Policies

This article explains Lyra’s policy model. Circulation policy settings lists the settings themselves; Managing policies covers editing them.

The three layers

Lyra resolves loan and hold rules in three layers, evaluated in this order:

Library defaults. Every library has a default loan period, pickup window, loan limit, hold limit, and renewal limit. The loan period is counted in either school days or calendar days (a per-library choice — see School days vs. calendar days); the pickup window is always in school days.
Patron override (optional). A patron-level override replaces the library defaults for that patron. Which one applies depends on the patron:
- Faculty patrons use the faculty override — one set of limits shared by every faculty patron. Configured in the card: Faculty Overrides card of Library level navigation path: Configure then Policies.
- Student patrons use the grade-level override defined for their grade, if any. Configured in the card: Grade-Level Overrides card of Library level navigation path: Configure then Policies.
A patron is either faculty or a student, so at most one override applies. Every field in an override is optional and inherits the library default when left unset.
Item policy (optional). An item can carry one item policy. Unlike the first two layers, it never sets a base value — it only caps the resolved loan period, pickup window, and renewal limit, and can exempt the item from the patron’s loan limit. Configured in the card: Item Policies card of Library level navigation path: Configure then Policies.

Lyra starts from the library default, replaces values that the patron’s override sets — the faculty override for faculty, the grade-level override for students — and then applies any item-policy caps on top.

What an item policy can do

An item policy is the third layer, and it behaves differently from the first two. The library default and the patron override each set base values — numbers that become the loan period, pickup window, renewal limit, loan limit and hold limit. An item policy never sets a base value. It only does two kinds of things, shown as two groups in the item-policy form:

Caps (the “Limits” group)

Three optional ceilings on the resolved values:

Field	Effect
setting: Loan period	Lowers the resolved loan period when the policy’s value is stricter.
setting: Pickup window	Lowers the resolved hold pickup period when stricter.
setting: Renewal limit	Lowers how many times the item can be renewed.

Each cap defaults to Unlimited — no item-side limit. Set it to a number to cap the resolved value, or to 0 for the strictest setting: a 0-day loan period means same-day return, 0 renewals means the item can’t be renewed, and a 0-day pickup window means same-day pickup. With a 0-day pickup window, once a copy is set aside the patron has only that day to collect it before the hold expires — it does not stop holds from being placed.

A cap can only tighten, never loosen. If the resolved loan period — from the library default or a patron override — is 10 days and the item policy caps it at 7, the loan is 7 days. If the policy caps it at 30, the loan is still 10: the cap moved, but the base value didn’t.

The loan-period cap shares the library’s unit — school days or calendar days — and the form labels it accordingly. The hold-period cap is always in school days.

Patron loan-limit exemption (the “Patron policy overrides” group)

Field	Effect
setting: Ignore loan limit	Items with this policy don’t count against the patron’s loan limit, and a patron already at their limit can still check them out.

This is a toggle, not a cap — and it’s the item policy’s only effect on concurrency. There is no item-side loan limit or hold limit; those limits live only at the library-default and patron-override layers.

Examples

A 1st-grade student checks out a Reference book

Setup:

Library defaults: 14-day loan, 5 concurrent loans, 2 renewals.
Grade-level override for grades K–2: 7-day loan, 2 concurrent loans, 0 renewals.
Item policy on the Reference item: setting: Loan period capped at 1 day.

Resolution:

Loan period starts at 14 (library default), replaced by 7 (K–2 grade-level override), capped at 1 (Reference item policy). Effective loan period: 1 day.
Concurrent loan limit starts at 5, replaced by 2. Effective: 2 at a time.
Renewals start at 2, replaced by 0. Effective: no renewals.

A teacher checks out a regular book

Setup:

Library defaults: 14-day loan, 10 concurrent loans, 2 renewals.
Faculty override: loan period set to 28 days; every other field left unset.
No item policy on the book.

Resolution:

Loan period starts at 14 (library default), replaced by 28 (faculty override). Effective: 28-day loan.
Concurrent loans: the faculty override leaves it unset, so the default stands. Effective: 10 at a time.
Renewals: unset in the override → library default. Effective: 2 renewals.

Faculty never use the grade-level layer — that one is for students. With no faculty override set at all, the teacher would simply get the library defaults across the board.

A teacher checks out a piece of AV equipment

Setup:

Library defaults: 14-day loan, 10 concurrent loans.
Item policy on the projector: setting: Loan period capped at 3 days, with setting: Ignore loan limit turned on.

Resolution:

Loan period starts at 14, capped at 3. Effective: 3-day loan.
setting: Ignore loan limit is on, so the projector doesn’t count against the teacher’s 10-loan limit — and the teacher could take it even if already at the limit.

Grade restrictions on items

In addition to the loan-rule resolution, items can carry a grade restriction (a minimum and maximum grade). A student outside the range cannot check the item out and cannot place a hold on it, regardless of what the policies resolve to.

This is enforcement, not advisory. The OPAC won’t surface a Hold button. The staff app will block the checkout with a clear message.

A library manager can override a grade restriction at the circulation desk.