Bib level and item level requests by pickup location that have no available items.
Used by Tech Services or Collection Development to determine whether or not to purchase copies or find Polaris holds processing errors.
This report shows any hold requests that have a status of Requested (Active) with a Pickup branch of the selected library that do NOT have any available items to fill them. The report is sorted by the creation date of the hold request.
The report also includes volume information and to specify if the hold is an item level request. Both these columns can provide additional information as to why a hold is not filling.
If the request is an Item level hold, then the hold will only fill if the SPECIFIC item barcode listed it the hold request workform is checked in. Any item level holds should be verified to make certain that the intent of the patron was to place a hold for ONE specific item record. If this is not the case, then cancel the item level hold and place the patron on hold again for the title.
The Volume field indicates if the patron has place a Copy/Volume specific hold for this particular title. If they have placed a Volume specific hold, then ONLY those item records with a matching Volume field will be able to fulfill the hold.
In many cases it appears as if item records originally had volume information but later that volume information was removed (possibly when cataloging was completed for the item). In these cases the holds will never fill because none of the available item records have matching volume information. Please cancel these holds and place the patron on hold for the item again.
When placing the patron on hold for the item again, please make sure to place a NEW TITLE level hold and don’t simply reactive the existing hold. Reactivating an existing item or volume level hold will simply keep the request in limbo until it finally expires.
To find these requests choose “Circulation->Hold Requests” from the Polaris toolbar. Then enter the number from the “Request ID” column into the “For:” box and select “Request ID number” in the “Search by” box on the find tool.
Once the hold request workform has loaded for this particular request, click “View->Notes” from the menu bar. On the lower right hand corner of the screen you’ll notice that this hold ONLY has a Bib Control number under the Request Satisfied By field. Normally this area should also show the barcodes of any items that could potentially fill this hold. Select “Links->Bibliographic Record” from the menu bar to examine the bib record associated with this request.
Once the Bib record has loaded, select “Links->Item records” from the menu bar or use the shortcut key. From here you can examine the Circulation Status of any item records to try and determine why this hold is not being filled. If the only items that are attached to this bib record are lost, missing, etc. and no one is planning on purchasing additional items, then you may want to cancel the hold on this title for the patron.
If you know the item isn’t going to be replaced, please select the “Links->All Hold Requests” from the menu bar of either the Bibliographic or Item record. If there are other holds for this title, please take a moment to cancel them as well before you close the record.
If the title has AVAILABLE item records but the request is not being filled, then you should cancel this request and place the patron on hold for the item again. There is an issue with Polaris where sometimes requests will be passed over even though there are available items that could fill the request. The only way to remedy the situation is to put the patron on hold for the title again. Please open up a HelpDesk ticket with the request id of the request that wouldn’t fill so that CLC can continue to work with Polaris staff to try and resolve the underlying issue.
##Sample report output (patron information is redacted)
