FAQs: OPAC Hold Range Feature

What are the different settings for the OPAC Hold Range?

Demand Management Scenarios for OPAC Hold Range Selections

What is the OPAC Hold Range Feature?

SirsiDynix Symphony’s Demand Management Holds feature has been enhanced with the ability to set a hold range on holds placed in the e-Library. This provides sites with more control over how holds are filled and the items used to fill the holds. With the ability to set the e-Library hold range with the Hold Map policies, a library can limit specific item types from leaving the library or the library’s group without changing the overall hold permissions.

These enhancements only affect holds placed in the e-Library. Holds placed in the WorkFlows client will continue to work as they do presently.

The Hold Map wizard contains a OPAC Hold Range field which allows the library to set the range by item type, library, and user profile. This will allow a consortium to honor reciprocity agreements between libraries within the system when placing holds from the e-Library.

For example, Rockefeller library only allows Rockefeller users to place holds on a NEWBOOK item type. No other library's users are allowed to place holds against Rockefeller's NEWBOOK—the Rockefeller library wants only Rockefeller NEWBOOK items to fill the hold. Using the OPAC Hold Range feature, Rockefeller can control which users can place holds on NEWBOOK items.

The available OPAC Hold Range types are: System, Group, Library, and NO_HOLDS. NO_HOLDS can be used in hold map lines that do not allow holds on items of a specific item type, and the library does not want another library’s item of the same type to fill the hold.

There is a global configuration option that allows sites to take advantage of the e-Library hold range feature. This option can be set as follows:

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Do not include OPAC hold range option in the hold map (delivered default)

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Display OPAC hold range as part of the hold map

To set this global configuration option, contact SirsiDynix Customer Support.

What are the different settings for the OPAC Hold Range?

If Display OPAC hold range as part of the hold map is configured, the new OPAC Hold Range field will appear in the Hold Map wizard.

When placing an e-Library hold, the system will perform the following OPAC hold range checks to see if the hold is allowed.

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System — If the hold map line is set to system range hold then the hold will be allowed if there is a holdable item (based on other hold map & hold policy parameters). The hold will be placed across all items in the system that are eligible to fill the hold.

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Group — If the hold map line is set to group range hold then the hold will be allowed if (depending on configuration option for group range holds):

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There is a holdable item (based on other hold map and hold policy parameters) within the hold group of the library where the hold was place. The hold will be placed on items belonging to any library listed in the Hold Group Libraries attribute of the station operator’s Library policy.

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Or, there is a holdable item (based on other hold map and hold policy parameters) within the hold group of the holds pickup library. The hold will be placed on items belonging to any library listed in the Hold Group Libraries attribute of the pickup library’s Library policy.

(These outcomes depend on the configuration option for group range holds.)

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Library — If the hold map line is set to library range hold then the hold will be allowed if there is a holdable item (based on other hold map and hold policy parameters) that belongs to the library where the hold was placed (or station login library). The hold will be placed on copies that belong to the station login library.

Or, depending on configuration settings, the hold will be allowed if there is a holdable item (based on other hold map and hold policy parameters) that belongs to the hold pickup library. The hold will be placed on copies that belong to the hold pickup library.

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NO_HOLDS — If the hold map line is set to NO_HOLDS, this item is not holdable. When a hold is placed, if the first matching hold map line found contains the NO_HOLDS range, the system will not move up the hold map to check for other hold map lines, and the hold will not be allowed.

When filling an e-Library hold, the system will perform the following OPAC hold range checks.

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System — If the hold map line is set to system range hold then the item could fill the hold based on hold map policies (as it does today).

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Group — If the hold map line is set to group range hold then the item could fill the hold if (depending on configuration option for group range holds):

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The item falls within the hold group of the library where the hold was placed

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Or, the item falls within the hold group of the holds pickup library.

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Library — If the hold map line is set to library range hold then the item could fill the hold if the items owning library matches the library where the hold was placed (station login library). Depending on configuration settings this could be pickup library instead of station library.

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NO_HOLDS — If the hold map line is set to NO_HOLDS, the library’s item is not considered for the hold. The item is not holdable.

Demand Management Scenarios for OPAC Hold Range Selections

The following scenarios depict possible OPAC Hold Range settings in a hold map, and how these hold settings will affect Demand Management holds.

Scenario 1: System OPAC Hold Range

For this example, the following assumptions are made:

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The system is configured to use the station library's hold group for group range holds.

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The following Library Group policies are configured:

Name	Description	Libraries
MORGROCK	Morgan & Rockefeller library group	ROCKEFELLR, MORGAN
DEWCARN	Dewey & Carnegie library group	CARNEGIE, DEWEY

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The following Hold Map policies are configured:

Library	Item type	User Profile	Permission	Priority	OPAC Hold Range
ALL	ALL	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ALL	NEW-BOOK	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ROCKEFELLR	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL_LIBS	OWN_GROUP	GROUP
CARNEGIE	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL-LIBS	OWN_GROUP	LIBRARY
DEWEY	DVD	PUBLIC	NO_HOLDS	NONE	NO_HOLDS

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The bold hold map line is the default.

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The title has 4 holdable copies, 1 at each library.

Polly Patron logs in to the e-Library. Her user profile is set to PUBLIC. The station library associated with her login is CARNEGIE. Polly Patron places a title level hold for Title A for pickup at ROCKEFELLER. All of the items on Title A have an item type of BOOK.

When the hold is placed, the system checks the Hold Map policies to determine if there is a holdable copy attached to the title and searches for an appropriate hold map line based on the login library, user profile, item type, and the various item library(s).

