Currently the system preference MaxReserves sets an overall limit for reserves across all item types for all borrower categories. It would be helpful to allow this limit to differ based on category code. Be aware that there is already a bug asking for a the ability to differ MaxReserves by branch (https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=7030)
Hi Andrew, there is already a seeting in the circulation matrix for this too - Holds allowed (count). Would this cover your use case?
Hi Katrin! I should have spelled out the use case a bit more, as I don't believe it can be accomplished with the existing syspref and circ matrix. The library wants: Patron Category A can place holds on: Up to 20 books Up to 20 dvds Up to 20 cds But not more than 20 items total across all three item types Patron Category B can place holds on: Up to 100 items total across all item types with no specific limits per item type So we set the circ matrix as: Patron A, Book, 20 holds Patron A, DVD, 20 holds Patron A, CD, 20 holds Patron B, All item types, 100 holds With that circ matrix setup, if we set MaxReserves to 20 then patron category A works as desired but category B is limited to 20 holds. If we set MaxReserves to 100, then category B works as desired but category A can have up to 60 holds total (20 of each item type).
We have a patron category called LIBRARYUSE that we use for programming and problems. Here's a case where we have run into the MaxReserves problem that Andrew has described. In trying to gather previously "fast-add" items so that they can get fully cataloged, I can't put more than 20 of them on hold for our Technical Services LIBRARYUSE account, even though the circ matrix has a limit of 999 holds for LIBRARYUSE patrons across item types. The same thing has the potential to be an issue for the LIBRARYUSE account we use to manage hotspots that have been deactivated or damaged so that we can corral them.
Hi Andrew and Martha, thx for explaining!
Although the number of holds can be set in the circulation rules, this is based on a combination of patron category / item type. One of our customers would like to limit the overall number of holds a specific patron category can place to be 6 but the holds allowed in the circ rules means that they can reserve 6 books and 6 DVDs for example. I definitely would like to see this enhancement as it would be used widely I believe in the public libraries especially. Could be achieved by enhancing the maxreserves system preference but an alternative option would be to add an extra circulation policy - e.g. Default hold limit by patron category (similar to the Default loan limit by patron category that currently exists).
Hi all! It looks like this bug should have been marked as a dupe of bug 15524, which was pushed to and released in 18.11. http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=15524 So, good news, we have this functionality now!
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 15524 ***