[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] ***SPAM*** Holds on 'On Order' items

[Holly Brennan]

I usually go to IRC with questions, but this one seems convoluted enough for the whole list...

We are on 2.3.4, so if any of these problems are resolved in 2.4 or 2.5 please let me know! We'll be upgrading soon.

We would like to allow patrons to place holds on 'On Order' items (not yet at the library, pre-cataloging, pre-received, in the location "stacks" by default). Currently patrons must request such a hold, and staff add a note in Acquisitions. Then when the item arrives cataloging staff manually place holds based on these notes. Then cataloging staff need to notify the processing staff that *these* items have holds (using a trail of sticky notes). It is a pain in the butt for both staff and patrons.

We can, of course, just turn on the setting so that patrons can place holds on 'On Order' items. However, there is no way to know which items need to be processed sooner because people are waiting for them (at least in 2.3.4). Patrons could be allowed to place holds, but they'll be lost in the system until we get around to processing that item and discover the hold. In our old system, we ran a report to grab anything with 1) open hold request and 2) status of 'In Process' or 'On Order'. Is there now a way to run a report like this in the newer versions? If so, that seems like the simplest solution (turn on holds setting for 'On Order' and then run occasional reports).

If the above situation is possible, there is still a snag in the plan. We won't want EVERYTHING to be placed on hold, since some items on order will be Reference or for staff use only. The only way I have thought up to fix this is to create another copy location - basically a location like "Stacks" but with the hold function turned off. Is it possible to change the copy location of items in Acquisitions, either per item (ideal but unlikely) or per order (so Ref/staff items could be placed in separate orders)? I don't do ordering or anything in Acquisitions, so I can't check, but I'm told by other staff that they don't see any place where the "Stacks" location shows during the ordering process.

In summary:

-          Can we somehow gather a list of items on hold based on location?

-          Can we use multiple copy locations in the ordering process?

Ugh. It's a long one. Thanks to anyone who gets this far in reading this! And a million thanks to anyone with insight!

-Holly




Holly Brennan
Library Technician II
Cataloging & Tech Services
Homer Public Library
907-235-3180 (main)
907-435-3154 (direct)
hbrennan at cityofhomer-ak.gov<mailto:hbrennan at cityofhomer-ak.gov>

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