Basic parameters
Get there: More > Administration
Important
Configure all ‘parameters’ in the order they appear.
When setting up your Koha system you will want to add information for every library that will be sharing your system. This data is used in several areas of Koha.
Get there: More > Administration > Basic parameters > Libraries
Note
Only staff with the manage_libraries permission (or the superlibrarian permission) will have access to this section.
When visiting this page you are presented with a list of the libraries that have already been added to the system.
Note
You can customize the columns of this table in the ‘Table settings’ section of the Administration module (table id: libraries).
Clicking on the library’s name will bring you to a detailed view of the library’s information.
To add a new library:
Click ‘New library’
Fill out the form
Library code (required): the code should not contain any spaces or hyphens and be 10 or fewer characters. This code will be used as a unique identifier in the database.
Name (required): the name will be displayed on the OPAC and staff interface wherever the library name displays, and should be a name that makes sense to your patrons and staff.
Address, city, state, zip/postal code, country, phone, fax: the address and contact fields can be used to make notices custom for each library, they will also be displayed in the ‘Libraries’ page of the OPAC, if this library is set as ‘Public’
Email: the email address field is not required, but it should be filled for every library in your system
Note
Be sure to enter a library email address to make sure that notices are sent to and from the right address
Note
If no email address is entered here, the address in the KohaAdminEmailAddress system preference will be used to send notices from this library
ILL staff email: if this library uses a specific email address for interlibrary loan management, enter it here
Note
If no email address is entered here, the address in the ILLDefaultStaffEmail system preference will be used to receive ILL requests to this library
Reply-To: you can enter a different ‘Reply-To’ email address. This is the email address that all replies will go to.
Note
If no email address is entered here, the address in the ReplytoDefault system preference will be used to receive replies to this library
Return-Path: you can enter a different ‘Return-Path’ email address. This is the email address that all bounced messages will go to.
Note
If no email address is entered here, the address in the ReturnpathDefault system preference will be used to receive bounced messages from this library.
SMTP server: if this library uses a different SMTP server from the default, specify it here.
URL: if this field is populated, the library name will be linked in the holdings table on the OPAC
OPAC info: this leads to the HTML customization tool, so that you can add additional information about the library. This information will appear in the ‘Libraries’ page in the OPAC, as well as in the holdings table in the OPAC.
Clicking on the library name that has a small ‘i’ icon next to it will open a pop-up with the information.
IP: this field does not have be filled in unless you plan on limiting access to the staff interface to a specific IP address or range of IP addresses.
Note
Library IP addresses and ranges are used by the StaffLoginLibraryBasedOnIP and the StaffLoginRestrictLibraryByIP system preferences.
MARC organization code: if this library has a specific MARC organization code, you can enter it here.
Note
If left blank, the code entered in the MARCOrgCode system preference will be used for this library.
Notes: if you have any notes you can put them here. These will not show in the OPAC.
Pickup location: choose whether this library will display as an available pickup location for holds.
Public: choose whether this library will appear in the ‘Libraries’ page on the OPAC, as well as as a limit option in the OPAC advanced search.
Opening hours: if you do hourly loans, fill out the library’s opening hours for each day of the week. You can then set the ConsiderLibraryHoursInCirculation system preference according to your policies.
Version
This option was added to Koha in version 24.05.
UserJS: use this field to add custom JavaScript to the OPAC of this library (when patrons are logged in, or if there is a SetEnv OPAC_BRANCH_DEFAULT entry in the apache configuration file)
Version
This feature was added in Koha version 23.11.
Note
General modifications applicable to all libraries can be put in the OPACUserJS system preference.
UserCSS: use this field to add custom CSS to the OPAC of this library (when patrons are logged in, or if there is a SetEnv OPAC_BRANCH_DEFAULT entry in the apache configuration file)
Version
This feature was added in Koha version 23.11.
Note
General modifications applicable to all libraries can be put in the OPACUserCSS system preference.
From the libraries table, click ‘Edit’ or ‘Delete’ to edit or delete a library.
Warning
You will be unable to edit the ‘Library code’.
