Dos and Don’ts of Changing the Hold Pickup Location

You can change the pickup location of a customer's hold, but only in certain circumstances...otherwise the hold will never be filled.

Scenario: your customer has moved and wants to pick up all their outstanding requests at the branch closest to their new home. It is okay to change the hold pickup location for a customer’s hold as follows:

• The old and new pickup location must be within the same library jurisdiction. So you can change it from Clovis to Fig Garden. But never Beale Library (Kern County) to Fig Garden (Fresno County).*
•  You can change the pickup location anytime before an item is attached to the request or if the status of the request / item = transit hold / transit request. If it's already on the hold shelf or expired, no dice. 

*Do NOT Change Pickup Locations from One Jurisdiction to Another Jurisdiction

Why? Because this method circumvents the holds rules in place for each jurisdiction so there's a good chance the hold will never be filled because the item will never appear on the pull list of an owning library. 

Yes, Horizon will let you change the pickup location from Beale Library (Kern County) to Fig Garden (Fresno County), but the request will never be filled. Even your customer is #1 in the queue, all the other requests will just jump over it as they are filled first. 

Some staff have tried to 'help' their customers who have been blocked from placing a hold on a title by making the request through say Kern County’s ValleyCat page (or in Horizon under a Kern County Location). After the request is made with a Kern County pickup location, they manually change it to one of Fresno's pick up locations. This 'work around' does not help the customer. In fact, it pretty much ensures they will never get the item - even if Fresno buys their own copies. 

The customer should wait and place a hold on that title when there are requestable copies available. Chances are that will occur shortly if it's a new popular title. If not, staff or the customer can make a Request for Purchase or an ILL as appropriate. 


rev. 5/2018

Troubleshooting Problems With A Request

There are various reasons why Horizon/ValleyCat will not allow a customer to request an item. Many times the message the software returns when it encounters a problem is not clear. Here's a list of reasons why the request did not go through and the resulting message to help you troubleshoot the issue.

1. Customer already has the title requested. The following message appears: "Unable to place request. You have the maximum number of requests allowed for this title".


2. Borrower type of the customer does not allow requests (i.e. btype=FSURF). The following message appears: "This title is not available for requests".

3. Itype of the item does not allow requests. Examples include if a child/teen btype tries to request an R-rated movie (itype=fvir). Or the customer tries to request a reference item (itype=fre). The following message appears: "Your request cannot be filled because no requestable items exist for this title".

4. Status of the item does not allow requests. An item cannot be requested if it has a status of damaged, librarian review, lost, missing, relocation in progress, trace, weeded or withdrawn. The following message appears: "This title is not available for requests".

Request Problem: Single Disk DVD on a Multi-Disk DVD Record

It is FCPL's practice on multi-disk DVD items to keep all the disks together as a one unit in a single case. These sets are linked to a title/bib record that reflects this. For example, see bib# 1965885 - Glee. Season 1, volume 1, Road to sectionals [DVD]. There are 4 disks in the set. If a customer places a request on this bib record and it is filled by a FCPL copy, they will get all 4 disks at one time. That is what they expect to happen.

However some SJVLS members split up these DVD sets into single-disk cases then link them to the same title/bib# that contains multi-disk items. This can cause problems for the customer. The request could be filled by one of the single-disk items instead of the entire set. So the customer expects to get disks 1-4 and only receives disk 2.

Some jurisdictions are making efforts to correct this problem. However at this point in time, it is still possible one of your customers could be surprised and disappointed when their request arrives with only a single disk instead of the entire series. In the short term, you can help your customer by placing another request for them through Horizon. Either locate another title/bib record that contains only multi-disk items or place an item specific request on a multi-disk item. In the long term, we will continue to work with other SJVLS members to reduce or eliminate the instances where this is occurring.

Since this is a known issue that is being resolved at the cataloging level, there is no need to place a note in Horizon or on the single-disk itself telling the other jurisdiction to fix it. Branch staff receiving the note do not usually have the ability/authority to make the change. These records are being identified in other ways.

Request List Numbering Oddity

Every once in a while you may come across a request list where the number to the left of the customer's name does not match their number in the queue. For example, in the screen shot below Customer #1 Hauser, Paul B is #46 in the queue. This is an occasional bug where the request order numbers do not get reset as they are filled. We don’t know why it happens. But it doesn’t affect the order in which the holds are filled.

Requests by Minors on R-Rated Movies

Most of the time, a minor is prevented from even requesting an R-rated movie since our policy restricts them from checking this type of movie out (http://www.fresnolibrary.org/card/vpolicy.html). However, sometimes you will see a minor's account on the request list for an R-rated movie. How is that possible? It's complicated, but everything hinges on the itypes of the items attached to the title and whether or not the request was made through Horizon,  ValleyCat or the Enterprise catalog. If you notice an R-rate movie with requests made by minors, here's what is happening:

> At least one of the copies will not have an R-rated itype.
> Usually these copies are from another SJVLS member. They will have an itype that restricts the item from checking out to another System member, but not address the R-rating. These itypes have the word "new" in the description.
> If the minor makes a request on an R-rated movie that has copies with this mix of itypes, ValleyCat will allow the request. It cannot analyze both of these circulation rules at the same time. So it ignores the R-rated rule and allows the request.
> However, if the request was made in Horizon or the Enterprise catalog, both rules will be enforced. And in fact, these requests by minors will never actually be filled. Horizon will ignore these requests, skip over them and fill the allowable requests.





rev. 8/2018

No Requests on Empty Bib Records

In most cases, every bib/title record in Horizon has one or more copies attached to it. However, there might be a few titles that don't have any copies attached. You cannot place a request on a title that has no copies attached to it. Here's what an "empty bib" looks like in ValleyCat:

If you try to place a request on this empty bib, a rather cryptic message appears which says "visit the full bib page" as shown below:

If you try to do it in Horizon, you'll see the following message:

Empty bib records might occur for one of two reasons:

1. The bib record is very new and the copies have not been attached to it yet. Advise the customer to place the title on their "My List" and check back in a week or two. If it continues to be a problem, follow the instructions below for using the Catalog Correction Form.

