Every library handles holds differently, but one thing remains the same through most, if not all...when a hold is triggered, it waits somewhere in the building. Some libraries might have more than one shelving location. One issue that has always been a problem for libraries that have automatically expired holds, or any library that has a cancelled hold. Unless someone is going through each of the holds on the hold shelf daily, how do you find the item? If you look up an held item that has automatically expired (guessing on this, as we don't do this), or an item that is cancelled, the item shows the regular shelving location and that it is AVAILABLE. This is of no help to staff or the patron. One solution might be to use the CART feature, and update the temporary location to reflect a given shelving location for holds. There are a few issues for using this feature: 1) the CART location reverts back to the permanent shelving location after X amount of days. This would have to be overridden to stick until the item is actually not being held and is checked in, and then go through the regular CART routine, if any. 2) When triggering a hold, the hold would have to know which shelving location is being used. We could either define a default location that could be changed to a select few locations (maybe a HOLDLOC table?), so the default could be used without extra steps, OR even further, a default shelving location defined for each desk (I know the desk feature is part of an upcoming Koha upgrade). If staff don't want the public to know that the item is on a public hold pickup shelf, the OPAC description could simply read "See staff for assistance". Thoughts? Is this doable?
I think for the first part, about knowing when the item is before it expires, the new desk feature could help. It allows to attach a hold not only to a library, but also to a circulation desk within, which could be several pick-up areas. For the expired holds... maybe instead of using location we should have a new optional status that could be set by the script?
(In reply to Katrin Fischer from comment #1) > I think for the first part, about knowing when the item is before it > expires, the new desk feature could help. It allows to attach a hold not > only to a library, but also to a circulation desk within, which could be > several pick-up areas. > > For the expired holds... maybe instead of using location we should have a > new optional status that could be set by the script? Status is fine, as long as the first part is still covered and an accurate location is noted.