Koha Question of the Week: How Do I Prevent Certain Items from Renewing?

by Hebah Amin-Headley on Jun 23, 2023

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 Prevent Certain Items from Renewing?

Answer: Libraries may categorically want to prevent certain items from renewing, particularly with automatic renewal in play. The ItemsDeniedRenewal system preference can solve this dilemma, particularly for libraries that leave long overdue lost, claims returns, or damaged items on patron accounts until paid for or otherwise resolved. The preference allows a library to block renewals of items based on values in the items data, including item types, collections, shelving locations, or statuses. Here's one sample configuration:

In this example site, damaged items, not for loan checkouts that might have been overridden and allowed, as well as long overdue lost and claims returned items.

For libraries that often override renewal limits, ItemsDeniedRenewal does currently block all renewals on affected items, meaning even staff with override_renewals or superlibrarian permissions cannot override a renewal denied due to settings in the ItemsDeniedRenewal preference.

Additional Resources

For a demonstration: Monday Minutes: Denying renewal of items