Optional Holds Functionality

Sierra offers a variety of options that enable you to modify how the system processes holds:

• Automatic Checkout
• Block Duplicate Holds
• Change Pickup Date
• Charging Patrons for Unclaimed Holds
• Holdshelf Loan Rule Set by Pickup Location
• In Transit to Satisfy a Hold
• Item Paging List
• Max Holds on Title
• Page Pickup Location First
• Pickup at Item Location
• Refuse Holds
• Sending Items Home
• Skip Hold Check
• Title Priority Paging

If you want to enable or disable a feature for your system, contact Innovative. If you want a feature enabled, you might need to provide some additional information (for example, P TYPE codes, LOCATION codes). See the description of the feature to determine what information, if any, you must specify.

Automatic Checkout

Innovative can set your system to automatically fill holds for patrons when library staff check in requested items at their home locations. Typically, when the system attempts to use an item to fill a hold, it prompts library staff to put the item on the holdshelf or to place the item in transit. However, if you have the Automatic Checkout feature enabled for the P TYPE of the patron who requested the item, the system automatically checks out that item to that patron. See Automatically Checking Out an Item Upon Checkin for more information.

Enabling the Feature

You must specify the P TYPEs to which you want the system to automatically check out items. Although you can designate any P TYPE for automatic checkout, most libraries use this feature only for patrons outside their consortium.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature is not compatible with the Held Item Delivery product. If your library wants to use that product, Innovative must disable the Automatic Checkout feature.

Block Duplicate Holds

By default, the system denies title- and volume-level hold requests when the requested title or volume is already on hold for the requesting patron or an item associated with the requested title or volume is already checked out to the requesting patron. The system does, by default, enable a patron to place holds on other items attached to a title or volume already on hold for the requesting patron.

If the Block Duplicate Holds feature is enabled, your system automatically denies holds for items, volumes, and titles in the following circumstances:

• The item, volume, or title is already on hold for the requesting patron.
• Another item associated with that title or volume is already checked out to the requesting patron.
• The patron is attempting to place holds on multiple volumes of a multi-volume set, where the volumes are attached as separate items to a single bibliographic record (and volume information is contained in the item record's VOLUME field).

Enabling the Feature

To have the Block Duplicate Holds feature enabled at your library, contact Innovative.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature is not compatible with the Holds: Allow multiple title-level holds for one patron circulation option. If you want to enable the Block Duplicate Holds feature, set the Holds: Allow multiple title-level holds for one patron option to "NO."

Change Pickup Date

By default, Sierra displays the pickup date for holds in the Modify Hold dialog box and, if the hold is on the holdshelf, does not enable modification of any hold information.

If the Change Pickup Date feature is enabled, you can edit the date in the Pick Up By text box in the Modify Hold dialog box if an item that fills the hold is present on the holdshelf. You can enter any date in the future; the system does not enable you to enter the current date or a date in the past.

Enabling the Feature

To have the Change Pickup Date feature enabled, contact Innovative.

Charging Patrons for Unclaimed Holds

The Charge Patrons for Unclaimed Holds feature enables your library to fine patrons for failing to pick up their held items. When this feature is enabled and unclaimed holds are cleared from the holdshelf, Sierra automatically adds a charge (with charge type Manual) to patron records of the P TYPEs you have specified.

Enabling the Feature

To enable this feature, contact Innovative. You must specify the following information:

• The P TYPE(s) to charge for unclaimed holds.
• The amount to charge per unclaimed hold.
• A brief description of the reason for the charge (for example, HOLD UNCLAIMED). This text, along with the item's title, displays in the Title column of the patron's fines tab, on fine notices, and in the patron's fines display.
• The options group for which the feature should be enabled, if applicable.

Holdshelf Loan Rule Set by Pickup Location

The Holdshelf Loan Rule Set by Pickup Location feature enables your library to use the requested item's pickup location (rather than the item's owning location) to determine the loan rule to apply when placing an item on the holdshelf. If this feature is enabled, when you check in a held item at its requested pickup location, Sierra uses the pickup location when searching for a matching entry in the Loan Rule Determiner Table. The resulting selected loan rule then determines the number of days that the item can remain on the holdshelf and the text of the pickup notice.

For more information on how the system determines the loan rule for a circulation transaction, see How Sierra Determines the Loan Rule for a Transaction.

