Defining the settings in the borrower restriction group allows you to set the default loan period allowance and reservation limit for borrowers within that specific group. These restrictions can be further tailored using additional Resource Type Restrictions.
The Resource Type Restriction rules take effect when a resource meets a certain criteria. For example, borrowers of a group may be able to borrow for 125 days (as defined in the borrower restriction group) but a longer loan period is required for textbooks, you can do this by creating a rule.
You can set the maximum amount of resources any borrower can have at any one time, but then also set limits on the types of resource that make up that total. As an example, you may set the maximum loan allowance to 5. You can then set input rules that mean out of this total 5, they can only have 3 General fiction books, 1 Film, and 1 Graphic Novel.
Load your library system and open the Management page.
Select 'Settings' on the menu bar at the top of the page and then select 'Restrictions'.
When the restrictions settings has loaded, select the 'Borrowers' tab.
Single click on a listed restriction and press 'select'.
Click 'Add'.
Use the 'Resource Type'. 'Criteria' and 'Location' boxes to define the parameters of the resources this restriction is to apply to. For example, to restrict only text books, choose 'Text Book' from the 'Resource Type' menu and leave the others blank. However, if you wish to restrict text books within a certain location, you would also select the location from the 'Location' menu.
Any rules you apply here will take precedence over the default borrower restrictions set for that group. For example, the borrower loan period is set as 125 days and the rule has a loan period of 360 days for textbooks. When a text book is issued to a borrower belonging to this restriction group, the loan period will be 360 days. If a normal book is issued (where there is no rule configured) the loan period will be 125 days.
Please Note, even when configuring a restriction rule, the settings are still compared against the resource restrictions and the lower value is taken. You may need to alter your resource restrictions to allow these rules to take effect.