While automatically testing item creation, we added randomized alphanumeric values to NOT_LOAN. When we attempted to add NOT_LOAN statuses to items, we found that Koha did one of two things: 1) allowed us to set the status in the interface, but failed silently 2) allowed us to set the status, but added only part of the value REPLICATION: Type one: 1) create a new authorized value for category NOT_LOAN 2) add a value (value: "abc1de", description: "new1", OPAC description: "New 1") 3) create new item 4) set Not for loan to "New 1" Result: Item's "Not for loan" status is "" Type two: 1) create a new authorized value for category NOT_LOAN 2) add a value (value: "12abce", description: "new2", OPAC description: "New 2") 3) create new item 4) set Not for loan to "New 2" Result: Item's "Not for loan" status is 12 We notice that the documentation clearly states that the values of NOT_LOAN must not be alphabetical http://manual.koha-community.org/3.18/en/basicparams.html#notforloan however, we would argue that the ability to set values opens for an expectation that they should be usable. In terms of a fix, it is possible to add a validation pattern to the authorized value at creation time; which is then stored in the table with the value and can be used to validate entry via the jQuery validation plugin and a html5 data-field.