Library Hold

[Aubrey]

1. I placed 30 books on hold on 7/23. The distribution of good books in our system is as follows: good books are in rich areas of town. Not-so-good books are at the branches close to me.

 

2. Online res is limited to 10 books/card, so it took 3 separate cards & log-ins to reserve these, even though we can have something like 30 books, 10 VHS tapes, & 10 DVDs out at a time.

 

3. I can't request anything else until I've actually picked up my reserved books.

 

4. Today, 7/27, not 1 of those 30 books has arrived at my branch. At least 1 of them is *at* my branch but hasn't been pulled yet. About 20 of them say, "in transit," but the 10 that don't? They're not checked out or anything. Just...sitting on the shelf...

 

I'm sure there's (probably) a reason. The cars that ship the books have a schedule, perhaps. But to have to wait a week to *get* any books (incl the one at my library--which, yeah, I could go pull from the shelf myself & was going to, but when I got there this AM at 11, the sign said they didn't open till 12. It's 10 the rest of the week. Oops.) is hard enough; to have to wait that long to request any *more* books (and then wait at least another week for those)...is worse, but then they'll trickle in, 2-5 at a time, spread across 3 cards, so requesting more is...time-consuming & difficult.

 

We're trying to read about as many different NA tribes as we can, but we really need to finish before school starts in the fall if we can. That's a lot of books in a short amt of time. I'm tempted to go to the bookstore & read there. :glare: At least all the good books are under the same roof.

 

Or worse. I'll go to 1/2p & use the library's ineptitude as justification for spending *gulp* MORE $ on books. :svengo:

[Renthead Mommy]

We can request stuff from other libraries in our system /county, but the other library can decide not to send it. And then they don't do anything about it. It just lingers on your holds list till you ask about it to your reference desk, (and then they may try and call, and the other lib MAY decide to send it, maybe not) or until you remove it. If it's one of their more popular books, or new or who knows why else, they just sometimes decide not to share. I'd be happier if they'd just email and say "Sorry we won't send that through ILL." Then I'd know what was going on.

 

The stupid thing about it all - if they decide not to send it ILL, I can still drive over there and check it out no questions or problems. So if I can have it when I drive, why can't I have it when one of the lib. people drive the ILL van??? Maybe some libraries think I'm a better driver than their ILL guy! LOL! I won't get their book in a crash or something! LOL!

 

But watch your list. If a reasonable time has passed and things are still sitting on the shelf at their orginating library, speak your librarians and see if there is a problem. Because even if the ILL truck doesn't come to that library THAT day, that's no reason for the books not to be pulled and waiting for when it does come the next day.

[snickelfritz]

Our system follows no rhyme or reason either. I requested about 10 books on Sunday. Some were listed as ready by that evening. The rest are trickling in. Once ready, they will hold them for a week and I can keep them for at least 2 weeks ( longer if there are no other reserves). So, I usually request general books on a subject 1-2 weeks before I need them and know that most will be in by then. If it's holiday books or if I need one certain book that doesn't have very many copies..... I request those a month early.

Edited July 27, 2010 by snickelfritz

[Cinder]

Wow, this thread makes me thankful for our library system. The longest I have to wait for a book that's on the shelf is about a week. And that's only if the book is on the shelf of a library way on the other side of the county.

 

Actually, I should be thankful that the library system in the next county over lets me purchase a membership. The price has increased to $25/year and the checkouts have decreased from 75 to 50 but it's still a decent system. And I can place 25 items on hold at once. It's still worth it. The library system in our county is not worth the time even though it's free.

 

 

Cinder

[MrsBasil]

Wow, I...wow!

 

In my library system, if a book is on the shelf at any of the many libraries in our county system and I reserve it, it's ready in 24-48 hours. I've had books I've requested in the morning be ready that afternoon.

 

I'm off to write a love letter to my library.

[Ravin]

In my library, you can only place holds on books that are checked out, to get in line to get it when it's returned. If it's sitting on the shelf you can't put a hold on it, you have to get it and check it out yourself. That's for the city library.

 

The county library would let you request books from other county libraries, but we don't go there any more since they lost a book and blamed us and charged us big fines out the yin-yang. Pity, it's a good system overall and the dinky branch a mile from us gave us access to all the good stuff in better parts of the metro area. sigh.

[Embassy]

Wow, you make me thankful for my library. I have two cards and have over 100 on hold on each card. The things on the shelf can take a couple days to be pulled. Sometimes I find that checked out items are returned to the shelves instead of pulled. Items from other branches can take a couple weeks to arrive though. And some DVDs have a waiting list over 200 patrons long.

