Loan Policies (The Matrix)

The Loan Policy is the heart of the Circulation module. It defines the rules for every possible interaction between a user (patron) and an item (material).

A properly configured policy automates the lending process, ensuring consistency (e.g., stopping a student from borrowing a reference book) without manual intervention by the staff.

Access: Circulation > Parameters > Loan Objects / Users / Items

1. Defining Types (Categories)

Before setting rules, you must categorize your actors. ABCD uses codes to identify these groups.

User Types

Define categories of borrowers based on their privileges.

• Go to: Define user's types.
• Examples:
  • ST: Undergraduate Student
  • PG: Postgraduate
  • FC: Faculty/Teacher
  • EX: External User

Item Types

Define categories of materials based on how they circulate.

• Go to: Define item's types.
• Examples:
  • LIV: General Collection Book
  • REF: Reference (Not for loan)
  • SER: Serial/Periodical
  • DVD: Multimedia

Linking to Catalog

These Item Type codes must match the values stored in your bibliographic records (usually in Field 920 or specific holding fields defined in your database structure).

2. The Configuration Matrix

Once types are defined, you link them in the Policy Matrix. This allows for granular control.

Go to: Configure local/Policies.

You will see a grid where you can set the following parameters for each pair (User Type + Item Type):

Parameter	Description
Limit	Maximum number of items of this specific type the user can hold at once.
Loan Period	How long the loan lasts. Can be defined in Days or Hours.
Renewals	Maximum number of times the user can renew the loan.
Reservations	Allowed number of pending holds for this item type.
Grace Period	Number of extra days/hours after the due date before fines start accumulating.
Fine per Day	Monetary penalty charged for each unit of delay.
Suspension	Number of days the user is blocked from borrowing if they return this item late.

Practical Example

You can configure a rule stating that:

• A Faculty (FC) member borrowing a General Book (LIV) gets 30 days and 3 renewals.
• An Undergraduate (ST) borrowing the same book gets only 14 days and 1 renewal.

General Limits

In addition to specific limits (e.g., "Max 3 DVDs"), you can set a Global Limit per user type.

• Example: A Student can borrow 3 Books and 2 DVDs, but the Total Items cannot exceed 4.