Warning
You will be unable to delete any library that has patrons or items attached to it.
Library groups can serve various purposes: to limit access to patron data, to limit item modification, to limit OPAC or staff interface searches, or to define holds behavior.
Get there: More > Administration > Basic parameters > Library groups
Note
Only staff with the manage_libraries permission (or the superlibrarian permission) will have access to this section.
When visiting this page you are presented with a list of the groups that have already been added to the system.
To create a new library group,
Click the ‘Add group’ button at the top of the screen.
Title (required): give the group a title. This title will be displayed in the advanced search limit dropdown.
Description: optionally, enter a description for this group. The description is only used in this page to give an idea of what the group is used for.
Features: check the use of this group
Limit patron data access by group: this will limit staff members from seeing other groups’ patrons.
Note
This can be overridden with the view_borrower_infos_from_any_libraries permission (or the superlibrarian permission).
Limit item editing by group: this will limit staff members from editing items from other groups’ libraries.
Note
This can be overridden with the edit_any_item permission (or the superlibrarian permission).
Use for OPAC search groups: this will make the group visible in the library dropdown menu at the top of the OPAC (when the OpacAddMastheadLibraryPulldown system preference is set to ‘Add’) and on the advanced search page.
Use for staff search groups: this will make the group visible in the library dropdown menu in the staff interface advanced search.
Is local hold group: this will make this group a local hold group, which can be used to add hold policies in the circulation rules to limit patrons to placing holds on items within the group only.
Is local float group: this will make this group a local float group, which can be used in a return policy or in a hold policy in circulation rules to determine if an item ‘floats’ (stays at the check-in library) or is transferred back to its home library.
Click ‘Save’ to create the group.
Adding a library to a groupClick on the ‘Add library’ button next to the group to add a library to this group. You will be presented with a list of the libraries that are not already in the group.
If your system is very large, you can create sub-groups. Click on the ‘Actions’ button next to the group and select the ‘Add a sub-group’ option.
Fill in the title and the description (optional) of the sub-group. The features will be inherited from the parent group.
To delete a group, click on the ‘Actions’ button next to the group and select the ‘Delete’ option.
The system will ask to confirm the deletion.
Click ‘Delete’ to confirm and delete the group.
Circulation desksKoha allows you to define several circulation desks within a single library. For example, if you have an adult circulation desk and a children’s circulation desk, or if you have a different desk for each floor or each department.
Make sure to enable the UseCirculationDesks system preference to use this functionality.
Get there: More > Administration > Patrons and circulation > Circulation desks
Adding circulation desksTo add a new circulation desk, click on the ‘New desk’ button at the top of the page.
In the ‘Desk’ field, enter a name for your desk.
Choose the library in which this desk is.
Click ‘Submit’.
Editing a circulation deskTo edit an existing circulation desk, click on the ‘Edit’ button to the right of the desk to modify.
From there, you can change the name and/or the library of the desk.
Deleting a circulation deskTo delete an existing circulation desk, click on the ‘Delete’ button to the right of the desk to remove.
Item typesGet there: More > Administration > Basic parameters > Item types
Note
Only staff with the manage_itemtypes permission (or the superlibrarian permission) will have access to this section.
Koha allows you to organize your collection by item types and collection codes. Along with libraries and patron categories, item types are used to control circulation rules.
Item types typically refer to the material type (Book, CD, DVD, etc), but can be used in any way that works for your library.
Note
You can customize the columns of this table in the ‘Table settings’ section of the Administration module (table id: table_item_type).
To add a new item type,
Click the ‘New item type’ button at the top of the item types page.
Fill out the form:
Item type: enter a short code for your item type (maximum of 10 characters)
Parent item type: you can choose an item type that will act as a parent category for this item type. You can then define circulation rules based on that parent item type.
For example, you could have DVD and Blu-ray item types, and the DVD would be the parent of the Blu-ray item type.
You can then create a circulation rule for either Blu-ray only or DVD and Blu-ray (DVD (All))
Description: enter the plain text definition of the item type
In systems with multiple languages installed, you can translate the item type description in to all of those languages using the ‘Translate into other languages’ link.
