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<h1>Patron Categories</h1>

<p>Patron categories allow you to organize your patrons into different roles, age groups, and patron categories.</p>

<p>Patrons are assigned to one of six main categories:</p>

<ul>
    <li>Adult
<ul>
    <li>Most common patron category, usually used for a general 'Patron' category.</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Child
<ul>
    <li>Children patrons can have a guardian to be attached to them.</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Staff
<ul>
    <li>Patrons within the staff category will have access to the staff client.</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Organizational
<ul>
    <li>Organizational patrons are organizations. Organizations can be used as guarantors for Professional patrons.</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Professional
<ul>
    <li>Professional patrons can be linked to Organizational patrons</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Statistical
<ul>
    <li>This patron category is used strictly for statistical purposes, such as in house use of items.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<h2>Adding a patron category</h2>

<p>To add a new patron category click 'New Category' at the top of the page</p>

<ul>
    <li>The 'Category Code' is an identifier for your new code.
<ul>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: The category code is limited to 10 characters (numbers and letters)</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Enter a plain text version of the category in the 'Description' field.</li>
    <li>Enrollment period (in months) should be filled in if you have a limited enrollment period for your patrons (eg. Student cards expire after 9 months or until a specific date)
<ul>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: You cannot enter both a month limit and a date until. Choose to enter either one or the other.</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Some patron categories can have a minimum age (in years) requirement associated with them, enter this age in the 'Age required'
<ul>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: This value will only be checked if BorrowerMandatoryField defines the dateofbirth as a required field on the patron record</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>Patron categories can also have a maximum age (in years) associated with them (such as children), enter this age in the 'Upperage limit'
<ul>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: This value will only be checked if BorrowerMandatoryField defines the dateofbirth as a required field on the patron record</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>If you charge a membership fee for your patrons (such as those who live in another region) you can enter that in the 'Enrollment fee' field.
<ul>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: Only enter numbers and decimals in this field</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>If you want your patron to receive overdue notices, set the 'Overdue notice required' to 'Yes'</li>
    <li>If you charge patrons for placing holds on items, enter the fee amount in the 'Hold fee' field.
<ul>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: Only enter numbers and decimals in this field</li>
</ul>
</li>
    <li>In the 'Category type' field choose one of the six main parent categories</li>
    <li>The Branch Limitations let you limit this patron category to only some branches in your library system. Select 'All branches' if you would like any library to be able to use this category.</li>
    <li>You can decide if this patron category is blocked from performing actions in the OPAC if their card is expired using the next option. By default it will follow the rule set in the BlockExpiredPatronOpacActions preference</li>
    <li>Next you can choose the default privacy settings for this patron category. This setting can be edited by the patron via the OPAC if you allow it with the OPACPrivacy system preference.</li>
    <li>Finally you can assign advanced messaging preferences by default to a patron category
<ul>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: Requires that you have EnhancedMessagingPreferences enabled</li>
    <li style="color: #990000;">Important: These can be changed for individual patrons, this setting is just a default to make it easier to set up messages for an entire category</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>See the full documentation for Patron Categories in the <a href="http://manual.koha-community.org/[% helpVersion %]/en/patscirc.html#patcats">manual</a> (online).</strong></p>

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