Limits on system holds

  • There is a limit of 25 hold requests per patron at any one time
  • Holds expire after a year

Hold Statuses

  • Waiting-for-copy: all holdable copies are checked out or not available.
  • 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.
  • In Transit: holds are captured at a non-pickup branch and on the way to the pick-up location.
  • 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.
  • Canceled:

Hopeless Holds

  • Unfulfillable holds are colloquially known as “hopeless holds.” In previous versions of Evergreen, staff relied on reports to generate lists of unfulfillable holds.
  • The Hopeless Holds interface is used to retrieve a list of unfulfillable holds and perform actions on them. It is accessible through Administration → Local Administration → Hopeless Holds to staff with permissions to view and modify holds.
  • The interface displays a grid similar to that of Holds Requests, with a list of holds that are considered unfulfillable.

Hold Shelf

  • Items remain on the Hold Shelf for 8 days (including holidays and days the library may be closed)
  • Each library clears holds from its hold shelf on a weekly basis. Clearable holds include holds that have been canceled by a patron, removed by staff, or expired, and ACTIVE holds that have been suspended. These holds also need to be cleared from the Holds shelf.

Checking out items on hold

  • If a patron brings an item for checkout that triggers a hold for another patron, override the hold to checkout to the patron in your library.
  • Make sure NOT to cancel the hold; use option — checkout, which will put the hold back in the queue

Copies to Holds recommended purchasing

  • A book must be in the basic collection before a copy can be added as an Express copy for that library
  • The purchase ratio should be one item for every four holds from your library (Adopted by PLDA 4/2000)
  A resolution was adopted by PLDA in April 2009 to make this a recommendation instead of a policy give the economic conditions at the time
  • The number of holdable circulating items for a title should be equal to, or exceed the number of express items

Holds on On Order Records

Titles that are on order display in Evergreen with a call number in the format ACQ17699 and in the public catalog with the status On Order. Holds can be placed on them. Because there are no items attached, the hold’s place in the queue is zero.

  • Staff can view the approximate place in the queue through a title search. However, holds are filled first for patrons who pick up at the item’s owning library. If the pickup library and the item library are not the same, the patron’s hold will be filled after any holds placed by patrons of the owning library.
  • When an item is received and linked, the hold will attach to the item. The hold position is maintained.

Missing items with holds

  • If an item that should be on the shelf is missing from your collection, mark the item missing to change its status to Missing. The catalog will more accurately reflect its status and the item will not be eligible to fill a system hold.
  • If a missing item is the last copy available in the catalog and has a hold, it must be discarded after a search for the item, otherwise the hold will linger. Notify the patron and give him the option to place an InterLibrary Loan for that same title. Remove all holds for this title with the last available copy not found and then discard or delete the item.
  • When a missing item is found, check it in to change its status from missing to available, using the checkin modifiers Retarget Local Holds and Retarget All Statuses.

Items that have the status Missing are automatically purged after one year.