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Patrons or staff place a hold using Pika or Sierra. For more information on placing holds in Pika or Sierra, see the Holds Process for Sierra, Pika, and Prospector documentation.
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it It is recommended that library staff use Pika to place holds rather than Sierra whenever possible |
There are two types of holds: Title level (also referred to as bib level) and item level hold.
A title level hold refers to a hold placed on an entire bibliographic work, such as a book or a DVD; hence, title level holds are sometimes referred to as "bibliographic level holds." With the title level hold, a patron will place a hold on the first available copy of a title. A title level hold can be satisfied when any eligible item, based on loan rules, is available on the bibliographic record.
The most important button for placing a bibliographic or title level hold in Sierra is the Hold Copy Returned Soonest. This will place the hold on the bibliographic record and not an individual item.
An item level hold refers to a hold placed on a specific copy of that work, such as a particular book edition or DVD. An item level hold can be satisfied when that item is available, such as when it is returned to the library system.
The most important button for placing an item level hold in Sierra is the Hold Selected Item. This will place the hold on the specific item and not on the bibliographic record.
For more information on the two different types of holds, see the Differences Between Bib and Item level Holds documentation.
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Title level holds:
Paging occurs at the pickup location first, as long as the pickup location has an item that can fill the hold.
If the pickup location is unable to fill the hold within 48 hours or there is no eligible item at the pickup location, the second tier of paging occurs at the agency level (library locations within the same agency as the pickup location, such as branch locations in a library district).
The order of subsequent locations is determined by paging priority, which is set in the Sierra Hold Pickup Locations /wiki/spaces/MKB/pages/1294368769 table.
Marmot currently has the paging priority set up to account for geographic priority and library size. This means that library systems close to one another are paged before libraries farther away but we have also accounted for the size of the library where bigger libraries are paged before smaller libraries.
The system will page entries with higher assigned priorities first. For example, a library with an assigned priority of 1 will be paged before a library with an assigned priority of 2. If a library has an entry of 0 in the table, it will never be paged. This is reserved for libraries with very limited hours, such as a library that is only open one day a week. If several libraries have the same priority assigned, the system randomly chooses from those libraries. An assigned priority of 999 is a wildcard.
The system will cycle through all of the entries in the paging priority table until the hold is filled or the system has gone through the entries twice, whichever comes first. If the hold is not filled after two cycles, the hold is retained as a title level hold but will not be paged again. In this instance, the hold can be identified in the Manage Outstanding Holds function.
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The notification will be sent when the library runs its hold pickup notice job.
If the loan rule for the item does not have a hold pickup notice text set, the hold pickup notice will fail to send. To view the loan rules for your library, navigate to the Loan Rule table via the following path in Sierra: Admin > Parameters > Circulation > Loan Rules. If you’re unable to view the table or have questions about the loan rules for your library, contact Marmot.
The form in which patrons will receive the hold pickup notice is based on the settings in their patron record.
In the Notice Preference fixed length field, patrons can opt to receive notices via print (a printed notification that is then mailed by library staff), email, or phone. For information on troubleshooting email notifications for patrons, see the FAQ section of the Notices documentation. If the patron has chosen phone as their notification preference, they will only receive a phone notification if they are also signed up for Shoutbomb.
A patron can sign up for phone or text notifications using the variable-length Shoutbomb Preferences field (w) in the patron record. An entry of “s” signs the patron up for SMS (text) notifications. An entry of “v” signs the patron up for voice (phone call) notifications.
Holdshelf
When the item with the hold is checked-in at the pickup location, staff will get a holdshelf slip to print. The default holdshelf slip includes the following fields:
The TITLE variable-length field in the bibliographic record.
The CALL # variable-length field in the local bibliographic record or, if absent from the bibliographic record, from the item record.
The BARCODE variable-length field in the item record.
The PATRN NAME variable-length field in the patron record.
First and second lines of the ADDRESS variable-length field in the patron's record.
The EMAIL ADDR variable-length field in the patron record.
The TELEPHONE variable-length field in the patron record.
The pickup location as specified in the hold record.
Holdshelf slips can also be customized with print templates.
The customized slips usually include a pull date for the hold (Marmot-wide, items stay on the holdshelf for a total of 7 days and then are pulled on the 8th day).
If a library has a public holdshelf, aliases are suggested.
Other important details
Reports to use to keep holds progressing through the system:
Tableau Hold to Item ratio
Similar to high demand holds report but custom. If you’re interested in having a Tableau report made for your library, contact Marmot.
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Paging priority must be set for each location that should be paged. The locations that should be paged are represented in the Hold Pickup Locations /wiki/spaces/MKB/pages/1294368769 table. The system does not page locations that are not in this table. Marmot staff manage and maintain the Hold Pickup Locations table.
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The most important button for placing a bibliographic or title level hold in Sierra is the Hold Copy Returned Soonest. This will place the hold on the bibliographic record and not an individual item.
An item level hold refers to a hold placed on a specific copy of that work, such as a particular book edition or DVD. An item level hold can be satisfied when that item is available, such as when it is returned to the library system.
The most important button for placing an item level hold in Sierra is the Hold Selected Item. This will place the hold on the specific item and not on the bibliographic record.
For more information on the two different types of holds, see the
Differences Between Bib and Item level Holds documentation.
Hold is Paged
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Notification
When the hold is checked in at the pickup location, the item status will be updated to “!” (on holdshelf). As soon as the status is “!”, the system queues a notification to be sent.
The notification will be sent when the library runs its hold pickup notice job.
If the loan rule for the item does not have a hold pickup notice text set, the hold pickup notice will fail to send.
The form in which patrons will receive the hold pickup notice is based on the settings in their patron record.
In the Notice Preference fixed length field, patrons can opt to receive notices via print (a printed notification that is then mailed by library staff) or email. For information on troubleshooting email notifications for patrons, see the FAQ section of the Notices documentation. If the patron has chosen phone, they will only receive a phone notification if they are also signed up for Shoutbomb.
A patron can sign up for phone or text notifications using the PCode 4 fixed-length field in the patron record. An entry of “1” signs the patron up for SMS (text) notifications. An entry of “2” signs the patron up for voice (phone call) notifications. Note: “3” (voice and SMS) is not currently active.
Holdshelf
When the item with the hold is checked-in at the pickup location, staff get a holdshelf slip. The default holdshelf slip includes the following fields:
The TITLE variable-length field in the bibliographic record.
The CALL # variable-length field in the local bibliographic record or, if absent from the bibliographic record, from the item record.
The BARCODE variable-length field in the item record.
The PATRN NAME variable-length field in the patron record.
First and second lines of the ADDRESS variable-length field in the patron's record.
The EMAIL ADDR variable-length field in the patron record.
The TELEPHONE variable-length field in the patron record.
The pickup location as specified in the hold record.
Holdshelf slips can also be customized with print templates.
The customized slips usually include a pull date for the hold (Marmot-wide, items stay on the holdshelf for a total of 7 days and then are pulled on the 8th day).
If the library has a public holdshelf, aliases are suggested
Other important details
Reports to use to keep holds progressing through the system:
Tableau Hold to Item ratio
Similar to high demand holds report but custom. If you’re interested in having a Tableau report made for your library, contact Marmot.
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