FAQs: Suspending Holds

When you place or modify a hold in Demand Management, you can prevent the hold from being filled for a specified period of time. Even though the hold cannot be filled or trapped during the designated time period, the hold retains its place in the hold queue. Such a hold is called a suspended hold. When the suspension period ends, the hold can be filled when the item becomes available and the hold is the first qualified hold for the item.

The suspended hold feature is useful for patrons who may be on vacation or academic break while waiting for an item to become available.

How do suspended holds work?

You can suspend a user’s hold when placing the hold or by modifying an existing hold. When placing a hold for a user, you can enter a suspended date (beginning date of the hold’s suspension) and an unsuspended date (ending date of the hold’s suspension) for the hold. If the suspended date and unsuspended date fields are left blank, you can suspend the hold later using the Modify User Holds or Modify Items Hold wizard.

When working with suspended holds, keep the following in mind:

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When a hold is suspended, the suspension period begins at 00:01 on the suspended date and ends at 00:01 on the unsuspended date. If the suspended date is in the future, the system will attempt to fill the hold until the suspended date. When the suspended date is reached, the system does not attempt to fill the hold. The system will not try to fill the hold again until the unsuspended date is reached.

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While a hold is suspended, the hold’s position in the hold queue does not change.

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If an available hold is suspended, the hold is no longer available, and the item trapped to fill the hold will become available to fill other holds.

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When the hold becomes unsuspended, the hold will be at the top of the Hold queue provided another hold with higher priority has not been placed.

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If you enter NEVER in the unsuspended date field, you can suspend the hold indefinitely, provided the expiration date is set to NEVER. If you enter TODAY, you can set the suspension beginning or ending date to the current date. If you enter NEVER in both the suspension date and unsuspended date field, you can unsuspend a hold on the date it was suspended.

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If a hold is suspended while the item is in transit to the pickup library, the result is similar to what happens when a hold is removed on an item in transit.

The library controls which staff members can set suspension dates. The Place Hold, Modify User Holds, and Modify Item Holds wizards have a Suspend Holds wizard property. To prevent staff from suspending holds with one or more of these wizards, clear the Suspend Holds check box in the wizard properties.

How do I suspend a user’s hold on an item?

You may suspend a user’s hold while placing the hold or by modifying an existing hold. Suspended holds are useful if the user placing the hold knows that he or she will be on vacation or academic break while waiting for the item.

To suspend a hold while placing it

Click the Place Hold wizard.

Search for the user record of the user who is placing the hold.

Search for the item on which to place the hold.

In the Place Hold window, enter the begin suspension date in the Date Suspended box, and enter the end suspension date in the Date Unsuspended box.

Note: The end suspension date cannot be later than the hold expiration date.

Click Place Hold.

To suspend an existing hold

Do one of the following.

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Click the Modify User Holds wizard, and locate the correct user.

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Click the Modify Item Holds wizard, and locate the correct item.

Under List of Holds, select the Modify check box for the hold you want to suspend, and click Modify.

A window with Modify Hold Fields options displays.

Enter the begin suspension date in the Date Suspended box, and enter the end suspension date in the Date Unsuspended box.

Note: The end suspension date cannot be late than the hold expiration date.

Click OK.

Click Close to exit the wizard.

At what time does a hold suspension begin, and at what time does it end?

The suspension starts at 00:01 on the begin suspension date and stops at 00:01 on the end suspension date.

What restrictions apply to hold suspension dates?

Hold suspension dates have the following restrictions.

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The begin suspension date cannot be earlier than the current system date and time, and cannot be later than the end suspension date.

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The end suspension date cannot be later than the hold’s expiration date.

If you set the end suspension date to NEVER, the hold will remain suspended until you modify the suspension to specify an end suspension date, or until you remove the hold.

How do I suspend a hold for just one day?

Because hold suspensions start at 00:01 on the begin suspension date and stop at 00:01 on the end suspension date, you cannot enter the same date in both the Date Suspended and Date Unsuspended box. You must specify the following day as the end suspension date.

