How to set a bibliographic level item type
This document will outline how to set Koha to use bibliographic level item types rather than item level items types for circulation. It is possible to provide item level items types on individual item records while at the same time use an overall item type recorded at the bibliographic record level, which is what will be used by the fine and circulation rules to determine what item can be checked out by which patron and for how long.
For more information about item types, please check our Help Centre.
How to set the system preference
Go to Koha administration > Global System Preferences and search for item-level-itypes.
This will bring up several system preferences containing the same phrase. The system preference for this specific function is called item-level-itypes exactly.
To set this so that a master item type is defined at the bibliographic level, set this system preference to Use the item type of the bibliographic record as the authoritative item type (for determining circulation and fines rules, for displaying an item type icon on either opac detail or results page, etc) and click Save all Cataloging preferences.
After the change to the system preference, the item type column will be hidden from the holdings table on the bibliographic record.
Before editing the system preference:
After editing the system preference:
It will still be possible to view the item types on the individual item records when editing the items.
Even if individual items have item types on them, the fine and circulation rules will only take account of the item type at the bibliographic level.
Setting the bibliographic item type
To view or set the bibliographic level item type, go into edit the bibliographic record and locate the 942$c subfield.
Where the subfield will appear on the workform will depend on how the individual framework is set up, however, a rule of thumb is to check under the numbered tab that matches the first number of the field being looked for. In this case, that would be tab 9 for 942.
For more information on frameworks please check our Help Centre.
If the 942$c field is not appearing on the record to be edited, please contact Interleaf Technology directly.
The 942$c field should contain a dropdown menu of the different item types set up on your site.
If this is not appearing and the field is a blank box where item types can be typed in, please contact Interleaf Technology.
Any item records created for the bibliographic record will have a default item type the same as the content in the 942$c field in the bibliographic record.
| Version | Date | Detail | Author |
| 1.0 | 07/03/22 | Doc. Created | Holly Cooper |
| 1.2 | 15/03/22 | Doc. Created | Holly Cooper |
| 1.3 | 08/07/26 | Updating for newer version of Koha | Holly Cooper |
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