The Symphony software is set up to share copies on a "my users get my copy first" basis. Because of the complexity of holds based on this in a consortia, it is NOT possible to show where a person is in the hold queue.
Each library needs to purchase its own copy or copies of bestsellers to meet local needs. A library might purchase additional copies of new materials. These additional copies are allowed to be set to a No Hold Item Type, and will not fill any holds, whether at the owning library or outside it.
The Symphony software is also configured to prevent holds on some item locations, such as REFERENCE or STORAGE.
The basic philosophy within Winnefox is that libraries will share as much of their material as possible.
OnShelf Hold List
The Onshelf Hold Items report runs Monday through Friday. That report, or the updated list created by the wizard in WorkFlows, is the list of items that are needed to fill holds. That report should be handled each day by the library. After the items are pulled from the shelves, the library needs to use the “Check Item Status” wizard to see what should be done with the items. If an item can't be found after several days, it should be set to missing.
Clean Holds List
A Clean-Holds report also runs Monday through Friday. It creates a list of item on the library's hold shelf that have not been picked up by the user or that have been cancelled by the user. These items need to be pulled from the hold shelf. The library needs to check item status of the pulled items to see what needs to be done. Some of the items will already be INTRANSIT. Any item on the list that is not INTRANSIT should be scanned in check item status.
SHORTLOAN Items
Titles that are in high demand, with more than five holds than copies across the system, are to be set as Item Type SHORTLOAN. All items with the Item Type of SHORTLOAN will circulate for two weeks, regardless which library they are checked out at. These are often new bestsellers, but might include older books which are newly popular.
Each Monday morning, libraries receive an Excel document with two tabs: "Make Shortloan" and "Remove Shortloan." These tabs are lists of their items which need to be edited. Libraries should go through these lists weekly and make the appropriate changes: Items on the "Make Shortloan" tab should be changed from their current Item Type to SHORTLOAN. Items on the "Remove Shortloan" tab should be changed from SHORTLOAN to their normal Item Type. Items can be edited even when they are checked out; the SHORTLOAN circulation period will go into effect the next time the item is checked out.
The Symphony software prevents holds on certain Home Locations. These Home Locations are:
| GENEALOGY GEN-GERMAN INFO-DESK LOCALHIST LUCKY-CD LUCKY-DVD LUCKY-DAY MICROFORM LOCK-CASE GEN-WIS BASEMT-REF BASEMT-WIS JBIG-BOOK JBOARD-BK JLITTLEASY JLUCKYDVD JLUCKYDAY JPHONICS JREFERENCE JSTORYTIME COUGHLIN ZLOST MISSHOLD MISSING MITCHELL REFERENCE REF-DESK REF-OFFICE REF-ATLAS REF-AUTO REF-BUS REF-CENSUS REF-CONSUM REF-EDUC REF-INDEX REF-JOBS REF-MED REF-OSHPAM PHONE-BK REF-TRAV REF-WIS REF-WISLAW STAFF-DAYC STAFF-READ STORAGE WITHDRAWN YA-LUCKY YA-REF UI-LOST |
Adult Genealogy Adult German Genealogy Adult Information Desk Adult Local History Adult Lucky Day CD--No holds Adult Lucky Day DVD--No Holds Adult Lucky Day--No holds Adult Microfilm Adult Reference--Locked Case, Ask for Help Adult Wisconsin Genealogy Basement Reference Basement Wisconsin Children's Big Book for Storytimes Children's Board Book--No Holds Children's Little/Small Easy To Read Children's Lucky Day DVD--No Holds Children's Lucky Day--No Holds Children's Phonics Children's Reference Children's Storytime Material, Staff Use Only Coughlin Room Lost Missing Holds Missing Mitchell Collection Reference Reference Desk--Ask for Help Reference Office, Staff Use Only Reference--Atlas Reference--Auto-Repair Reference--Business Reference--Census Reference--Consumer Information Reference--Education Reference--Index Reference-Jobs Reference--Medicine Reference--Oshkosh Pamphlet Reference--Telephone book Reference--Travel Reference--Wisconsin Reference--Wisconsin Law Staff Collection for Daycares, Storytimes--No Holds Staff Collection for Reading Clubs--No Holds Storage--Ask for Help Withdrawn Young Adult/Teen--Lucky Day Young Adult/Teen--Reference Unreturned Item |
Expired/cancelled holds need to be moved along as quickly as possible because usually there is another patron waiting for the item. It is not fair to keep a hold longer for one of your patrons when someone else’s patron is waiting for that item.
Be aware that we have set up the Expire Holds report so that it gives at least one day’s grace anyway.
Clean Holds Report:
Your library gets this report only on days there is something that needs to be pulled. It produces a list of holds that have expired after being available on the holds shelf for more than 8 days, or that have cancelled by the patron before the expiration date, and puts the item INTRANSIT to the next location. These items need to be pulled from the hold shelf and scanned with Check Item Status to see what needs to be done with them.
The produced lists are NOT cumulative—each received list needs to be handled by the library. Libraries need to check for lists on both their open and closed days.
If the user tries to check out the item after it has appeared on the clean-holds report, staff need to do an override.
Things which may appear strange, but are actually normal:
• The Current location is CHECKEDOUT. This means the hold was cancelled by the patron, but he/she checked it out anyway before staff got to clearing the shelf.
• Items appear on the list before their expiration date. This means the patron cancelled the hold.
Step-by-Step Instructions: Clean Holds
Let Karla Smith know if there is anything else strange with your list.
What to do when an item is on your Clean Holds List but not on your holds shelf
Please refer to the Tracking Missing Holds document.
When copies of a book are needed for a reading club the simplest solution is to place a hold for each member of the club.
If you need to wait for all books to come in before distributing them to patrons, here is the recommended procedure:
This means that the copies have a Current Location of Checkedout so they don't appear Available, and you have a nice long window of opportunity to wait for the readers to come in and pick them up.
Using the Profile of LIBRARYUSE means there won’t be extra padded circ for checking the item out twice.
Since the book club titles will be out of the owning library for a longer period of time, titles should selected that have enough copies and are don’t have more than a few holds.
How to add a note to a hold to identify what to do with an item when it gets trapped (ex: whether patron needs to be called that their hold is available for not).
Step by step instructions, with screen shots, are available here: Adding Hold Notes.
When placing the hold in WorkFlows, after entering Patron ID and Item ID, look farther down the screen; underneith the Pickup location is the Comments field. Text entered into this field will display in the popup hold alert when an item is discharged or sanned in Check Item Status.