Search category: item types can be grouped together for searching at the same time in the OPAC advanced search. For example, you can put DVDs and Blu-rays in a group called ‘Movies’ and then patrons can search them together. These groups are defined in the ITEMTYPECAT authorized value category.
Note
Search categories are used in the OPAC only. Staff can search for individual item types in the staff interface advanced search.
Choose an icon: you can choose to have an image associated with your item type. These images will appear in the staff interface and the OPAC, in the advanced search and in the holdings table, or the bibliographic record if the item-level_itypes system preference is set to record-level. You can choose an icon from a series of image collections, or you can link to a remote image.
Warning
If this option is not enabled, you can change the setting of the noItemTypeImages or OPACNoItemTypeImages.
Note
To have your item type images appear in the OPAC you need to set OPACnoItemTypeImages to ‘Show’.
Hide in OPAC: for items that you are suppressing from the OPAC, you can hide their item type from being searched in the OPAC.
Important
This will not prevent those items to appear in search results, it will simply remove the item type from the advanced search form.
If you want to completely hide items from a certain item type, let’s say that you have a professional library with books reserved for staff and you don’t want those to appear in the OPAC, use the OpacHiddenItems system preference.
Not for loan: check this option for items type that should not circulate. Items marked ‘Not for loan’ will appear in the catalog, but cannot be checked out to patrons.
Automatic check-in: you can check this option for items that are not physical, but for which you still have circulation rules, such as museum passes or ebooks.
Note
This option requires the cronjob misc/cronjobs/automatic_checkin.pl. Ask your system administrator to schedule it.
Bookable: check this option to allow bookings for all items of this item type.
Version
This option was added to Koha in version 24.11.
Rental charge: if you charge a flat rental fee for checking out items of this type, enter the fee here. This fee will be charged to the patron upon checkout and renewal.
Important
Do not enter symbols in this field, only numbers and decimal points (ex. $5.00 should be entered as 5 or 5.00).
Daily rental charge: if a rental charge should be charged by the number of days the item is checked out for, enter the daily fee here. This fee will be charged to the patron upon checkout multiplied by the number of days this item is checked out. For example, for an item checked out for 7 days with a daily rental charge of 1$, the patron will be charged 7$ upon checkout. This daily rental charge will also be applied for renewals.
Important
Do not enter symbols in this field, only numbers and decimal points (ex. $5.00 should be entered as 5 or 5.00).
Daily rentals use calendar: check this option to exclude holidays from the daily rental fee calculation.
Note
Make sure to enter the closed days in the calendar to exclude them from the daily rental charge.
Hourly rental charge: if items are loaned out hourly, enter the cost per hour here. Again, the total (hourly cost * number of hours loaned) will be charged to the patron upon checkout and renewal.
Important
Do not enter symbols in this field, only numbers and decimal points (ex. $5.00 should be entered as 5 or 5.00).
Hourly rentals use calendar: check this option to exclude holidays from the hourly rental fee calculation.
Note
Make sure to enter the closed days in the calendar to exclude them from the daily rental charge.
Default replacement cost: this is the amount that will be charged to the patron when an item of this type is lost AND the item doesn’t have a replacement cost. If the item has a replacement cost, that is the amount that will be charged to the patron.
Important
Do not enter symbols in this field, only numbers and decimal points (ex. $5.00 should be entered as 5 or 5.00).
Processing fee (when lost): this processing fee will be added to the replacement cost if a patron loses an item of this type.
Important
Do not enter symbols in this field, only numbers and decimal points (ex. $5.00 should be entered as 5 or 5.00).
Checkin message: if you would like a message or alert to appear when items of this type are checked in, enter the message here.
Checkin message type: the checkin message can be a ‘message’ or an ‘alert’. The only difference between these two is the styling. A message is blue
and an alert is yellow.
SIP media type: some SIP devices need you to use a SIP-specific media type instead of Koha’s item type (usually lockers and sorters need this media type). If you use a device like this choose the SIP media type for this item type.
Library limitation: if this item type is only to be used in specific libraries, you can select them here. Select ‘All libraries’ if this item type is used across the library system.
