`itemnumber`),
diff --git a/installer/data/mysql/updatedatabase.pl b/installer/data/mysql/updatedatabase.pl
index b4c51c0d5d..6bd7397777 100755
--- a/installer/data/mysql/updatedatabase.pl
+++ b/installer/data/mysql/updatedatabase.pl
@@ -4022,6 +4022,14 @@ if (C4::Context->preference("Version") < TransformToNum($DBversion)) {
     SetVersion($DBversion);
 };
 
+$DBversion = "3.03.00.XXX";
+if (C4::Context->preference("Version") < TransformToNum($DBversion)) {
+    $dbh->do("ALTER TABLE items MODIFY enumchron TEXT");
+    $dbh->do("ALTER TABLE deleteditems MODIFY enumchron TEXT");
+    print "Upgrade to $DBversion done (bug 5642: longer serial enumeration)\n";
+    SetVersion ($DBversion);
+}
+
 =head1 FUNCTIONS
 
 =head2 DropAllForeignKeys($table)