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Managing Holds

Holds can be cancelled at any time by staff or patrons. Before holds are captured, staff or patrons can suspend them or set them as inactive for a period of time without losing the hold queue position, activate suspended holds, change notification method, phone number, pick-up location (for multi-branch libraries only), expiration date, activation date for inactive holds, etc. Once a hold is captured, staff can change the pickup location and extend the hold shelf time if required.

Staff can edit holds in either patron’s records or the title records. Patrons can edit their holds in their account on the OPAC.

Tip

If you use the column picker to change the holds display from one area of the staff client (e.g. the patron record), it will change the display for all parts of the staff client that deal with holds, including the title record holds display, the holds shelf display, and the pull list display.

Actions for Selected Holds

  1. Retrieve the patron record and go to the Holds screen.

  2. Highlight the hold record, then select Actions for Selected Holds.

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  3. Manage the hold by choosing an action on the list.

    1. If you want to cancel the hold, click Cancel Hold from the menu. You are prompted to select a reason and put in a note if required. To finish, click Apply.

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      Note

      A captured hold with a status of On Hold Shelf can be cancelled by either staff or patrons. But the status of the item will not change until staff check it in.

    2. If you want to suspend a hold or activate a suspended hold, click the appropriate action on the list. You will be prompted to confirm your action. Suspended holds have a No value in the Active? column.

      Note

      Suspended holds will not be filled but its hold position will be kept. They will automatically become active on the activation date if there is an activation date in the record. Without an activation date, the holds will remain inactive until staff or a patron activates them manually.

    3. You may edit the Activation Date and Expiration Date by using the corresponding action on the Action for Selected Holds dropdown menu. You will be prompted to enter the new date. Use the calendar widget to choose a date, then click Apply. Use the Remove button to unset the date.

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    4. Hold shelf expire time is automatically recorded in the hold record when a hold is filled. You may edit this time by using the Edit Shelf Expire Time on the Action for Selected Holds dropdown menu. You will be prompted to enter the new date. Use the calendar widget to choose a date, then click Apply.

    5. If you want to enable or disable phone notification or change the phone number, click Edit Phone Notification. You will be prompted to enter the new phone number. Make sure you enter a valid and complete phone number. The phone number is used for this hold only and can be different from the one in the patron account. It has no impact on the patron account. If you leave it blank, no phone number will be printed on the hold slip.

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    6. If you want to enable or disable email notification for the hold, click Set Email Notification. Click Email or No Email on the prompt screen.

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    7. Pickup location can be changed by clicking Edit Pickup Library. Click the dropdown list of all libraries and choose the new pickup location. Click Done.

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      Note

      Staff can change the pickup location for holds with in-transit status. Item will be sent in transit to the new destination. Staff cannot change the pickup location once an item is on the holds shelf.

    8. The item’s physical condition is recorded in the copy record as Good or Mediocre in the Quality field. You may request that your holds be filled with copies of good quality only. Click Set Desired Copy Quality on the Actions for Selected Holds list. Make your choice in the pop-up window.

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Transferring Holds

  1. Holds on one title can be transferred to another with the hold request time preserved. To do so, you need to find the destination title and click Actions for this Record → Mark as Title Hold Transfer Destination.

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  2. Select the hold you want to transfer. Click Actions for Selected Holds → Transfer to Marked Title.

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Cancelled Holds

  1. Cancelled holds can be displayed. Click the Show Cancelled Holds button on the Holds screen.

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  2. You can un-cancel holds.

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    Based on your library’s setting, hold request time can be reset when a hold is un-cancelled.

Viewing Details & Adding Notes to Holds

  1. You can view details of a hold by selecting a hold then clicking the Detail View button on the Holds screen.

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  2. You may add a note to a hold in the Detail View.

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  3. Notes can be printed on the hold slip if the Print on slip? checkbox is selected. Key in the message then click Add Note.

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Displaying Queue Position

Using the Column Picker, you can display Queue Position and Total number of Holds.

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Managing Holds in Title Records

  1. Retrieve and display the title record in the catalog.

  2. Click Actions for this Record → View Holds.

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  3. All holds on this title to be picked up at your library are displayed. Use the Filter checkbox and Pickup Library to view holds to be picked up at other libraries.

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  4. Highlight the hold you want to edit. Choose an action from the Actions for Selected Holds menu. For more information see the Actions for Selected Holds section.

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  5. You can retrieve the hold requestor’s account by selecting Retrieve Patron on the above dropdown menu.

Retargeting Holds

Holds need to be retargeted whenever a new item is added to a record, or after some types of item status changes, for instance when an item is changed from On Order to In Process. The system does not automatically recognize the newly added items as available to fill holds.

  1. View the holds for the item.
  2. Highlight all the holds for the record, which have a status of Waiting for Copy. If there are a lot of holds, it may be helpful to sort the holds by Status.
  3. Click on the head of the status column.
  4. Under Actions for Selected Holds (Alt+S), select Find Another Target (Alt+T)
  5. A window will open asking if you are sure you would like to reset the holds for these items.
  6. Click Yes (Alt+Y). Nothing may appear to happen, or if you are retargeting a lot of holds at once, your screen may go blank or seem to freeze for a moment while the holds are retargeted.
  7. When the screen refreshes, the holds will be retargeted. The system will now recognize the new items as available for holds.

Pulling & Capturing Holds

Holds Pull List

There are usually four statuses a hold may have: Waiting for Copy, Waiting for Capture, In Transit and Ready for Pickup.