Note
If this is left blank, ‘All libraries’ is assumed.
Tip
To select more than one library, hold the ‘Ctrl’ key while selecting the libraries.
Summary: this summary is used in non-XSLT displays only.
When finished, click ‘Save changes’.
Note
All fields, with the exception of the ‘Item type’ will be editable from the item types list.
Your new item type will now appear on the list.
Editing item typesTo edit an item type, click the ‘Edit’ button next to it, or click the item type code.
See the Adding item types section for a description of each field.
Important
You will not be able to edit the code you assigned as the ‘Item type’ but you will be able to edit the description for the item.
To delete an item type, click the ‘Delete’ button next to it.
Important
You will not be able to delete item types that are being used by items or bibliographic records within your system. If that is the case, a message will alert you that the item type is in use.
Authorized values can be used in several areas of Koha. They are lists of controlled terms, phrases or codes.
For example, one reason you would add an authorized value category would be to control the values that can be entered into MARC fields by catalogers.
Get there: More > Administration > Basic parameters > Authorized values
Note
Only staff with the manage_auth_values permission (or the superlibrarian permission) will have access to this section.
Koha installs with pre-defined authorized values categories that your library is likely to use or that are used by the system.
AR_CANCELLATIONThis category contains reasons why an article request might have been cancelled.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Item could not be located on shelves (NOT_FOUND)
Item was found to be too damaged to fill article request (DAMAGED)
Cancelled from the OPAC user page (OPAC)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Asort1These values are used for acquisitions statistical purposes. You can use this as statistical categories when creating a fund in acquisitions.
Asort2These values are used for acquisitions statistical purposes. You can use this as statistical categories when creating a fund in acquisitions.
BOR_NOTESThese values are used for predefined patron messages and circulation messages that appear on the circulation screen and the patron’s account on the OPAC.
Write the message you want to appear in the ‘Description’ field.
Note
This field is limited to 200 characters. However, the message field in the patron record can hold more than that. Write the first 200 characters in the description and write the rest when adding the message.
These values can be entered to fill in the patron’s sort 1 field.
Bsort2These values can be entered to fill in the patron’s sort 2 field
CANDA list used in UNIMARC.
CCODEThese values are collection codes. They appear when cataloging and working with items.
This is normally mapped to items.ccode in the Koha database.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Fiction (FIC)
Non-fiction (NFIC)
Reference (REF)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
For best results when searching, avoid using hyphens in collection codes.
This category is used to generate control numbers in the advanced cataloging editor.
Enter a string ending with a number as the authorized value and use the description to describe the type of number. For example, ‘sprLib0001’ ‘Springfield library’. In the advanced editor, this will activate a new widget that will allow you to choose the type of number and generate the next number in the sequence.
COUNTRYA list of country names used in UNIMARC 102 $a.
DAMAGEDThis category contains descriptions for items marked as damaged. They appear when cataloging and working with items.
This is normally mapped to items.damaged in the database.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Damaged (1)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
The authorized values for DAMAGED must be numerical.
This category contains departments, which are required by and are used in the course reserves module.
ERM_AGREEMENT_CLOSURE_REASONThese values are used to describe the closure reason for an agreement record once it has been marked as ‘Closed’ in the e-resource management module.
They can also be used in reporting.
Default values are
Expired (expired)
Cancelled (cancelled)
ERM_AGREEMENT_LICENSE_LOCATIONThese values are used to describe the physical location of a license record in the case where you may still have a paper copy of the license (rather than electronic).
Default values are
Filing cabinet (filing cabinet)
Cupboard (cupboard)
ERM_AGREEMENT_LICENSE_STATUSThese values are used to describe the status of a license linked to an agreement record in the e-resource management module. It helps staff flag licenses in their life cycle.
They can also be used in reporting.
Default values are
Controlling (controlling)
Future (future)
Historic (historic)
ERM_AGREEMENT_RENEWAL_PRIORITYThese values are used to describe the renewal priority for an agreement record in the e-resource management module, in order to flag up how important the renewal of that agreement is.
