Holds Configuration and Management

Holds are controlled by both environmental variables and policies. 

NGL's current hold policy is to only allow holds placed on items checked out. 

Library Policy - Circulation tab (General Configuration)

Hold Location

When a patron wants an item currently checked out to another user, the library may place a hold on the item. When the requested item is returned, it is routed to a named holds location to wait to be picked up by the requesting patron. The name of the holds location must be established in the Location policy. For each library, SirsiDynix Symphony must know the correct holds location name. Select a Hold Location from the list. Use the Location Policy helper (Location Wizard) to create new hold locations or modify existing locations, if needed.

Days for Holds to Expire

The Days for Holds to Expire attribute sets a default number of days for holds to expire (the number of days the system will attempt to fill a hold). Type a number of days. When a user places a hold, the hold expiration date by default will be the number of days from this attribute in the Library policy plus the current date. If the user sets a hold expiration date when placing the hold, it will override the default hold expiration value in the Library policy.

For example, the Days for Holds to Expire value is 365. If a user places a hold on 7/29/2005, the hold expiration date will be 7/29/2006.

Days for Avail Holds to Expire

This attribute calculates the hold pickup by date. It specifies the number of days a hold item can be on the library’s Holds shelf before the hold will expire. Type a number of days, or type NEVER. If NEVER is used, the item will remain on the Holds shelf until the hold expiration date, the default hold expiration date, or until it is manually removed by library staff.

When calculating the hold pickup date, the system will check to see if the hold pickup date falls on a day/date the library is closed. If so, the hold pickup by date will be moved to the next open day/date.

For example, Library A is configured to hold items on the hold shelf for ten days, and the library is closed Saturdays and Sundays. A hold becomes available for pickup at Library A on 12/04/2008. When the system calculates the hold Pickup By date, it will add 10 days to the date hold is available. As a result, the hold pickup by date falls on 12/14/2008 (Sunday) which is a day the library is closed. Since the date falls on a closed date, the system moves the hold pickup by date to next open date, which is 12/15/2008.

When the hold expires, the Expire Available Holds report will mark the hold as expired with an inactive hold reason of “Hold Expired While On Shelf” (EXP_ONSHLF).

Number of Available Items Required to Allow Renewal

When the Require Hold Block Override for Renewals field is disabled, this field specifies the set number of items, not counting the items used to satisfy any title level holds, that must be available before a renewal is allowed.

An item is considered to be available or “on shelf” if each of the following conditions are met:

When a user attempts to renew an item, the server checks for any unavailable holds on that item. If there are no copy level holds, the system checks for unavailable title level holds and ensures that, after checking for other items that could satisfy the holds, the set number of items are available before allowing renewal of the checked-out item. This field defaults to 0.

For example, if there are three items attached to a title, with one item checked out, one title level hold, and one copy level hold on the second item, the renewal of the charged item is allowed when the Number of Available Items Require to Allow Renewal field is set to 1. This is because the charged item cannot fill the copy-level hold for the second item, and after the title level hold is filled there is still one available item on the shelf, which satisfies the server’s requirements to allow the renewal when one item is available. However, if there were two title level holds, the two available items could fill those holds and no copies would be available to satisfy the requirement for renewal.

Hold Reason (Circulation Configuration)

When a hold is created in SirsiDynix Symphony, the hold status is set to ACTIVE. When a hold is cancelled, filled, or expired, the status is set to INACTIVE, which disables the hold from any circulation operations, but allows SirsiDynix Symphony to keep track of the hold and its condition before it was made inactive. Inactive holds do not appear in the workstation or the e-Library, but can be viewed through reports, particularly the Clean Holds Shelf and Expire Holds Onshelf reports, which generate lists of items that need to be cleared from the hold shelf because their holds have expired or no longer exist. The INACTIVE status is linked to a Hold Reason policy which defines what type of inactive reason it is. The following Hold Reason policies are delivered.

Hold Map (Circulation Configuration)

The Hold Map policy is used by the Demand Management feature of SirsiDynix Symphony. This policy is similar to the Circulation Map policy, but is used to control whether holds may be placed by users, instead of control how items are charged to users. This feature helps libraries manage the placement of holds across libraries by particular users for particular types of items. When a hold is placed, SirsiDynix Symphony finds a hold map line with the applicable Library/User Profile/Item Type combination. A Permission is assigned to each map and determines who may place holds for that item. A Priority is assigned to help determine where the user placing the hold is in the hold queue.

Hold Placement Fee (Circulation Configuration) - NOT USED

The Hold Placement Fee policy is used to control charging fees for holds placed by users or staff, A “hold placement fee” is a fee charged for processing a hold, regardless or whether the hold is filled.