[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] holds not picking up

[Ben Shum]

Oops, hit send too fast.  The reason I suggest using the check-in 
modifier for retargeting holds is that it bypasses the previous check 
time I mention and resets holds associated with the material so that the 
check occurs immediately, often resulting in a hold being triggered.  
This does have the added effect of slowing down the check-in event 
(since you take more time to process all the holds, etc.) but one would 
only be using the option during the cataloging of brand new items.

-- Ben

On 08/08/2012 07:36 AM, Ben Shum wrote:
> Hi Anne,
>
> Which version of Evergreen are you using?  In more recent versions 
> (since 2.1.0 and upwards, I think), it's possible to use a special 
> "check-in modifier" (lower right corner of the check-in screen) to 
> enable the re-targeting of holds upon check-in of items.  This special 
> modifier is used when handling brand new material that gets added to 
> an Evergreen system.
>
> Presently, holds are only targeted once every 24 hours based on the 
> time that the hold was initially placed first.  There's a field on the 
> hold table called "prev_check_time" (previous check time) that tells 
> the targeter to skip said hold until it passes that point.  So 
> depending on when the patron or staff created the hold, and then based 
> on the regularity of your hold targeter script, the availability of 
> materials that can fulfill a hold will vary greatly.  In our 
> consortium, we run our hold targeter every 15 minutes, but because of 
> the 24 hour wait time built into each hold, it still doesn't match 
> brand new items to some existing holds till the following day.  For 
> example, a hold could be created at 1 pm on Monday, a new item created 
> to fill that hold on 2 pm on Monday, but that hold won't target that 
> new item till 1 pm on Tuesday after the previous check time elapses 
> and the hold targeter actually does another check.
>
> Another possibility is that whichever copy status that is being used 
> when processing books ordered and scanned in your first mentioned 
> approach is one that does not allow holds to be placed/processed on 
> the material.  You may want to double check that the copy status 
> options are all in order on your system as well and that holds are 
> allowed on the statuses you expect.
>
> Hope this helps somewhat, please feel free to ask more questions. 
> Holds can be a little perplexing...
>
> -- Ben
>
> On 08/08/2012 07:05 AM, Anne Murray wrote:
>> Can anyone help with this as we can't find the problem. If we order 
>> more copies of a very popular book, when they are scanned through 
>> check in, the holds aren't triggered. The holds targetter is running 
>> ok. Also, if we buy a book from Amazon (say) and catalogue it 
>> ourselves, the hold goes on ok, but again when it reaches the library 
>> the hold isn't picked up and the status goes to 'reshelving'.
>> Anne Murray
>> Service Support Officer
>> East Dunbartonshire Libraries
>> Kirkintilloch
>> Scotland
>

-- 
Benjamin Shum
Open Source Software Coordinator
Bibliomation, Inc.
32 Crest Road
Middlebury, CT 06762
203-577-4070, ext. 113