They can also be used in reporting.
Default values are
For review (for_review)
Renew (renew)
Cancel (cancel)
ERM_AGREEMENT_STATUSThese values are used to describe the status of an agreement record in the e-resource management module.
They can also be used in reporting.
Default values are
Active (active)
In negotiation (in_negotiation)
Closed (closed)
Warning
Do not change the authorized value for ‘Closed’ (the description can be changed), it is used to activate the ‘Closure reason’ dropdown menu.
These values are used to describe the status of a license record in the e-resource management module. It helps staff flag up licenses in their life cycle.
They can also be used in reporting.
Default values are
In negotiation (in_negotiation)
Not yet active (not_yet_active)
Active (active)
Rejected (rejected)
Expired (expired)
ERM_LICENSE_TYPEThese values are used to describe the type of license in the e-resource management module.
They an also be used in reporting.
Default values are
Local (local)
Consortial (consortial)
National (national)
Alliance (alliance)
ERM_PACKAGE_CONTENT_TYPEThese values are used to describe the types of material found in a local package in the e-resource management module.
This is for local packages only.
Default values are
Aggregated full (AggregatedFullText)
Abstract and index (AbstractAndIndex)
E-book (EBook)
E-journal (EJournal)
Mixed content (MixedContent)
Online reference (OnlineReference)
Print (Print)
Streaming media (StreamingMedia)
Unknown (Unknown)
ERM_PACKAGE_TYPEThese values are used to describe the types of package in the e-resource management module.
This is for local packages only.
Default values are
Local (local)
Complete (complete)
ERM_TITLE_PUBLICATION_TYPEThese values are used to describe the type of material of a title in the e-resource management module.
This is for local titles only
Default values are
AudioBook (audiobook)
Book (book)
Bookseries (bookseries)
Database (database)
E-book (ebook)
Journal (journal)
Newsletter (newsletter)
Newspaper (newspaper)
Proceedings (proceedings)
Report (report)
Streaming audio (streamingaudio)
Streaming video (streamingvideo)
Thesis/Dissertation (thesisdissertation)
Unspecified (unspecified)
Website (website)
ERM_USER_ROLESThese values are used to describe the role of a staff user who is attached to an agreement or license record in the e-resource management module.
Default values are
ERM librarian (librarian)
Subject specialist (subject_specialist)
ETATThese values are used in French UNIMARC installations in field 995 $o to identify item status. Similar to NOT_LOAN.
HINGS_ASThese values are used as general holdings acquisition status designator. This data element specifies acquisition status for the unit at the time of the holdings report.
HINGS_CThese values are used as general holdings completeness designator.
HINGS_PFThese values are used as physical form designators.
HINGS_RDThese values are used as general holdings retention designator. This data element specifies the retention policy for the unit at the time of the holdings report.
HINGS_UTThese values are used as general holdings type of unit designator.
HOLD_CANCELLATIONThese values are used when cancelling holds as reasons why the hold has been cancelled.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Item could not be located on shelves (NOT_FOUND)
Item was found to be too damaged to fill hold (DAMAGED)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
HSBND_FREQThese values are delivery frequencies used by the housebound module. They are displayed on the housebound tab in the patron’s account in the staff interface.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Every week (EW)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
ILL_STATUS_ALIASThese values are interlibrary loan (ILL) request statuses used in the ILL module.
ITEMTYPECATThese values are search categories for item types. They allow multiple item types to be searched at the same time.
To combine item types in categories, choose the category in the item type settings.
For example, an ITEMTYPECAT value could be ‘NEW’. This search category could be set for the item types ‘NEW BOOKS’ and ‘NEW DVDS’. This will replace NEW BOOKS and NEW DVDS item types in the advanced search form by ‘NEW’. When a patron chooses the searched for the category ‘NEW’, they will search multiple item types with a single search.
LANGThis category is a list of ISO 639-2 standard language codes.
LOCThese values are shelving locations. They usually appear when adding or editing an item.
