Re: Precedence to Local Holds

[Michele Morgan <mmorgan at noblenet dot org>]

NOBLE has had this option turned on since it became available. It works 
well in our consortium of 28 independent libraries. When there is a 
hold queue on a title, and an attached item is checked in, the system 
looks at the pickup location of the hold and the owning location of the 
item. Out of the subset of holds where it finds a match, the hold with 
the top priority, usually the oldest, is filled. If there's no match, 
the item will go to the hold at the top of the queue. This gives a given 
library's patrons best access to that library's items and cuts down on 
items unneccessarily traveling around the network.

This is one of the very few system options that looks at the pickup 
location for a hold rather than a patron's ptype or home library. In our 
consortium, which library a patron "belongs to" is hard to define. Our 
patrons travel around. A single patron may use different libraries at 
different times, so there's no code in the patron record that reflects 
the patron's library of the moment. The patron's chosen pickup location 
is the best reflection of this.

One thing the Local Hold Priority does not help with is paging available 
items. For systems set up with Bib Level Paging, as is ours, we still 
have the problem where items can be paged from anywhere, even if there's 
a copy available at the pickup point. We're eagerly looking forward to 
the "Priority Paging" enhancement coming in Release 2005.

Jan Sapp wrote:
> Is anybody using this feature?  If so, how well does it work.  It 
> supposedly fills all local holds before attempting to fill non-local 
> holds.  Thanks!
>
> Jan Sapp
> Carrollton Public Library
> Electronic Resources Coordinator
> 972-466-3591
> jan dot sapp at cityofcarrollton dot com <mailto:jan dot sapp at cityofcarrollton dot com>
>
> Please note:  I will be out of the office April 24th thru April 29th. 
>
>  
>
>  
>  

--
Michele Morgan, Technical Assistant
North of Boston Library Exchange, Danvers Massachusetts
mmorgan at noblenet dot org
Ph: 978-777-8844
Fax: 978-750-8472