Processing Holds
There are three steps for processing holds:
- 1. Print the pull list of holds requests for available items owned by the local branch and retrieve the matching items.
- 2. Capture the holds, which will automatically generate either a Hold or an In transit slip.
- 3. Place the items on the local hold shelf or in delivery for other branches.
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Pull list
The pull list is a list of holds requests for available items owned by the local branch. If your library has multiple branches, the item will only show up on one branch library’s pull list. The list contains only those items at that branch that are available on the shelves.
To retrieve the list, click on the Circulation menu and select Pull List for Hold Requests.
A list of items that need to be pulled from the shelves will display on the screen.
Each column contains data about the hold. Click on the column picker on the far right of the column headings to add or remove headings to choose what data you want to view.
These columns may be ordered either alphabetically or numerically by clicking on the heading for each column. You can sort by the Call Number column to make it easier to find the items to be pulled.
At the top there is a Fetch More Holds button which, if clicked, would generate more items for the list if holds were placed from the time the list was first opened.
If you click on a hold and click on Actions for Selected Holds, a list of actions that can be taken against that hold will be listed.
They include:
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Right clicking on a hold will pull up the same options.
There are two options to for how you want the list to be displayed for printing. Print Full Pull List
If you click on Print Full Pull List (Alternate strategy) a new tab will open with the list displayed in a different format. To print this list, click on the Print button in the upper right.
The list should contain only items that are on the shelf and available at that branch. Much of the time, all items on the list are found and pulled. However, sometimes the items are not on the shelf for whatever reason – missing, misshelved, etc. All the available items need to be pulled from the shelf.
It is always best to try to pull the title with the matching item barcode.
When a matching item for a hold is not found, but an additional copy that matches the title/format from the same bibliographic record is pulled to satisfy the hold instead, that item can be processed to capture the hold.
Capturing holds and in-transit
Capture holds by clicking to the Circulation menu and select Capture Holds.
The Check In or Process Item screen displays with a green shaded heading.
Scan in the barcodes of the available ("pulled”) items.
When each hold is captured, a printout is generated, either a slip for that library’s hold shelf or an In transit slip to ship to another branch and be placed on that library’s hold shelf. Both types of slips may have all the following items. Some libraries elect to omit the name of the patron.
- Barcode
- Title
- Name of patron who placed the hold
- Phone number of patron
- Email address for patron
- Request date
- Slip date
- Destination (for in transit slips only)
- Author (for local hold slips only)
The slips are printed as the item is captured for the hold and can be and placed in the item. If no slip is generated, you will need to check to see what the problem is – e.g., the wrong title was pulled or maybe the hold was for a different bib record and the item is not recognized.
The item status will automatically changes from “Available” to “On holds shelf” if the pickup is local or “In transit” if it is to be sent to another branch.
If the item is sent to another branch, staff at that branch will use the Check In or Process Item screen from the Circulation menu to check in those items. That will change the “In transit” status to “On holds shelf” status and will generate a hold shelf slip that the branch staff can print out and put in the item before placing on the holds shelf.
If a patron places a hold for a title of which all copies are checked out, the following happens:
- 1. The hold is added to a queue for the first copy that is checked in. As soon as a copy is checked in, a slip is generated for “On hold” for the local branch or “In transit" for another branch.
- 2. When “In transit” items are received by another branch library, the staff must check in each item to change the status of “In transit” to “On holds shelf”. To check in, click on the Circulation menu and select Check In Items. The Check In / Process Items screen will display. Scan in the barcode of each item to check it in. Upon check in for each item, a holds slip is generated that says: “This item needs to be routed to HOLDS SHELF” if the item is on hold.
- 3. If there are additional holds and there are multiple copies, at least one of which is available, the first copy that is checked in is captured for a hold and placed on the local holds shelf or put in transit to another branch. The other copies will go to reshelving when they are checked if no other holds have been placed on the title.
- 4. If there are additional holds and there are no copies available, the next copy that is checked in is also captured for a hold and goes to the holds shelf or is put in transit for branch holds shelf.
- 5. The patron arrives and checks out the item. If the patron does not check out the item within a certain time period, the items are removed from the holds shelf and the holds are captured once more.
Browse holds shelf
To view the hold shelf, click on the Circulation menu and select Browse Holds Shelf. This gives a view of the holds shelf - a list of all holds ready for pickup.
The screen will display pertinent hold information for each hold in columns. Click on the column picker on the far right of the column headings to add or remove specific column headings you want to view.
Many actions can also be taken against the holds on the hold shelf. The options in the Actions for Selected Holds menu are:
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To perform an action against a hold, click on a hold to select it, click on Actions for Selected Holds and select the action to be taken.
Clearing shelf-expired holds
Click on the Circulation menu and select Browse Holds Shelf. This gives a view of the holds shelf - a list of all holds ready for pickup.
The screen will display pertinent hold information for each hold in columns. Click on the column picker on the far right of the column headings to add or remove specific column headings you want to view.
To view only shelf-expired holds, check the box next to View Shelf-Expired Holds. To purge them from the holds shelf, click on Clear these Holds.
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