Holds queue bounce

This is an example of a holds queue bounce. The title in question had a request placed on it on December 30 at around 1:30 p.m. for pickup at BONNERSPGS. BONNERSPGS, BASEHOR, OTTAWA, and TONGANOXIE all own 1 copy of this title. The holds queue assigned the request to the holds queue at each librayr in this order:

12-30 1400 BONNERSPGS

12-30 1500 BONNERSPGS

12-30 1600 BONNERSPGS

12-30 1700 BONNERSPGS (item at BONNERSPGS marked “Missing (unable to locate on shelf)”)

12-30 1800 TONGANOXIE

12-31 0700 OTTAWA

12-31 0800 TONGANOXIE

12-31 0900 BASEHOR

12-31 1000 OTTAWA

12-31 1100 BASEHOR

12-31 1200 BASEHOR

12-31 1300 OTTAWA

12-31 1400 TONGANOXIE

12-31 1500 TONGANOXIE

12-31 1600 BASEHOR

12-31 1700 TONGANOXIE

12-31 1800 TONGANOXIE

01-1 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-1 0800 TONGANOXIE

01-1 0900 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1000 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1100 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1200 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1300 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1400 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1500 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1700 TONGANOXIE

01-1 1800 TONGANOXIE

01-2 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-2 0800 OTTAWA

01-2 0900 BASEHOR

01-2 1000 TONGANOXIE

01-2 1100 TONGANOXIE

01-2 1200 OTTAWA

01-2 1300 TONGANOXIE

01-2 1400 TONGANOXIE

01-2 1500 OTTAWA

01-2 1600 OTTAWA

01-2 1700 BASEHOR

01-2 1800 TONGANOXIE

01-3 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-3 0800 TONGANOXIE

01-3 0900 TONGANOXIE

01-3 1000 TONGANOXIE

01-3 1100 TONGANOXIE

01-3 1200 BASEHOR

01-3 1300 TONGANOXIE

01-3 1400 BASEHOR

01-3 1500 TONGANOXIE

01-3 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-3 1700 BASEHOR

01-3 1800 BASEHOR

01-4 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-4 0800 BASEHOR

01-4 0900 OTTAWA

01-4 1000 BASEHOR

01-4 1100 OTTAWA

01-4 1200 TONGANOXIE

01-4 1300 TONGANOXIE

01-4 1400 BASEHOR

01-4 1500 OTTAWA

01-4 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-4 1700 BASEHOR

01-4 1800 TONGANOXIE

01-5 0700 BASEHOR

01-5 0800 OTTAWA

01-5 0900 TONGANOXIE

01-5 1000 OTTAWA

01-5 1100 OTTAWA

01-5 1200 BASEHOR

01-5 1300 OTTAWA

01-5 1400 OTTAWA

01-5 1500 OTTAWA

01-5 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-5 1700 OTTAWA

01-5 1800 BASEHOR

01-6 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-6 0800 TONGANOXIE

01-6 0900 TONGANOXIE

01-6 1000 OTTAWA

01-6 1100 TONGANOXIE

01-6 1200 BASEHOR

01-6 1300 BASEHOR

01-6 1400 BASEHOR

01-6 1500 BASEHOR

01-6 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-6 1700 OTTAWA

01-6 1800 OTTAWA

01-7 0700 OTTAWA

01-7 0800 BASEHOR

01-7 0900 TONGANOXIE

01-7 1000 BASEHOR

01-7 1100 BASEHOR

01-7 1200 OTTAWA

01-7 1300 TONGANOXIE

01-7 1400 TONGANOXIE

01-7 1500 TONGANOXIE

01-7 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-7 1700 TONGANOXIE

01-7 1800 OTTAWA

01-8 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-8 0800 TONGANOXIE

01-8 0900 TONGANOXIE

01-8 1000 BASEHOR

01-8 1100 TONGANOXIE

01-8 1200 BASEHOR

01-8 1300 OTTAWA

01-8 1400 OTTAWA

01-8 1500 BASEHOR

01-8 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-8 1700 -report error - no data for this date/time-

01-8 1800 TONGANOXIE

01-9 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-9 0800 OTTAWA

01-9 0900 BASEHOR

01-9 1000 OTTAWA

01-9 1100 BASEHOR

01-9 1200 BASE

01-9 1300 OTTAWA

01-9 1400 BASEHOR

01-9 1500 OTTAWA

01-9 1600 OTTAWA

01-9 1700 TONGANOXIE

01-9 1800 OTTAWA

01-10 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-10 0800 BASEHOR

01-10 0900 TONGANOXIE

01-10 1000 BASEHOR

01-10 1100 BASEHOR

01-10 1200 BASEHOR

01-10 1300 BASEHOR

01-10 1400 TONGANOXIE

01-10 1500 BASEHOR

01-10 1600 TONGANOXIE

01-10 1700 TONGANOXIE

01-10 1800 TONGANOXIE

01-11 0700 TONGANOXIE

01-11 0800 OTTAWA

01-11 0900 BASEHOR

01-11 1000 TONGANOXIE

01-11 1100 TONGANOXIE

01-11 1200 OTTAWA

01-11 1300 TONGANOXIE

01-11 1400 TONGANOXIE

The first 4 requests happen in that order because the request was for pickup at BONNERSPGS and BONNERSPGS owned a copy of the title.

The 141 subsequent holds queue assignments happened randomly over the course of the next 12 days before the request was filled by the item owned by BASEHOR.

What causes this?

Holds queue bounce is caused by a couple of factors.

  1. Not every library prints their holds-to-pull list at the same time every day or at the same time every other library prints their list.
    • If Library A prints their list every morning at 8:00 a.m. and Library B prints their list every morning at 9:00 a.m. it’s possible that an item is randomly assigned to Library B every morning at 8:00 a.m. and then reassigned to Library A every morning at 9:00 a.m.
  2. Not every library pulls all of their requested items every time they print their list.
    • Sometimes this is because the lists are very large and their isn’t enough time to find all of the items on the list. ATCHISON, BASEHOR, BONNERSPGS, LEAVENWRTH, OTTAWA, and TONGANOXIE regularly have over 50 items on their list - they sometimes have over 100 items. BASEHOR, BONNERSPGS and LEAVENWRTH have already had at least two days this year where there were more than 150 items on their list.
    • Sometimes libraries stop pulling materials for the day because they have more items to ship than the courier can pick up.

Best practices for all libraries

  1. Print your list and pull requested materials at least once per day.
  2. Try to pull all of the items on your list every day.
  3. If you search for an item twice and can’t find it, change the item’s status to “Missing (unable to locate on shelf).” Once an item is marked as “Missing” the system will stop assigning it you your holds list.
  4. If a patron says “I placed a request on this a long time ago and it still hasn’t come,” and you look at the item and there are copies available, call one of the libraries that owns the item and ask them if they could check it in.