[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Feature Question: Multilevel Holds

[Paul Waak]

Hi all,

We have frequent requests for titles at a scope higher than the bib  
record level.  An example would be for any copy of The Bean Trees  
where hard back, trade, mass market or large print is alright but an  
audiobook or an abridged edition is not.  At this point, I'm just  
thinking this through and have not delved into the code for it.  It  
seems like the code to trap a hold could be generalized into a query  
string.  However, searching the title string would be both slow,  
because it is free text, and error prone, also because it is free  
text.  Placing titles under authority control could address these  
problems by providing a simple record number check against the title  
field.  As a side bonus, it may simplify Deb's homebound question and  
RDA cataloging if/when we get there.  I suspect it would also be a  
fairly vast undertaking that could break many things.  How do the  
potential benefits stack against the costs?

Any thoughts on the good and ugly of this are welcome.

Paul Waak
pwaak at yahoo.com