Circulation policies pull together user, library, and item data to determine how library materials circulate, such as: which patrons, from what libraries can borrow what types of materials, for how long, and with what overdue fines.

Individual elements of the circulation policies are configured using specific interfaces, and should be configured prior to setting up the circulation policies.

Data elements that affect your circulation policies

There are a few data elements which must be considered when setting up your circulation policies.

Copy data

Several fields set via the copy editor are commonly used to affect the circulation of an item.

• Circulation modifier - Circulation modifiers are fields used to control circulation policies on specific groups of items. They can be added to copies during the cataloging process. New circulation modifiers can be created in the staff client by navigating to Administration → Server Administration → Circulation Modifiers.
• Circulate? flag - The circulate? flag in the copy editor can be set to False to disallow an item from circulating.
• Reference? flag - The reference? flag in the copy editor can also be used as a data element in circulation policies.

Copy location data

• To get to the Copy Locations Editor, navigate to Administration → Local Administration → Copy Locations Editor.
• Set OPAC Visible to "No" to hide all copies in a copy location from the public catalog. (You can also hide individual copies using the Copy Editor.)
• Set Hold Verify to "Yes" if when a copy checks in you want to always ask for staff confirmation before capturing a hold.
• Set Checkin Alert to "Yes" to allow routing alerts to display when copies are checked in.
• Set Holdable to "No" to prevent copies in an entire copy location from being placed on hold.
• Set Circulate to "No" to disallow circulating copies in an entire copy location.
• If you delete a copy location, it will be removed from display in the staff client and the catalog, but it will remain in the database. This allows you to treat a copy location as deleted without losing statistical information for circulations related to that copy location.

• Copy locations can also be used as a data element in circulation policies.

User data

Finally, several characteristics of specific patrons can affect circulation policies. You can modify these characteristics in a patron’s record (Search → Search for Patrons, select a patron, choose Edit tab) or when registering a new patron (Circulation → Register Patron).

• The user permission group is also commonly used as a data element in circulation policies.
• Other user data that can be used for circulation policies include the juvenile flag in the user record.