Let's talk about holds, baby

After discussing this with the library brains trust this morning, I suspect that the item was put through returns on the kiosk. The hold was triggered but the item was put on a grey trolley instead of a cream one. Beth came along and liked the look of the book, and then staff checked that book out to her. A screen would have popped up saying the item was on hold but we have a policy that if the hold has not been triggered, then the person with the item in their hand has preference. However it is important to note that when a requested item is put through the kiosk returns, the hold notification is automatically triggered.

Because of this, it is VERY important that if a customer approaches you wanting to borrow an item, then you need to do due diligence and check that another customer has not already been notified of their available hold.

See below example (please don’t judge my choice of item!)

1.       The screen shots with PURPLE circles – YAC Caitlin is trying to borrow the dvd. We get an override pop up that tells us that this item is an available for Caitlin Hadrill. To double check whether or not the customer has already been notified, use the Check Item Status widget. See the second image.

In this image we can see that the item is routing to HOLDS and that it’s already on hold for Caitlin Hadrill. In this case you would not let YAC Caitlin take this item.

1.       The screen shots with GREEN circles – YAC Caitlin is trying to borrow the dvd. We get an override pop up that tells us that this item is an available for Caitlin Hadrill. To double check whether or not the customer has already been notified, use the Check Item Status widget. See the second image.

In this second image we can see that the hold is NOT YET AVAILABLE. In this case YAC Caitlin is allowed to take the item.

Unfortunately it’s not immediately obvious whether or not the person has been notified. We will need to do some extra digging to find out but it is really important that we aren’t sending other customers off with available holds. We are all guilty of the override I think, especially when the item comes from the shelf or shelving trolley. But remember we are relying on our customers to place items on the right trolleys and they don’t always so we need to be ever vigilant. If you’re near the kiosks, keep an eye on those returning their items. If they’re doing it wrong, please jump in and teach them. I find that explaining WHY we are asking them to separate the items onto different trolleys works wonders.

This quirk may explain the incredible amount of missing holds we have also. If a hold is triggered and the customer notified, but the item is placed on a shelving trolley and then shelved, we have no way of knowing whether or not the missing hold went in a black box, onto the shelf or is genuinely missing. To this note, when a customer comes in with a missing hold and it’s our item, it pays to check on the shelf too!

TL;DR?

• ·         Don’t override hold popups until you’ve checked whether or not that hold notification has been triggered
• ·         Route to HOLDS means they’ve been notified
• ·         Make hold available means they haven’t been notified and you’re free to override
• ·         Might may to double check new items you find on grey trolleys
• ·         Double check for Unley missing items on the shelf