This is normally mapped to items.location in the Koha database.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Audio visual (AV)
Book cart (CART)
CART is used by UpdateItemLocationOnCheckin
Children’s area (CHILD)
Fiction (FIC)
General stacks (GEN)
New materials shelf (NEW)
On display (DISPLAY)
Processing center (PROC)
PROC can be used with NewItemsDefaultLocation and UpdateItemLocationOnCheckin.
Reference (REF)
Staff office (STAFF)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
For best results when searching, avoid using hyphens in location codes.
These values are descriptions for the items marked as lost. They appear when adding or editing an item.
This is normally mapped to items.itemlost in the Koha database.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Lost (1)
Long overdue (lost) (2)
Lost and paid for (3)
Missing (4)
Missing from bundle (5)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
The authorized values for LOST must be numerical.
These values are reasons why an item is not for loan. They appear when adding or editing an item.
This is normally mapped to items.notforloan in the Koha database.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
On order (-1)
Not for loan (1)
Staff collection (2)
Added to bundle (3)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
The authorized values for NOT_LOAN must be numerical.
Negative number values will still allow holds (use for ‘on order’ statuses, for example).
Positive numbers will not allow holds or checkouts.
A value of 0 means ‘for loan’.
OPAC_SUGThis category contains a list of reasons displayed in the suggestion form on the OPAC.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
The copy on the shelf is damaged (damaged)
Upcoming title by popular author (bestseller)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
ORDER_CANCELLATION_REASONThese values are reasons why an order might have been cancelled. They are used in acquisitions.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
No reason provided (0)
Out of stock (1)
Restocking (2)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
PA_CLASSThese values are used to group patron attributes together in the patron add and edit form.
PAYMENT_TYPEThis category populates a dropdown list of custom payment types when paying fines.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Cash via SIP2 (SIP00)
Visa via SIP2 (SIP01)
Creditcard via SIP2 (SIP02)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
qualifThese values are function codes (author, editor, collaborator, etc.) used in UNIMARC 7XX $4 (French).
RELTERMSThis category is a list of relator codes and terms.
This list is based on the Library of Congress’ MARC21 code list for relators
Important
This list is not kept up to date in existing installations. Make sure to add new values to your installation as they are published by the Library of Congress.
It can be linked to a subfield in a MARC bibliographic framework in order to create a dropdown menu for cataloguers to choose from instead of typing the relator code. In MARC21, relator codes are usually in subfield $4.
REPORT_GROUPThese values can be used as a way to sort and filter your reports. They will appear as tabs in the saved reports page.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Account (ACC)
Acquisitions (ACQ)
Catalog (CAT)
Circulation (CIRC)
Patrons (PAT)
Serials (SER)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
REPORT_SUBGROUPThese values can be used to further sort and filter your reports.
Values here need to include the authorized value code from REPORT_GROUP in the Description (OPAC) field to link the subgroup to the appropriate group.
These values are used as the restricted status of an item. They appear when adding or editing an item.
This is normally mapped to items.restricted in the Koha database.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Restricted access (1)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
The authorized values for this category must be numerical.
These values are reasons why a return claim has been resolved.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Returned by patron (RET_BY_PATRON)
Found in library (FOUND_IN_LIB)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
ROADTYPEThese values are road types to be used in patron addresses, in the ‘street type’ field in the patron form.
SIP_MEDIA_TYPEThese values are used when creating or editing an item type to assign a SIP specific media type for devices like lockers and sorters.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Other (000)
Book (001)
Magazine (002)
Bound journal (003)
Audio tape (004)
Video tape (005)
CD/CDROM (006)
Diskette (007)
Book with diskette (008)
Book with CD (009)
Book with audio tape (010)
Warning
SIP media types are limited to 3 characters. Make sure your authorized values for SIP_MEDIA_TYPE do not have more than 3 characters.
These values are shelving control number. They appear when adding or editing an item.
This is normally mapped to items.stack in the Koha database.
Warning
The authorized values for this category must be numerical.
