[IUG] Patron holds in the OPAC

["Helwig, Ruth M." <helwi1rm at cmich dot edu>]

We are just implementing patron holds in the OPAC and have yet to find
the answers to the following.  I hope one of you can help us with this.
It is important to note that we are NOT using automatic processing.  We
are manually vetting the holds. 

 

Scenario:

A patron places a hold on something that already has a hold.  They
receive notification on the screen that their hold was successful. 

Staff view the item in the hold queue, and "place the Hold." The hold is
properly added to the hold queue for the item/bib level hold depending
on how it was processed by the staff member.  

 

How does the patron know that we are dealing with their request?  The
Hold Pickup notice will not be triggered until the item is ready for
them so how do they know what is happening in the meantime?  Since some
items will be immediately available, how do you keep patrons from being
confused by the fact that some items are immediately available and
others are not? I should mention that we are allowing patrons to
hold/page items that are on the shelf. 

 

Ruth Helwig

Systems Librarian and Education Bibliographer

Park Library 305

Central Michigan University 

Mount Pleasant MI 48859

Phone: 989-774-2404

Fax: 989-774-2179

Email: helwi1rm at cmich dot edu



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