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<h1>Circulation and Fines Rules</h1>

<p>These rules define how your items are circulated, how/when fines are calculated and how holds are handled.</p>

<ul>
    <li><em>Get there:</em> More &gt; Administration &gt; Patrons &amp; Circulation &gt; Circulation and fines rules</li>
</ul>

<p>The rules are applied from most specific to less specific, using the first found in this order:</p>

<ul>
	<li>same library, same patron type, same item type</li>
	<li>same library, same patron type, all item type</li>
	<li>same library, all patron types, same item type</li>
	<li>same library, all patron types, all item types</li>
	<li>all libraries, same patron type, same item type</li>
	<li>all libraries, same patron type, all item types</li>
	<li>all libraries, all patron types, same item type</li>
	<li>all libraries, all patron types, all item types</li>
</ul>

<p style="background-color: #ffe599;">Tip: If you are a single library system choose your branch name before creating rules (sometimes having only rules for the 'all libraries' option can cause issues with holds)

<p style="color: #990000;">Important: At the very least you will need to set a default circulation rule. This rule should be set for all item types, all libraries and all patron categories. That will catch all instances that do not match a specific rule. When checking out if you do not have a rule for all libraries, all item types and all patron types then you may see patrons getting blocked from placing holds. You will also want a rule for your specific library set for all item types and all patron types to avoid this holds issue. Koha needs to know what rule to fall back on.

<h3>Default Circulation Rules</h3>

<p>Using the issuing rules matrix you can define rules that depend on patron/item type combos. To set your rules, choose a library from the pull down (or 'all libraries' if you want to apply these rules to all branches)</p>

<p>From the matrix you can choose any combination of patron categories and item types to apply the rules to</p>

<ul>
	<li>First choose which patron category you'd like the rule to be applied to. If you leave this to 'All' it will apply to all patron categories</li>
	<li>Choose the 'Item Type' you would like this rule to apply to. If you leave this to 'All' it will apply to all item types</li>
	<li>Limit the number of items a patron can have checked out at the same time by entering a number in the 'Current Checkouts Allowed' field</li>
     <li>Define the period of time an item can be checked out to a patron by entering the number of units (days or hours) in the 'Loan Period' box.</li>
    <li>Choose which unit of time, Days or Hours, that the loan period and fines will be calculate in</li>
	<li>You can also define a hard due date for a specific patron category and item type. A hard due date ignores your usual circulation rules and makes it so that all items of the type defined are due on, before or after the date you specify.</li>
   <li>'Fine Amount' should have the amount you would like to charge for overdue items
<ul>
       <li style="color: #990000;">Important: Enter only numbers and decimal points (no currency symbols).</li>

</ul>
</li>
  <li>Enter the 'Fine Charging Interval' in the unit you set (ex. charge fines every 1 day, or every 2 hours)</li>
       <li>The 'Fine Grace Period' is the period of time an item can be overdue before you start charging fines.
<ul>
 <li style="color: #990000;">Important: This can only be set for the Day unit, not in Hours</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>If your library 'fines' patrons by suspending their account you can enter the number of days their fine should be suspended in the 'Suspension in Days' field
<ul>
 <li style="color: #990000;">Important: This can only be set for the Day unit, not in Hours</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Next decide if the patron can renew this item type and if so, enter how many times they can renew it in the 'Renewals Allowed' box</li>
    <li>If the patron can place holds on this item type, enter the total numbers of items (of this type) that can be put on hold in the 'Holds Allowed' field</li>
 <li>Finally, if you charge a rental fee for the item type and want to give a specific patron type a discount on that fee, enter the percentage discount (without the % symbol) in the 'Rental Discount' field</li>
</ul>

<p>When finished, click 'Add' to save your changes. To modify a rule, create a new one with the same patron type and item type. If you would like to delete your rule, simply click the 'Delete' link to the right of the rule.</p>

<p>To save time you can clone rules from one library to another by choosing the clone option above the rules matrix.</p>

<p>After choosing to clone you will be presented with a confirmation message.</p>

<h3>Default Checkouts and Hold Policy</h3>

<p>You can set a default maximum number of checkouts and hold policy that will be used if none is defined below for a particular item type or category.</p>

<p>From this menu you can set a default to apply to all item types and patrons in the library.</p>

<ul>
  <li>In 'Total Current Checkouts Allowed' enter the total number of items patrons can have checked out at one time</li>
 <li>Control where patrons can place holds from using the 'Hold Policy' menu
<ul>
       <li>From Any Library: Patrons from any library may put this item on hold. (default if none is defined)</li>
    <li>From Home Library: Only patrons from the item's home library may put this book on hold.</li>
       <li>No Holds Allowed: No patron may put this book on hold.</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Control where the item returns to once it is checked in
<ul>
       <li>Item returns home</li>
     <li>Item returns to issuing branch</li>
        <li>Item floats
<ul>
   <li>When an item floats it stays where it was checked in and does not ever return 'home'</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
	<li>Once your policy is set, you can unset it by clicking the 'Unset' link to the right of the rule</li>
</ul>

<h3>Checkouts Per Patron</h3>

<p>For this library, you can specify the maximum number of loans that a patron of a given category can make, regardless of the item type.</p>

<p style="background-color: #ffe599;">Tip: If the total amount loanable for a given patron category is left blank, no limit applies, except possibly for a limit you define for a specific item type.</p>

<h3>Item Hold Policies</h3>

For this library, you can edit rules for given itemtypes, regardless of the patron's category. Currently, this means hold policies.

<p>The various Hold Policies have the following effects:</p>

<ul>
   <li>From Any Library: Patrons from any library may put this item on hold. (default if none is defined)</li>
    <li>From Home Library: Only patrons from the item's home library may put this book on hold.</li>
       <li>No Holds Allowed: No patron may put this book on hold.</li>
</ul>

<p style="color: #990000;">Important: Note that if the system preference AllowHoldPolicyOverride set to 'allow', these policies can be overridden by your circulation staff.</p>

<p style="color: #990000;">Important: These policies are based on the patron's home branch, not the branch that the reserving staff member is from.</p>

<p>The various Return Policies have the following effects:</p>

<ul>
 <li>Item returns home: The item will prompt the librarian to transfer the item to its home library
<ul>
        <li style="color: #990000;">Important: If the AutomaticItemReturn preference is set to automatically transfer the items home, then a prompt will not appear</li>
</ul>
</li>
   <li>Item returns to issuing branch: The item will prompt the librarian to transfer the item back to the library where it was checked out
<ul>
  <li style="color: #990000;">Important: If the AutomaticItemReturn preference is set to automatically transfer the items home, then a prompt will not appear</li>
</ul>
</li>
   <li>Item floats: The item will not be transferred from the branch it was checked in at, instead it will remain there until transferred manually or checked in at another branch</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>See the full documentation for Circulation and Fine Rules in the <a href="http://manual.koha-community.org/3.8/en/patscirc.html#circfinerules">manual</a> (online).</strong></p>

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