These values are reasons for acceptance or rejection of purchase suggestions in acquisitions. They appear when managing suggestions.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Available via ILL (AVILL)
Bestseller (BSELL)
Document not corresponding to our acquisition policy (Poldoc)
Document too expensive (Expensive)
Insufficient budget (Budget)
Library copy lost (LCL)
Shelf copy damaged (SCD)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
SUGGEST_FORMATThis is a list of item types to display in a dropdown menu on the suggestion form on the OPAC.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Audiobook (AUDIOBOOK)
Book (BOOK)
EBook (EBOOK)
DVD (DVD)
Large print (LP)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
Suggestion format types are limited to 30 characters. Make sure your authorized values for this category do not have more than 30 characters.
This is a list of additional custom status values for suggestions that can be used in addition to the default values.
Warning
The suggestion status is limited to 10 characters. Make sure your authorized value does not have more than 10 characters.
Warning
The suggestion status must not contain any spaces.
These values are terms to be used in the course reserves module. For example: Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall.
These terms will appear in the dropdown menu when adding a new course.
TICKET_RESOLUTIONVersion
This category was added to Koha in version 24.05.
These values are types of resolutions to be used when marking catalog concerns as ‘Resolved’.
TICKET_STATUSVersion
This category was added to Koha in version 24.05.
These values are statuses to be used when updating catalog concerns.
UPLOADThese values are categories to be assigned to file uploads. Without a category, an upload is considered temporary and may be removed during automated cleanup.
VENDOR_INTERFACE_TYPEThese values are used as types of interfaces for vendor interfaces in the acquisitions module.
VENDOR_ISSUE_TYPEThese values are used as a type of issue with a vendor when adding an issue in the acquisitions module.
VENDOR_TYPEThese values are used to categorize vendors in the acquisitions module.
WITHDRAWNThese values are descriptions for withdrawn items. They appear when adding or editing an item.
This is normally mapped to items.withdrawn in the Koha database.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Withdrawn (1)
You can change those to suit your organization’s needs.
Warning
The authorized values for this category must be numerical.
This is a generic authorized value field that can be used anywhere you need a simple yes/no dropdown menu.
If you chose to install the default values for this category, you will have
Yes (1)
No (0)
Warning
In general, binary fields require a 1 or 0 value. If you change these values, make sure the field you intend to attach it to can take other values than 0 or 1.
In addition to the existing categories that come by default with Koha, librarians can add their own authorized value categories to control data that is entered into the system.
To add a new category:
Click ‘New category’
Fill out the form
Category: enter the category code for the new category. Limit your category code to 32 characters (something short to make it clear what the category is for).
Warning
A category code cannot contain spaces or special characters other than underscores and hyphens.
Restrict value to numbers only: check the box if the values in this category should be numerical only. This will prevent staff from creating authorized values that don’t comply to this rule.
Version
This option was added to Koha in version 24.05.
Click ‘Save’
Proceed to add a new authorized value to the category.
Adding new authorized valuesNew authorized values can be added to any existing or new category.
To add a value:
From the categories list, click the ‘Add’ button on the right of the category
Alternatively, click on the category name, and then click ‘New authorized value for …’
If the category has no values yet, click on the ‘Add a new authorized value’ button at the bottom of the page
Fill out the form
Authorized value: enter a code for your authorized value
Note
Authorized value is limited to 80 characters and cannot have spaces or special characters other than underscores and hyphens in it.
Some categories, such as SUGGEST_STATUS, may have stricter limits. Refer to the existing authorized values categories section above for specified limits.
Description: use this field for the actual value that will be displayed.
Description (OPAC): if you want a different description to show in the OPAC, enter it here. If this field is empty, the ‘Description’ will be used in both the staff interface and the OPAC.
Library limitations: if you would like to limit this authorized value to only specific libraries, you can choose them from this menu. To have it available to all libraries just choose ‘All libraries’ at the top of the list.
Choose an icon: you can choose an image that will appear next to the value in the staff interface and OPAC.
Note
This feature doesn’t work everywhere. It’s mostly for item locations (LOC) and collections (CCODE) in the advanced search.
Click ‘Save’
The new value will appear in the list along with existing values
To delete an authorized value, click on the ‘Delete’ button at the right of the authorized value.
Once there are no authorized values left in an authorized value category, you can delete the category.