In this case, the hold map line selected is the top default line. The hold is allowed because of the hold map line for ALL libraries and a holdable item within the system. The hold is placed as a system range hold and the priority for filling is NONE. This means that an item with item type of BOOK from any one of the libraries could fill the hold. The hold will be filled by first-in first-out order.

Scenario 2: Group OPAC Hold Range

For this example, the following assumptions are made:

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The system is configured to use the station library's hold group for group range holds.

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The following Library Group policies are configured:

Name	Description	Libraries
MORGROCK	Morgan & Rockefeller library group	ROCKEFELLR, MORGAN
DEWCARN	Dewey & Carnegie library group	CARNEGIE, DEWEY

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The following Hold Map policies are configured:

Library	Item type	User Profile	Permission	Priority	OPAC Hold Range
ALL	ALL	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ALL	NEW-BOOK	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ROCKEFELLR	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL_LIBS	OWN_GROUP	GROUP
CARNEGIE	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL-LIBS	OWN_GROUP	LIBRARY
DEWEY	DVD	PUBLIC	NO_HOLDS	NONE	NO_HOLDS

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The bold hold map line is the default.

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The title has 2 holdable copies. Both copies are located at Dewey Library.

Peter Patron logs in to the e-Library. His user profile is set to PUBLIC. The station library associated with his login is ROCKEFELLER. Peter Patron places a title level hold for pickup at ROCKEFELLER. All of the items on the title have an item type of NEW-BOOK and both are located at DEWEY library.

When the hold is placed, the system checks the Hold Map policies and tries to find a line that matches the station login library for the hold, the user profile for the user the hold is being placed, the libraries that own items for the title, and the item types. The hold map line for login library (ROCKEFELLR), user profile/item type combination has a hold range of GROUP.

The hold is denied because of the hold map line set to group range hold. The group range would be applied for items that belong to the station library's hold group. There is not a holdable item within the station library's hold group of ROCKEFELLER and MORGAN, so the hold is not allowed.

Scenario 3: Library OPAC Hold Range

For this example, the following assumptions are made:

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The system is configured to use the station library's hold group for group range holds.

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The following Library Group policies are configured:

Name	Description	Libraries
MORGROCK	Morgan & Rockefeller library group	ROCKEFELLR, MORGAN
DEWCARN	Dewey & Carnegie library group	CARNEGIE, DEWEY

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The following Hold Map policies are configured:

Library	Item type	User Profile	Permission	Priority	OPAC Hold Range
ALL	ALL	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ALL	NEW-BOOK	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ROCKEFELLR	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL_LIBS	OWN_GROUP	GROUP
CARNEGIE	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL-LIBS	OWN_GROUP	LIBRARY
DEWEY	DVD	PUBLIC	NO_HOLDS	NONE	NO_HOLDS

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The bold hold map line is the default.

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The title has 4 holdable copies, 1 at each library.

Polly Patron logs in to the e-Library. Her user profile is set to PUBLIC. The station library associated with her login is CARNEGIE. Polly Patron places a title level hold for pickup at ROCKEFELLER. All of the items on Title A have an item type of NEW-BOOK.

When the hold is placed, the system checks the hold map lines and tries to find a line that matches the station login library for the hold, the user profile for the user the hold is being placed, the libraries that own items for the title, and the item types. The hold is allowed because of the hold map policy line for CARNEGIE, NEW-BOOK, PUBLIC combination. The OPAC hold range specified in hold map policy is LIBRARY. The hold is placed with LIBRARY hold range.

When the hold is filled, only an item from CARNEGIE library could be used to fill the hold, since the hold map line for the item type/library/profile combination is set to create OPAC holds with a library range

Scenario 4: Group OPAC Hold Range: Pickup Library's Hold Group

For this example, the following assumptions are made:

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The system is configured to use the pickup library's hold group for group range holds.

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The following Library Group policies are configured:

Name	Description	Libraries
MORGROCK	Morgan & Rockefeller library group	ROCKEFELLR, MORGAN
DEWCARN	Dewey & Carnegie library group	CARNEGIE, DEWEY

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The following Hold Map policies are configured:

Library	Item type	User Profile	Permission	Priority	OPAC Hold Range
ALL	ALL	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ALL	NEW-BOOK	ALL	ALL_LIBS	NONE	SYSTEM
ROCKEFELLR	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL_LIBS	OWN_GROUP	GROUP
CARNEGIE	NEW-BOOK	PUBLIC	ALL-LIBS	OWN_GROUP	LIBRARY
DEWEY	DVD	PUBLIC	NO_HOLDS	NONE	NO_HOLDS

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The bold hold map line is the default.

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The title has copies at Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Dewey.

Penny Patron logs in to the e-Library (user profile). The library associated with her login is MORGAN Library. Penny Patron places a title level hold for pickup at DEWEY. The title has DVD item types associated with it.

When the hold is placed, the system checks the Hold Map policies and tries to find a line that matches the hold pickup library for the hold, the user profile of the user for which the hold is being placed, the libraries that own items for the title, and the item types. Based on the preceding table, the hold map line selected is for DEWEY/DVD/PUBLIC. The range in the selected hold map line is NO_HOLDS, which means the system should not allow the hold and should stop reading the hold map at this point. The hold is not allowed.

The NO_HOLDS option works this way by design to prevent items from outside the library from filling the hold. In this scenario, the library does not allows holds on the item type and, there fore, does not want other library's items of the same item type to fill the hold.