Enabling the Feature

To have the Holdshelf Loan Rule Set by Pickup Location feature enabled at your library, contact Innovative.

In Transit to Satisfy a Hold

If the In Transit to Satisfy a Hold feature is enabled, Sierra informs you when items that are in transit are being sent to fulfill item-level holds. When an item is placed in transit, the system determines if the item is the subject of an item-level hold and whether the item is being sent to the pickup location specified for that hold. If the item was placed in transit to fulfill an item-level hold, Sierra adds the word (HOLD) to the item's IN TRANSIT display. For example:

IN TRANSIT (HOLD)

Sierra adds the word (HOLD) to the IN TRANSIT display in the following areas:

Count Use display

The Status column of the INTL USE, COPY USE, and IUSE3 submenus.

Holds tab

The Status column of the Holds tab in Circulation Desk display.

Editor

Zone 1 of the Status bar from the Editor.

Search/Holds display

The Due Date column of the Summary tab (displayed when the View drop-down list on the Summary tab is set to Holds/Bookings).

For all other in transit items (that is, items placed in transit for reasons other than fulfilling an item-level hold), Sierra displays the default IN TRANSIT message. For more information on putting items in transit to fulfill holds, see Checking In an Item that Can Satisfy a Hold.

Enabling the Feature

To have the In Transit to Satisfy a Hold feature enabled at your library, contact Innovative.

Item Paging List

Innovative can modify your system to allow you to generate a single list of paged items instead of individual paging slips. See Item Paging Lists for more information.

Enabling the Feature

To have the Item Paging List feature enabled at your library, contact Innovative.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature is compatible with the Title Priority Paging feature.

Max Holds on Title

The Max Holds on Title feature enables your library to limit the maximum number of holds allowed on each item associated with the same bibliographic record. The system includes only items with a status of '-' (AVAILABLE) when counting the number of items associated with a bibliographic record.

For example, if your library has enabled the Max Holds on Title feature with a maximum of two, the system functions as follows:

• If one item record is associated with a bibliographic record, the system allows a total of two item and/or title holds on that bibliographic record. For example, you can place two item holds, two title holds, or one item and one title hold.
• If five item records are associated with a bibliographic record, the system allows a total of ten item and/or title holds on that bibliographic record. For example, you can place ten item holds, ten title holds, or any combination of item and title holds that add up to a total of ten.

Enabling the Feature

To have the Max Holds on Title feature enabled, contact Innovative and specify the maximum number of holds allowed per item per title.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature is not compatible with the Holds: Allow multiple title-level holds for one patron circulation option. If you want to enable the Max Holds on Title feature, set the Holds: Allow multiple title-level holds for one patron option to "NO."

Page Pickup Location First

If the Page Pickup Location First feature is enabled, when you place a title-level hold or the system creates a title-level hold to fulfill a patron request (see Automatic Patron Request Processing), the system determines whether any available items that can fill the hold belong to the specified pickup location. The system considers an item "available" if it meets all of the following conditions:

• Has a status of '-' (that is, available)
• Is not checked out
• Does not already have other item-level holds
• Is holdable by the patron (determined by Loan Rules)
• Its Location Served entry does not have a value of '0' in the Library Priority table (if the Library Priority table is used)

If an item that belongs to the specified pickup location meets these conditions, the system places an item-level hold on that item. If more than one item belongs to the specified pickup location and meets these conditions, the system randomly places an item-level hold on one of those items. If the item(s) that meet these conditions do not belong to the specified pickup location or if no item meets these conditions, the system processes the hold normally.

Enabling the Feature

To have the Page Pickup Location First feature enabled at your library, contact Innovative.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature is compatible with other features as follows:

Feature	Compatible?	Comment
Library Priority Table	Yes	Under the following conditions, the Page Pickup Location First feature can override the hold selection behavior dictated by the Library Priority table: your system uses the Library Priority table, and the Page Pickup Location First feature is enabled, and you place a title-level hold or the system creates a title-level hold to fulfill a patron request (see Automatic Patron Request Processing) When these conditions are met, the system uses the Library Priority table to determine if there is an available item that can satisfy the hold (that is, the item's Location Served entry has a value other than '0' in the Library Priority table). If there are available items that belong to the specified pickup location, the system ignores the priority settings in the Library Priority table and uses one of those items to fulfill the hold. If the available items do not belong to the specified pickup location or if there are no available items, the system behaves normally and uses the Library Priority table settings to determine which item fulfills the hold.
Pickup at Item Location	No	This feature overrides the Page Pickup Location First feature. If enabled, this feature does not allow users to specify a pickup location for title-level holds. Instead, the system automatically fills the hold with the first available item.
Regional Holds	No	This feature overrides the Page Pickup Location First feature.
Title Priority Paging	No