[Barb_]

Our library has some pretty arcane holds rules too. Some books speed in, others trickle. But you only have *1 week* to pick up any held book from your home libarary or they ship it back and charge you $2 per book. So if I hold 20 books, it could realistically be 2-3 weeks before they all come in, and they usually trickle in 2-3 at a time. So even if I try to time my pickups so that I am picking up as many as possible in one trip (20-25 min away), I will need to be turning around in just a few days to pick up 2-3 more. It's infuriating. I've stopped requesting children's books for school. I just buy them used or do without. I only request longer chapter books for the kids or myself that take longer to read so I only need to request 8-10 at a time.

 

One time, I lost track of my holds when we went on a week long trip to California and had $24 worth of return fees charged to my account. Once you go over $10 you can no longer renew books online, so that quickly ballooned to over $60 by the time I made it into the branch. I wrote a letter to the head librarian and the district librarian making the case that the excessive fines are alienating the heavy library users they should be trying the hardest to attract and keep. :confused: The local librarian was nice and wrote back that she was inclined to agree with me, but that she held no sway. The district librarian never responded. Instead they sent my 10yo to collections. Oh well. I'm not paying it.

 

Barb

[Farrar]

That's totally what happens in our library system too. I try to reserve titles from 1-2 library branches and just go pick them up there whenever I can - luckily we have a central library so that's usually possible. That way, if they haven't been pulled, I can go get them but I'll know they're still there since if someone tries to check them out they will be stopped. Actually, I've wondered if this is the method for pulling books sometimes... just waiting for someone to try and check them out.

[LibrarianMom]

1. I placed 30 books on hold on 7/23. The distribution of good books in our system is as follows: good books are in rich areas of town. Not-so-good books are at the branches close to me.

 

4. Today, 7/27, not 1 of those 30 books has arrived at my branch. At least 1 of them is *at* my branch but hasn't been pulled yet. About 20 of them say, "in transit," but the 10 that don't? They're not checked out or anything. Just...sitting on the shelf...

 

I'm sure there's (probably) a reason. The cars that ship the books have a schedule, perhaps. But to have to wait a week to *get* any books (incl the one at my library--which, yeah, I could go pull from the shelf myself & was going to, but when I got there this AM at 11, the sign said they didn't open till 12. It's 10 the rest of the week. Oops.) is hard enough; to have to wait that long to request any *more* books (and then wait at least another week for those)...is worse, but then they'll trickle in, 2-5 at a time, spread across 3 cards, so requesting more is...time-consuming & difficult.

 

Or worse. I'll go to 1/2p & use the library's ineptitude as justification for spending *gulp* MORE $ on books. :svengo:

 

Before you go claiming the library is inept, keep in mind you requested the books on Friday. At many libraries the ILL delivery does not happen on Saturday, so they might not pull the books until Monday or at the very least they are not picked up until Monday. They they are taken to a central sorting locating on Tuesday and delivered on Wednesday. That doesn't even consider the possibility that each branch might not have pick up and delivery each day or that the individual(s) who do that job might be on vacation or have reduced hours in the summer. At least 20 of the books say "in transit" which is a fairly good return since it is only Tuesday. You don't know if the other books maybe weren't on the shelf when they went to pull them and perhaps it is their library's policy to check so many times before marking the item missing in the catalog.

[Aubrey]

Before you go claiming the library is inept, keep in mind you requested the books on Friday. At many libraries the ILL delivery does not happen on Saturday, so they might not pull the books until Monday or at the very least they are not picked up until Monday. They they are taken to a central sorting locating on Tuesday and delivered on Wednesday. That doesn't even consider the possibility that each branch might not have pick up and delivery each day or that the individual(s) who do that job might be on vacation or have reduced hours in the summer. At least 20 of the books say "in transit" which is a fairly good return since it is only Tuesday. You don't know if the other books maybe weren't on the shelf when they went to pull them and perhaps it is their library's policy to check so many times before marking the item missing in the catalog.

 

I've been in this library system for 3yrs--it's not like this is the first time this has happened. They also a) don't notify me when books *do* come in & b) give me a week, I think, maybe less, to pick them up before they send them back, & like Barb, that means I'm having to work all the time to time my trips right, so I get as much as I can in one trip w/out having to turn right around the next day & go back.

