Item types & locs for category A-D

Your library can restrict the number of items a patron is allowed to check out from one of four library-defined categories.

Each category consists of a list of item types and a list of locations.

An item is counted as being in a category if either its item type or its location appears in the lists for that category.

One Category per Item

Because of the way in which the system determines the category for an item, each item should belong to no more than one of the four categories (A, B, C, or D). To ensure that an item falls into only one category (if any):

The four category definitions should not overlap (that is, a particular item type or location should only appear in the definition for one of the categories).
For a given item, the item's type and location should not appear in two different category definitions.

When a patron checks out an item whose type or location appears in one of the category lists, the system determines whether the patron has exceeded the limit of checkouts allowed for that category. The maximum number of checkouts available can be set for each patron type, in each of the four categories, using the Patron Blocks table.

When you select one of the Item types & locs for category options, the system displays the current values for the category and a menu of options:

Item types & locs for category A

Current Values:
ITEM TYPES: 6-8,10,12-15
 OR
LOCATIONS: ref,index

___________________________________________________________________________
 I > Key new ITEM Types                  P > PRINT this screen
 L > Key new LOCATIONS                   R > RETURN to Circulation menu
 Choose one (I,L,P,R)

Entering Lists of Item Types

To enter a new list of item types, choose

I > Key new ITEM Types

The system displays a blank line on which to enter a new list of item types.

Rules for entering item types are:

You can enter any numeric value between 0 (zero) and 255.
Each value must be separated by a comma or a hyphen (e.g., "8,12-15").
The system does not accept spaces in the entry.
You can enter values an any order; entries do not need to be in ascending order.
The system does not accept duplicate numbers, i.e., values that have already been entered in the current list.

Entries Are Not Verified

The system does not verify that the item type is defined, and does not warn you if the item type already appears in the definition for another category.

Press the <RETURN> key when the list is complete. To enter no item types (e.g., to create a category that consists solely of locations), press <RETURN> when the entry line is blank.

Entering and Deleting Locations

To enter or delete locations belonging to the category, choose

L > Key New Locations

. The system displays the current list of locations:

LOCATIONS FOR ITEM DEFINITIONS
LOCATIONS:
1 > ref
2 > index

___________________________________________________________________________
 E > ENTER new locations                  P > PRINT
 D > DELETE locations                     R > RETURN to previous menu
 Choose one (E,D,P,R)

E > ENTER new locations

Choose this option to add locations to the category. The system prompts you to enter a location code:

Enter New Locations (or <RETURN> to quit):

003 > ____

At this prompt, enter a location code (up to five characters) from the Branches table. If you enter an invalid location code, the system displays a list of the valid location codes. Press <RETURN> to save your entered location to the list; the system then prompts you to add another location. When you are finished entering locations, press <RETURN> at a blank prompt.

The "wild card" symbol (*) can be used in place of the final characters of a code; in this case all locations beginning with the entered characters will be included in the list. For example, if your library wishes to limit the number of items a patron can borrow from the West branch, all of the West branch's location codes begin with 'w', and no other location codes in the system begin with 'w', you can enter w* in the locations list.

Entries Are Not Verified

The system does not warn you if a location already appears in the definition for another category.

Do Not Enter "none"

If you want to clear the restrictions for a location field, do not enter "none" at the ENTER new locations prompt. Instead, use the DELETE locations option to remove the location from the list associated with the category.

D > DELETE locations

Choose this option to remove a location (or multiple locations) from the category. The system prompts you as follows:

Delete which location(s)? ( Hit <RETURN> when finished )

Example: 3 or 1,7,3 or 2-5 or 1,4,7-10 Range: 1-3

Enter the line number(s) of the location(s) to remove. You can enter a single number or a list of numbers separated by commas or hyphens, as illustrated in the prompt's example.

Character Max per Category

For each category, the maximum number of characters (including commas and hyphens) that can be entered into both the item type and location lists (taken together) is 1024.