Placing Item-level Holds from the Summary Tab

To use the Search/Holds function, you must be assigned permission 101 (View bibliographic records). To select the Hold Selected Items button, you must be assigned permission 45 (Holds management). To place an item-level hold, you must be assigned permissions 161 (View patron record) and 164 (Update patron records). For more information, see Permissions Used by Sierra.

To place item-level holds for a patron from the Summary tab:

  1. Select one of the following options from the Function list:
    • Binding
    • Catalog
    • Check In Bound
    • Claim/Cancel Orders
    • Claiming
    • Orders
    • Search/Holds
    • Serials Checkin
    • To Bindery
  2. Retrieve the item record.
  3. Select the Summary tab.
  4. (Optional) Limit the list by selecting an option under the All drop-down list.
Scoping Feature

If your library uses scoping, Sierra includes the Current Scope option under the All drop-down list. You can select the Current Scope option to limit the display to those items that belong to the scope assigned to your login.

  1. Select Holds in the View drop-down list.
    Holds/Bookings Option

    If your library uses Materials Booking, the Holds option in the View drop-down list appears as Holds/Bookings. In the Holds/Bookings view, the system displays the items attached to the bibliographic record and indicates the number of holds and bookings on each item in the Hold Count and Booking Count columns. If your library uses Materials Booking and the Holds/Bookings option still appears as Holds, contact the Help Desk to enable this view.

  2. Select the item you want to place a hold on.

In Sierra 6.2 and later, you can select multiple items to place on hold by doing the following:

  • Press Ctrl and click on each item.
  • Select a contiguous block of item records by clicking on the first item, holding the Shift key down, and using the up and down arrows to select the block.
  1. Click Hold Selected Items. Sierra opens a new search window.
  2. Retrieve the patron record.
  3. If prompted, review any messages about recalling items, holds for available items, and error messages. The sections below discuss each type of message.

If you are placing multiple item-level holds, the decisions you make for recalling items and placing holds for available items apply to all applicable items. For overridable error conditions, your decision whether to override the block affects all holds with the same type of block. If there are multiple conditions requiring an override, Sierra displays a message for each.

If there are checked-out items and they are eligible to recall, Sierra displays the Recall Item(s) dialog. The options include:

  • Place hold without recall
  • Recall item with due date of <date> (not available when placing multiple item-level holds)
  • Recall item(s) with NEW due date
  • Cancel

See Recalling an Item for more information on these options.

If an item you're placing on hold is not currently checked out, Sierra displays the Place Hold For Available Item(s) dialog. The options include:

  • Page for all items
  • Do NOT page
  • Place hold and change status to MISSING (appears for single item-level holds only when the item belongs to a library in your "Locations Served" list)

For more information on these options, see Placing a Hold on an Item that Is Not Checked Out.

Sierra provides the opportunity to override certain conditions that prevent a hold from being placed. Click Override to place the hold or Do Not Override to cancel the hold.

For more information on error messages, see Possible Messages (Placing an Item-level Hold).

If you are placing a single item-level hold, Sierra displays the error message. Click OK to return to the Summary tab.

If you are placing multiple item-level holds and at least one hold is still eligible, Sierra continues with the holds process without displaying the error message. Items with these types of errors appear in the Place Holds table in the next step and are marked with a result status of "Error".

For more information on error messages, see Possible Messages (Placing an Item-level Hold).

  1. In the Place an Item-level Hold dialog, enter the information for the item-level hold, and click OK.

If you are placing holds on multiple items, the same information is used for each hold.

Sierra does one of the following:

  • For a single item-level hold, Sierra attempts to place the hold. An error message appears if the system cannot place the hold.
  • For multiple item-level holds, Sierra processes the hold requests to see which holds are eligible to place and displays the results in the Place Holds table for your review. The system does not actually place the holds until the next step.
  1. (Multiple item-level holds only) From the Place Holds table, do one of the following:
    • To place the holds, click OK.
    • To cancel placing the holds, click Don't Place Holds.