 

At least half of the books that are in transit have had that tag since Sat AM. Esp for the ones that are sitting on the shelf at the branch I pick up at, 4 days is excessive to wait. ESP when you can only request 1/5 of your book allotment while you wait.

 

It's not practical to hs w/ a library like this. I'd be mad, but I like buying books. :lol:

[joannqn]

Our library is pretty decent. We can check out up to 50 per card (my oldest two have their own cards because we used to hit my limit regularly). Our city library has a reciprocal agreement with the county system so I can use that library system also. I have no idea if there is a limit to the number of holds we can have but I know they recommend I use it all the time. I know we can only ask for 10 books per year outside the system for free, but we can do more for a few dollars. Still, I prefer to just drive to the library where the books are and pick them up myself most of the time. I find that they tend to arrive at my local branch at a bad time, and I have a hard time getting there to pick them up.

[Sparkle]

I'd be frustrated too. Our library is really quick most of the time, although once in a while I'll submit a request and it just sits in the system for months and nothing happens. That's rare though.

 

Do you do paperbackswap? I've gotten lots of school books through them. It's nice cause we can take our time reading them, keep the ones we like, and repost the ones we won't use again. It's pretty economical too.

[Nestof3]

I know our library has a certain day of the week that books are brought in. They cannot just have books sent between libraries every day of the week, ya know. I would say it takes a few days to get books from other libraries. If I cannot wait for something that is at another branch, I will go there myself and get it. That's rare, though. I don't think four days is excessive. They are catering to the patrons' needs from all over.

 

It looks like you are talking about interlibrary loan, though. That definitely takes longer, and I cannot keep them as long.

 

Materials within the same city, though, are treated just like regular materials at our libraries. I put them on hold by using their website, and they email me when the hold is ready for pickup. Have you asked if they have an email system for holds?

Edited July 27, 2010 by nestof3

[Aubrey]

I'd be frustrated too. Our library is really quick most of the time, although once in a while I'll submit a request and it just sits in the system for months and nothing happens. That's rare though.

 

Do you do paperbackswap? I've gotten lots of school books through them. It's nice cause we can take our time reading them, keep the ones we like, and repost the ones we won't use again. It's pretty economical too.

 

Library Swap is great for specific books, but it does cost about $3-4/book. I pay $1-2 at 1/2 P for most of the things I get.

 

When I need 30 books+ at a time, though, that doesn't seem economical, lol, & the time to look for what I need & then wait for it to arrive? :svengo:

 

Thank you, though--PBS has been great for some things! :001_smile:

[Aubrey]

I know our library has a certain day of the week that books are brought in. They cannot just have books sent between libraries every day of the week, ya know. I would say it takes a few days to get books from other libraries. If I cannot wait for something that is at another branch, I will go there myself and get it. That's rare, though. I don't think four days is excessive. They are catering to the patrons' needs from all over.

 

But, Dawn, after 4 days, they haven't even pulled the books that I've requested from their *own* shelves--no transit required.

 

It looks like you are talking about interlibrary loan, though. That definitely takes longer, and I cannot keep them as long.

 

No, it's a big library system. The branches may be as much as an hr away from ea other.

 

Materials within the same city, though, are treated just like regular materials at our libraries. I put them on hold by using their website, and they email me when the hold is ready for pickup. Have you asked if they have an email system for holds?

 

They do. They don't use it well.

[Nestof3]

Sorry, Audrey. That is strange to have not even pulled them in four days. Have you tried talking to someone with some position there? I always find it wild how libraries differ. :tongue_smilie:

 

But, Dawn, after 4 days, they haven't even pulled the books that I've requested from their *own* shelves--no transit required.

 

 

 

No, it's a big library system. The branches may be as much as an hr away from ea other.

 

 

 

They do. They don't use it well.

[LibrarianMom]

At least half of the books that are in transit have had that tag since Sat AM. Esp for the ones that are sitting on the shelf at the branch I pick up at, 4 days is excessive to wait.

 

When counting days, only count business days in which there have been two. Friday, as the day you requested may or may not count depending on when your request was placed and when the branch libraries pull their requests. Saturday and Sunday wouldn't count because there would not be delivery pick-up. Books placed in-transit on Saturday were sitting in a bag or a box until picked up Monday--perhaps late in the afternoon. Given your library did not open until noon today, the books could have arrived this afternoon.

 

About the books on the shelves at your library: depending on the type of library computer system used, the hold request for the books might have gone to a different branch that the one you use most often. If the books are the shelves, when you pick up the other books that are on hold for you, grab them too.