[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Holds targeting in Evergreen

[Jess Cook]

Holds in Evergreen
Hi all,
I need help understanding how holds targeting works in Evergreen.
I found two documents on the web about this.  I've copied them
 to this email and inserted  my questions in square brackets.
Thanks for any help or clarification.
Jess

http://mlc.lib.mi.us/wiki/index.php/Holds#Holds_Priority_and_Targeting
Holds Priority and Targeting

Holds are not necessarily filled on a first come, first served basis.
Rather, they are filled through a process designed to maximize the speed and
efficiency of filling holds by first targeting local resources before
looking to other branches and library systems for materials.

When the hold is placed, the nearest available copy (in terms of the
organizational hierarchy, not the physical location) becomes the target
library for that hold.


[Assuming a "regular" library system with 10 branches, and assuming a title
hold, and assuming all the branches have at least one copy available, which
one is selected first?  I understand  that the first branch selected to fill
the hold is the pickup branch.  Questions: if the pickup branch can't find
the available copy, what happens?  Which of the other 9 branches is selected
in what order to fill the hold?)  What if the pickup branch has more than
one copy available to fill the hold, can any of the copies fill the hold?
Or will Evergreen select one of the copies in advance?  If it does, what
criteria does it use? What if that copy can't be found, will the other
copies, (and they might be right on the shelf next to the copy that can't be
found) be able to fill the hold?]


The item will appear on that branch’s pull list to be sent to the pickup
library. If that copy cannot be found, a staff person may indicate this in
the staff client and a new target copy and location will be identified,


[in what order? based on what criteria?]


and the item will appear on that library’s pull list. Or if the target
library does not act on the hold within 24 open hours, the hold will
automatically retarget.


[again which branch will be targeted, and why?]


When an item on the pull list is found, the hold is captured and the item is
sent to the pickup library. If the target library or libraries do not
capture the hold within 24 open hours, then the hold goes to Opportunistic
Holds Capture - that is, if a copy is checked in at any branch, that copy
will be captured to fill the hold and the item sent to the pickup library.


[does this mean that until this 24 hour wait period has expired then there
are no "opportunistic holds captures?"]

===============================================================================
http://www.open-ils.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=scratchpad:holds
Targeting

As a hold is placed, a hold targeter will try to find an available item to
list on a library's Pull List for Hold Requests. The first place it looks is
at the hold's pickup location. If no eligible items are available at that
location,


[and all branches in that library?]


then it'll work its way up the organization hierarchy, one layer at a time
(disclaimer for developers: this is a simplistic view, we're really dealing
with distances between nodes in the org tree). For example, if a consortium
has their hierarchy modeled such that you have Consortium (no volumes
allowed) ? System (no volumes allowed) ? Branch (volumes allowed) ?
Sub-Library (volumes allowed), and the pickup location is of the type
Sub-Library, then if there are no available items, the targeter will look at
the immediate parent organization, which will be a Branch. If the Branch has
no eligible items available, then it'll consider all of its descendants, the
sibling Sub-Libs to the Pickup Sub-Lib. If we still haven't found an item to
target, then we'll reach up to the System. In our hypothetical example, we
have the System org-type defined as not allowing volumes (and thus no
items), so the targeter will not find any there, and will move on to the
System's descendants (all of the branches and sub-libs underneath it). If we
still haven't found an item to target, the targeter will reach to the
top-level, and check all of its descendants (every location possible).

http://www.gliffy.com/pubdoc/1270281/L.jpg
===============================================================================
[more questions]
If a branch should be targeted as a last resort for whatever reason (say
it's a small branch, or it serves a special community) is there some way to
specify this in Evergreen?  To be clear, the books in this "special" branch
can be targeted, but they should be targeted last at that organizational
level.]

[Is there a way to specify the order of targeting, so that branches that are
geographically close lend items between themselves before calling on more
remote branches to fill a hold?]

[what happens when a book with a title hold is checked in to a branch?  What
is checked in what order by Evergreen?  This is the "golden opportunity"
since a staff person actually has a copy in hand, and doesn't have to go
looking for it on a shelf or book truck somewhere...]

[is it possible for a very popular book to be "caught or trapped" in a
branch, skipping over patrons in the holds queue until all the holds with
that pickup branch are handled.  Meaning that patrons who placed their holds
quite early are skipped over for patrons who happen to have selected the
pickup branch where the book just happens to be now.]

Thanks for any help,
Jess
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