Koha Question of the Week: How Do I Add a Shelving Location?

by Hebah Amin-Headley on Jan 19, 2024

Each Friday, we will bring you a new Koha Question of the Week. We will select real questions that we receive and share the answers with you!

Question: How Do I Add a Shelving Location?

Answer: Administrative librarians with full permissions or at least the manage_auth_values permission can create new shelving locations in Administration -> Authorized values. Authorized values populate most of the areas in Koha where an option is selected from a drop-down. The authorized value category for shelving location is LOC.

From that authorized value category, a new value can be added.

The code is typically brief, often descriptive, and should not have any hyphens in it. The only place staff might interact with a code is in reports. Partner libraries also using Aspen Discovery should ensure that the code is distinct from item type and collection codes. (Descriptions can be the same, but the code should be distinct.)

Description is what will show in the staff client. If nothing appears in the Description (OPAC) field, that same value will appear in the OPAC; otherwise, if a library wants to display something else to patrons, they can add a different public-facing description.

The ability to limit a shelving location can be useful for multi-branch systems and consortia, so if only one branch will be cataloging items in that shelving location, it will only appear to staff logged in at that location while they are cataloging.

In this example, only East Branch and Main Library will have a new books display, so it will only be available for those branches, and it will show a different description in the OPAC.

All shelving locations will still appear as options to narrow results in searching, advanced searching, and item searches.

Once the new authorized value for the shelving location is created, items can be added to it via batch item modification from with the staff client, typically up to 1000 items at a time.

Additional Resources

Monday Minutes: Batch Item Modifications