Pickup at Item Location

If the Pickup at Item Location feature is enabled, the system does not allow a pickup location to be specified for title- or volume-level holds. Instead, the system automatically assigns a blank pickup location to title- and volume-level holds. When an item becomes available that can satisfy the title- or volume-level hold, the item's LOCATION becomes the pickup location.

Enabling the Feature

To have the Pickup at Item Location feature enabled at your library, contact Innovative.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature overrides the Page Pickup Location First feature. When both the Pickup at Item Location and Page Pickup Location First features are enabled, the system does not allow a pickup location to be specified for title-level holds.

Refuse Holds

If the Priority Paging: Refuse Item Holds circulation option is set to "YES" and you check in an item that has a hold (item-, volume-, or title-level), Sierra displays the following options:

• Fulfill hold
• Check in; do not fulfill hold
• Cancel hold

If the Priority Paging: Refuse Item Holds circulation option is set to "NO" and you check in an item with a hold, the system automatically attempts to fill the hold with that item.

Sending Items Home

Innovative can modify your system to automatically send items "home" to their owning locations when they are checked in, even if there are existing holds on those items. The system attempts to use the item to a fill a hold only after it has been checked in at the owning location. See Item Must Be Sent to Owning Location for more information.

Enabling the Feature

You must specify which locations in your Locations Served table you want to use this feature. Note that the system does not allow you to delete a location that has this feature enabled from the Locations Served table.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature overrides the Floating Collections product. When the Sending Items Home feature is enabled, the system ignores the setting of the Float Determiner table.

Skip Hold Check

If your library keeps certain copies of popular items on the circulating shelves for patrons that come in to browse, Innovative can modify your system to not check for holds on these items during checkin, checkout, and renewal transactions. If the Skip Hold Check feature is enabled, the system does not check whether the item satisfies any holds upon checkin, checkout, and renewal of items with the specified I TYPE or LOCATION.

Enabling the Feature

To have the Skip Hold Check feature enabled at your library, contact Innovative. You must specify either the ITYPEs or the LOCATION codes for which hold checks should be skipped.

Compatibility with Other Features

• This feature is compatible with the Floating Collections product. If your library has Floating Collections enabled, item floating occurs before the system consults the setting of Skip Hold Check. If an item floats, its new location is compared to the value specified by Skip Hold Check.
• If your library has the Floating Collection Shelf Assignment feature enabled, the system can automatically retain its shelving information at a new location, and thus retain the location codes that specify Skip Hold Check items.

• If a Skip Hold Check item record has the maximum number of holds attached (as specified by the Holds: Number of holds before minimum use used for due date circulation option), the system uses the loan rule's MINIMUM USE element to calculate the item's due date at checkout.

Title Priority Paging

The Title Priority Paging feature enables you to:

• Generate title- and volume-level pages.
• Set paging priorities for title- and volume-level pages:
  • Designate locations that should not be paged
  • Indicate the order in which locations should be paged
  • Group locations at the same paging level so that, within that group, locations are paged in random order.
• Generate title paging lists.

Enabling Title Priority Paging

To have the Title Priority Paging feature enabled at your library:

1. Specify the length of time before a page at your library is eligible for transfer by setting the Pageslips: Number of hours before page can be transferred circulation option to a value greater than "0". This option controls the minimum number of hours Sierra should wait before your library is eligible for removal from the Title Paging List for the unfulfilled hold. Note that the system starts counting down the time until page transferability the day after your library is paged for the item, at the time the page transfer process runs (for example, 4 a.m.).
2. Contact Innovative to request that the following features be enabled:
   • (Required) Title Priority Paging
   • (Optional) Keeping the Title Hold after the Page Expires -- The system retains a title- or volume-level hold after the paging process is complete. Sierra does not cancel a title- or volume-level hold after its page expires (that is, when there are no remaining locations in the Title Paging List for this hold) and does not queue a hold cancellation notice. The title- or volume-level hold is then fulfilled or cancelled like any other hold.
   • (Optional) Paging Open Locations First -- The system pages the open locations in the Title Paging List first. The system pages the first location in the Title Paging List that is open according to the Days Closed table. If the next location to be paged according to the Title Paging List is closed, the system moves that location to the end of the Title Paging List and pages the next location (if it is open). If all the pageable locations are closed, the system pages the next (closed) location on the Title Paging List that has an item available that could fulfill the hold. The system continues to use this process to cycle through the locations on the Title Paging List as usual.
   • (Optional) Cycling through the Title Paging List Multiple Times -- The system cycles through the Title Paging List a number of times specified by your library. If the process of paging each location in the Title Paging List ends and the page still is outstanding, the system regenerates the list of locations to be paged and cycles through the locations on the Title Paging List as usual. This process continues until the system has cycled through the Title Paging List the number of times specified by your library.
   • (Optional) Prioritizing Hold Fulfillment at the Pickup Location -- As the system evaluates whether a checked-in item should fulfill an existing hold, it disregards any holds where there is an available item at the patron's specified pickup location unless the period specified by the Pageslips: Number of hours before page can be transferred option has elapsed since the hold was placed. This delay allows a reasonable window of opportunity, based on the pull time, during which title priority paging activity at the pickup location can fulfill the hold without being pre-empted by checkins at other locations. At the end of the period, Sierra returns to normal processing so that the hold is ultimately fulfilled if no local item fulfilled it during the protected period.

   When this feature is enabled, the system processes holds in the next-up position:

   • If an item attached to that bibliographic record is checked in at a location other than the pickup location BEFORE the time specified in Pageslips: Number of hours before page can be transferred has elapsed (measured as difference between current time and hold placed time), the next up hold is NOT activated, and the check in process goes on to consider and potentially activate other holds, if any.
   • If an item attached to that bibliographic record is checked at a location other than the pickup location AFTER the time specified in Pageslips: Number of hours before page can be transferred has elapsed (measured as difference between current time and hold placed time), the next up hold IS activated.
   • If an item attached to that bibliographic record is checked in at the pickup location BEFORE the time specified in Pageslips: Number of hours before page can be transferred (measured as difference between current time and hold placed time), the next up hold IS activated.

   The Prioritizing Hold Fulfillment at the Pickup Location feature is not compatible with Agency Holds.

3. After the Title Priority Paging feature has been enabled, set paging priorities each of your library's hold pickup locations.

Setting Paging Priorities

To set paging priorities for your library's branches, perform the following steps:

1. Ensure that each branch location you want to page is represented in the Hold Pickup Locations table. The system does not page locations that are not in this table.
2. Edit an entry in the Hold Pickup Locations table and assign a value to each pickup location in the Paging Priority element:
   • To prevent the system from paging this location, assign the location a priority of 0. (Note that priority of 0 does not mean an item from that location cannot fulfill a hold; it only means that that location will not be paged in order to fulfill a hold.)
   • To page this location, assign a paging priority between 1 and 999. The lower the number you assign, the higher the location's paging priority; in other words, the system pages all locations with a priority of '1' before paging locations with a paging priority of '2' or greater. For example, you might choose to assign a higher paging priority to branches that are located close to one another or along the same transit route.
   • To page locations in random order, assign the same priority to the branches. For example, you might choose to randomize paging priority to balance the volume of holds being fulfilled by each branch.
3. Repeat the previous step for each entry in the Hold Pickup Locations table until a priority has been assigned to all locations.

Setting Paging Priorities: An Example

A library system contains four pickup locations: Main Library, East Library, South Library, and West Elementary School. Main and East are close to one another, while South is farther away. Main Library has the largest collection and the most resources available for filling holds, while East and South have limited staff and hours. West Elementary School does not permit holds on its items. This library system might set up paging priorities as follows:

• In the entries for Main, East, and South, assign a priority of '0' to West Library to prevent the system from paging for holds at this location.
• In the entry for Main, assign a higher priority to East than South to minimize transportation costs between branches.
• In the entry for South, assign a higher priority to Main than East so that, when possible, holds are filled with materials from Main.

Compatibility with Other Features

This feature is compatible with other features as follows:

Feature	Compatible?	Comment
Library Priority	No	If you enable the Title Priority Paging feature, the system denies you access to this table.
Regional Holds	No
Page Pickup Location First	No
Item Paging List	Yes	Title paging and item paging operate independently from one another and occur simultaneously.