2. The bib record is very old and all of the copies have been withdrawn. In you suspect this is the case, report the bib# and title to the Cataloging Department using the Catalog Correction Form found on Oz.  Note: System staff routinely runs a program that removes empty bib records from the catalog.


rev. 8/2017

Request vs. Hold Check Out Override

Every once in a while a patron brings an item to the circ desk and when you check it out to them, one of these two windows appears:
"Item Requested By" Override - YES
This means a borrower somewhere in the System has simply requested this item. Your borrower with the item in hand takes precedence over someone else in a remote location. Click “Yes” to check out the item to the borrower standing in front of you. The other borrower requesting the item will be assigned another copy. Note: The self check system follows this rule and will allow the patron to check out the item.
"This item is being held for" Override - NO (in most cases)
This means the item is already on the hold shelf for the first borrower listed on the message. The hold is linked to that borrower's library card, not the library card of the person standing in front of you. In most cases, click “No”. Of course, there could be exceptions to this rule. For example, the patron whose book is on the hold shelf may have authorized this other patron to pick up their items via a note in their library account. Note: The self check system follows this rule and prevents this patron from checking out the item and directs them to see staff for assistance.

rev. 2/2018

Placing an Item Specific Hold

When there are many different volumes under a single title/bib#, ValleyCat will not allow the user to place a hold on a specific copy/volume. Item specific holds are not allowed through ValleyCat. Why? Imagine what would happen if we allowed this in ValleyCat? It's possible that hundreds of patrons would place a hold on one specific copy of the latest best seller title even if we had purchased 20 copies. No other copies would fill their hold except that particular barcode. You get the idea.

Item specific holds can only be placed by staff in Horizon as follows:

1. Search for the title.
2. Click Show Copies.
3. Highlight the specific copy/volume.
4. From the menu bar select Request - Make Request (or simply press F5).
5. Bring up borrowers account.
6. Click the box next to "This Copy Only".
7. Select the pickup location and click Request.

rev. 1/2018

Check Out Requested Item to Current Patron

Every once in a while your patron will bring an item to the circ desk and when you check it out to them, the following window appears:

This means a borrower somewhere in the system has requested this title. It's not on hold for them yet. It's simply a request. Your borrower has precedence over someone else in a remote location. Go ahead and click on “Yes” to override the message and check out the item to your borrower. The other borrower requesting the item will be assigned another copy. Note: This is the default for self check as well.

rev. 1/2018

Pickup Location Defaults to Horizon Login Location

If you use Horizon to place a request, the patron's pick up location will default to the location of the Horizon user's 3+4 login. It does not default to the location set in the patron's record. This change occurred as a result of an upgrade. Horizon assumes the location you are logged into is also the probably pickup location.

*Note: in ValleyCat, the pickup location still defaults to the location set in the patron's record.

rev. 1/2018

Suspend a Hold Request

There are times when it would be advantageous for a borrower to suspend one or more of their hold requests (i.e. going on vacation; stagger when holds arrive, etc.) Suspending a hold request allows borrowers to maintain their position in the request queue while they are away or wading through their other holds. So if they were #3 in the queue before vacation, they will still be #3 when they return even while other patron's holds were filled during their absence. Their hold will automatically be reactivated on the “suspend until” date they set.

In the Enterprise Catalog
To Suspend A Hold Request

• My Account – Holds tab.
• Place a check mark next to the item(s) you want to suspend.
• Click Suspend Hold(s).
• Click in the box that appears and choose the date, then click Suspend.
• The status will change from Pending to Suspended. The Expires date will show in a right hand column.

Note: You can only suspend items with an “Pending” status. If it’s already In Transit or on the Hold Shelf, it’s too late to suspend it.

To Reactivate a Hold Request Before the "Expires" Date Takes Effect:

• Place a check mark next to the item(s) you want to reactivate immediately.
• Click the Cancel Hold Suspension(s) button.
• Click Yes in the pop up box.
• The status will change from Suspended to Pending.

In Horizon

• Pull up the patron's account then select Borrower – Requests from the menu bar.
• Highlight the request (or requests) you want to suspend. Click Edit. You can do more than one at a time if the “Suspend Until” dates are all the same.
• Enter the Suspend Until date. This is the date the borrower wants the hold to be reactivated. Do not change any of the other information.
• To reactivate the hold request before the "suspend until" preset date, follow steps 1 and 2 above and simply erase the Suspend Until date.
  
  Note: You can only suspend holds with the status of “Request”. The Suspend Until option will not be active for requests that are in transit or already on the hold shelf.

rev. 8/2020