For example, a patron asks you to suspend a hold for just one day — April 15, 2008. While placing a hold with the Place Hold wizard, or modifying a hold with the Modify Item Holds or Modify User Holds wizard, type 4/15/2008 in the Date Suspended box. In the Date Unsuspended box, type 4/16/2008. The hold suspension will begin at 00:01 on April 15, 2008, and end at 00:01 on April 16, 2008.

Can I change the suspension dates after I suspend a hold?

Yes. Use the Modify User Hold or Modify Item Hold wizard to change the begin suspension date and end suspension date.

Can I suspend a hold for an indefinite period of time?

Yes. If you set the end suspension date to NEVER, the hold will remain suspended until you modify the hold and specify an end suspension date, or until you remove the hold.

Do one of the following to set the end suspension date to NEVER.

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Click the Calendar gadget in the Date Unsuspended box, select the No Date option, and then click OK.

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Type NEVER in the Date Unsuspended box.

Where can I see hold suspension information?

In WorkFlows, the Available or Unavailable glossary link displays in various wizards. Click the glossary link to display hold information, including the begin suspension date and end suspension date.

In various reports that include hold information, the begin suspension date and end suspension date appear in the report output.

What happens if a hold is suspended after it has already become available?

If a hold is suspended after it has already become available with Demand Management, the result is similar to what happens when an available hold is removed. Depending on the wizard property settings, the item can be flagged for removal from the Holds shelf.

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If the Remove Item From Holds Shelf and the Make Next Hold Available properties are selected in the Modify User Holds wizard or Modify Item Holds wizard, the wizard will automatically remove the item from the Holds shelf and make the next hold that the item can fill (if any) available. If necessary, the item is placed in transit from the Holds shelf to the pickup library for the next available hold.

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If the Make Next Hold Available property is cleared, the item is put in transit (if necessary) from the Holds shelf to the owning library.

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If both the Remove Item From Holds Shelf property and the Make Next Hold Available property are cleared, the item will remain on the Holds shelf until the Clean Holds Shelf report runs.

When the Clean Holds Shelf report runs, the item will appear in the list of items to be removed from the Holds shelf. If you want to clear the Holds shelf manually, use the Check Item Status wizard to check the status of the item with the suspended hold. The wizard will give instructions on what is to be done with the item (put in transit, reshelve, and so on).

If you suspend an available hold when you do not have the item in hand, but the item is instead at another branch, the library staff at the other branch will know to send the item to the appropriate library because they run the List Transits report daily.

If you unsuspend (resume) the hold before you clear the Holds shelf, the hold becomes unavailable. If this hold is then trapped, it will become available again unless another hold has already become available for the item.

What happens if a hold is suspended while the item is in transit to the pickup library?

If a hold in Demand Management is suspended while the item is in transit to the pickup library, the result is similar to what happens when a hold is removed on an item in transit.

When the item is received at the destination library, the hold (now suspended) for which the transit was done will not become available. Instead, the hold remains unavailable (since it is suspended), and the next hold in the queue that can be filled will become available if the pickup library is the same as the pickup library of the suspended hold.

If the next hold that can be filled has a different pickup library, the item will go back in transit to the new pickup library.

If no more holds exist for the item to fill, the item will go in transit back to its owning library.

When Circulation reports are run, how are suspended holds handled?

The following list shows how Circulation reports suspended holds.

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For Circulation reports that process inactive available holds, suspended available holds are also processed.

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The List Onshelf Items with Holds report does not consider suspended holds when listing items that are available to satisfy holds.

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The Clean Holds Shelf report will select suspended available holds in addition to inactive available holds when it prepares a list of items to removed from the Holds shelf.

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The standard hold selections for reports include the begin suspension date and end suspension date selections.

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In reports that print hold information, the begin suspension date and end suspension date are included in the report output.

How do I prevent staff from using the suspend hold feature?

In Demand Management, the Place Hold, Modify User Holds, and Modify Item Holds wizards have the Suspend Holds check box on the Behavior tab of the wizard’s Set Properties window. To prevent staff from suspending holds with one or more of these wizards, clear the Suspend Holds check box in the wizard properties.

If the Suspend Holds check box is cleared, the Date Suspended and Date Unsuspended boxes will not appear in the Place Hold, Modify User Holds, and Modify Item Holds wizards.