RE: [IUG] Clear hold shelf - hold shelf list

["Todd Humble" <THUMBLE at nrhtx dot com>]

Some answers, but we are not multi-location...

Here goes...

I believe the "known issue" of an item staying on the holdshelf list for the assigned holdshelf period even if it has been returned has been resolved, but I would recommend testing this issue.... Joe takes out the latest best seller reads it overnight and returns it in the morning... It had been noted in the past that some sites had the item go back on the holdshelf for Joe again rather than move to the next patron.

Moving to the next patron... you don't want this control so you can confidently say that your policies are followed...  Ohhh.. it was the a board member that is asking for an extention of the holdshelf hold... ethically your call... you should juggle all holds to maintain the proper hold queue if you want to make exceptions.... Ohhh... the item was damaged and needed to be repaired before loaned again... change the status to being repaired (we set this code up so that it can still have holds placed, but will not show a due date to the public)... Again you will probably have to juggle the holds queue because as you stated it will already be assigned to the next patron... one way to avoid this is to not check in the damaged item until after the status has been changed to being repaired and not clear the being repaired status to avoid the juggling (ideal situation, but not likely to ever happen)...  Yes, we do contact patrons that may have already received an automated e-mail or telephone call stating their item is ready and explain it has been delayed for a day while the glue is drying or a week as we wait for a replacement tape...

Be certain that you are placing copy numbers into your item records (if you attach items to your bibs) so the proper items can be pulled... unfortunately the system selects a copy from the available copies and changes the bib level hold to a specific copy automatically... for you scoping will surely be able to limit this to a single site, but the fact that the hold has been assigned to the 5th copy (which was previously unknown to be missing) rather than the first copy you scan in is troublesome and sometimes requires more juggling of holds to preserve the proper order.  Juggling seems to be a required skill...

Our circ staff would love to have a feature that their homebrew system used to have... If an item was found to have damage or missing pieces a few seconds after they accidentally scanned it in they could put it back onto the last patrons record and put the new patron hold that was just generated back to the top of the holds list before the new patron was ever notified that the old patron has turned the item in.  If this feature were to exist it should definitely have a time limit as something that has been checked in and reshelved should never be blamed to the previous patron if the item has left the checkin area where some else could have taken a piece or spilled something on the item.  We are just very careful about checking all the pieces of a returned item before it is ever scanned back in now (which is a best practice), but we all know there are days that things can get missed, but discovered within a few minutes...


Another problem turned in as an enhancement request for the last three years, but never making the final cut is that the ideal system should be able to generate a pull slip that automatically prints to a specific printer as the request is made for items that are in house currently (check shelf)... We do our holdshelf reports and pulls each morning, but occasionally a patron will bring an item to the front desk for checkout that was just placed on hold ten minutes ago at 5:00 PM... to avoid the bad PR of saying I'm sorry, but that item is on hold for another patron and you cannot take it home as I am taking it to place on this shelf for the next five days... our circulation clerks will override the hold and check the item out to the patron that found it before it had been pulled... I know some sites pull holds through out the day, but for our library there is not enough labor power to do this continuously, but if they could see the slip in the tray (maybe a yellow piece of paper in a printer that is only used for the holds)... we would take the time to go pull the items without having to take the time to run a batch of reports first....  (This could also be an email to a specific e-mail account only used for this purpose to preserve a few trees)...

Another feature that I've turned in as an enhancement request in the past is the ability to insert a gif or jpg image into our notices (i.e., holdshelf notice, bills, overdues, etc.)
Currently we place stationary that we generated using MS-Word and the photocopier into the network laser printer and remove it between our morning reports procedures.  If the actual notices could include a JPG or GIF we would never have to change paper.  I know many library use actual stationary, but with budgetary concerns I am confident that there are far more libraries that generate the own letterhead with graphics included as we do.  This small extra feature of adding a graphic logo would take our notices from easy (although possibly tiring if your network printer is several rooms away) to simple... granted you should always count the printouts and make sure they came out, but you would not have to remember to put in the stationary and remove it if the graphics were system generated... or run down to the copier to make more letterhead... or wait for the print shop to deliver your stationary...  I'm not asking for the ultimate MS-Word reports editor ... Just the ability to place an image at the top, bottom, left, center, or right of the report text block.... Top would be enough as I could make a graphic that used our city font, library logo, address, and phone numbers into a single GIF image to be placed at the top center of each page printed as a notice or bill...
 
If you are not using the Santa Fe hold shelf slips I would highly recommend them, but would like a little more customization...  The Sante Fe style slips will print the patron name large vertically on the newer style receipt printers (also hold until date and patron barcode)... since we are using receipt printers to generate these thought the barcode number of the patron is chopped funny as the slips are not wide enough, but I would rather not have the patron barcode number on the slips anyways... the name and date to pull from the holdshelf (if a patron doesn't cancel their hold) is enough... These slips are great!

Happy Holidays,

Todd J. Humble, Supervisor 
North Richland Hills Public Library
NRH, TX 76180-7901
(817) 427 - 6822
 
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-----Original Message-----
From: Josh Stompro [mailto:stomproj at larl dot org] 
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 11:40 AM
To: IUG INNOPAC List
Subject: [IUG] Clear hold shelf - hold shelf list

    I am trying to understand how the holdshelf functions work when 
setup for Multiple Location.  From what I understand there is an 
internal list on the system that contains an item record number, a hold 
shelf location(pickup location) and an active flag, for each item.   An 
item gets placed on this list when it is checked in at the pickup 
location or any time a staff member clicks on the "place on holdshelf" 
button.

    When an item is checked out the status gets changed but the item 
remains on the holdshelf list.

    When an item is checked in the status gets changed but the item 
remains on the holdshelf list.

    When clear holdshelf is run a process goes through that list and 
marks items as active or not depending on the current item status/ time 
on holdshelf etc.

    When the holdshelf is cleared holds are automatically moved on to 
the next patron with no control over the process.

    When an item's time on the holdshelf is up and if it is just checked 
in it moves on to the next hold but it remains on the holdshelf list.

    Every night a process runs through the holdshelf list and removes 
inactive entries.

Problems we are having with process:
    There is no room for flexibility if the clear holdshelf is run every 
day.  Staff cannot hold onto an item for an extra day if the patron 
cannot pickup in the time allowed.  If it is a popular item with many 
holds it gets moved to another patron right away.

    The system doesn't stay in sync with reality very well, any location 
can place items on anyone else's holdshelf, and often do.  The item 
doesn't have to be checked in at the correct location.  I think this can 
be helped by changing our Check-in: Check-in at wrong location option 
though.    

Design:
  It seems like this was designed this way because it isn't feasible to 
do an item database search to deal with the holdshelf, or at least it 
isn't scalable to very large collections.  It would take too much time 
to search for all items with a status of on holdshelf with a certain 
pickup location in the associated hold.  I wonder if there was an index 
on the status field if it would be feasable to deal with the holdshelf 
without this seperate system list.  Or maybe have a database trigger go 
off when the status is changed from on hold shelf to something else that 
would update the holdshelf list..

Does this sound about right, or am I way off on some of my assumptions.  
Anyone have anything more to add from their experiences.
Thanks
Josh

   

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Josh Stompro             | Office 218.233.3757 EXT-139
LARL Network Coordinator | Mobile 701.371.3857