  1. Waiting-for-copy: all holdable copies are checked out or not available.
  2. Waiting-for-capture: an available copy is assigned to the hold. The item shows up on the Holds Pull List waiting for staff to search the shelf and capture the hold.
  3. In Transit: holds are captured at a non-pickup branch and on the way to the pick-up location.
  4. Ready-for-pick-up: holds are captured and items are on the Hold Shelf waiting for patrons to pick up. Besides capturing holds when checking in items, Evergreen matches holds with available items in your library at regular intervals. Once a matching copy is found, the item’s barcode number is assigned to the hold and the item is put on the Holds Pull List. Staff can print the Holds Pull List and search for the items on shelves.

  5. To retrieve your Holds Pull List, select Circulation → Pull List for Hold Requests.

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  6. The Holds Pull List is displayed. You may re-sort it by clicking the column labels, e.g. Title. You can also add fields to the display by using the column picker.

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    Note

    Column adjustments will only affect the screen display and the CSV download for the holds pull list. It will not affect the printable holds pull list.

  7. The maximum number of holds initially displayed on the pull list is about 100. Use Fetch More Holds to retrieve more records. You may have to click Reload for those records to appear in the display.

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  8. The following options are available for printing the pull list:

    • Print Full Pull List prints Title, Author, Shelving Location, Call Number and Item Barcode. This method uses less paper than the alternate strategy.
    • Print Full Pull List (Alternate Strategy) prints the same fields as the above option but also includes a patron barcode. This list will also first sort by copy location, as ordered under Admin → Local Administration → Copy Location Order.

    • Save List CSV to File – This option is available from the List Actions button and saves all fields in the screen display to a CSV file. This file can then be opened in Excel or another spreadsheet program. This option provides more flexibility in identifying fields that should be printed.

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      With the CSV option, if you are including barcodes in the holds pull list, you will need to take the following steps to make the barcode display properly: in Excel, select the entire barcode column, right-click and select Format Cells, click Number as the category and then reduce the number of decimal places to 0.

  9. You may perform hold management tasks by using the Actions for Selected Holds dropdown list.

The Holds Pull List is updated constantly. Once an item on the list is no longer available or a hold on the list is captured, the items will disappear from the list. The Holds Pull List should be printed at least once a day.

Capturing Holds

Holds can be captured when a checked-out item is returned (checked in) or an item on the Holds Pull List is retrieved and captured. When a hold is captured, the hold slip will be printed and if the patron has chosen to be notified by email, the email notification will be sent out. The item should be put on the hold shelf.

  1. To capture a hold, select Circulation → Capture Holds; click Check In → Capture Holds on the circulation toolbar; or hit Shift-F2.

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  2. Scan or type barcode and click Submit.

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  3. The following hold slip is automatically printed. (This slip will not display on the Capture Holds screen, but will display on a Check In screen not set to automatically print slips.)

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  4. If the item should be sent to another location, a hold transit slip will be printed. (This slip will not display on the Capture Holds screen, but may display on a Check In screen that is not set to automatically print slips.)

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    Tip

    If a patron has an OPAC/Staff Client Holds Alias in his/her account, it will be used on the hold slip instead of the patron’s name. Holds can also be captured on the Circulation → Check In Items screen where you have more control over automatic slip printing.

Handling Missing and Damaged Item

If an item on the holds pull list is missing or damaged, you can change its status directly from the holds pull list.

  1. From the Holds Pull List, right-click on the item and either select Mark Item Missing or Mark Item Damaged.

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  2. Evergreen will update the status of the item and will immediately retarget the hold.

Holds Notification Methods

  1. In Evergreen, patrons can set up their default holds notification method in the Account Preferences area of My Account. Staff cannot set these preferences for patrons; the patrons must do it when they are logged into the public catalog.

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    The “Default Phone Number” option is the default for those users who have not yet set a preference.

  2. Patrons with a default notification preference for phone will see their phone number at the time they place a hold. The checkboxes for email and phone notification will also automatically be checked.

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  3. The patron can remove these checkmarks at the time they place the hold or they can enter a different phone number if they prefer to be contacted at a different number. The patron cannot change their e-mail address at this time.

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  4. When the hold becomes available, the holds slip will display the patron’s e-mail address only if the patron selected the Notify by Email by default when a hold is ready for pickup? checkbox. It will display a phone number only if the patron selected the Notify by Phone by default when a hold is ready for pickup? checkbox.

Note

If the patron changes their contact telephone number when placing the hold, this phone number will display on the holds slip. It will not necessarily be the same phone number contained in the patron’s record.

Clearing Shelf-Expired Holds

  1. Items with Ready-for-Pickup status are on the Holds Shelf List. The Holds Shelf List can help you manage items on the holds shelf. To see the holds shelf list, select Circulation → Browse Holds Shelf.

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  2. The Holds Shelf List is displayed. Note the Actions for Selected Holds are available, as in the patron record.

    You can cancel stale holds here.

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  3. Use the column picker to add and remove fields from this display. Two fields you may want to display are Shelf Expire Time and Shelf Time.

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  4. Check the View Clearable Holds checkbox to list expired holds, wrong-shelf holds and canceled holds only. Expired holds are holds that expired before today’s date.
  5. Click the Print button if you need a printed list. To format the printout customize the Holds_shelf receipt template. This can be done in Admin → Workstation Administration → Receipt Template Editor.

  6. The Clear These Holds button is lit up. Click it and the expired holds will be canceled.

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  7. Bring items down from the hold shelf and check them in.

Important

If you cancel a ready-for-pickup hold, you must check in the item to make it available for circulation or trigger the next hold in line.

Hold shelf expire time is inserted when a hold achieves on-hold-shelf status. It is calculated based on the interval entered in Local Admin → Library Settings → Default hold shelf expire interval.

Note

The clear-hold-shelf function cancels shelf-expired holds only. It does not include holds canceled by patron. Staff needs to trace these items manually according to the hold slip date.

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