Holds

Aspen groups editions of the same expression of the work with the same title and author. The majority of the time, if a user is looking for an expression of a work in a specific format (Example: A copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum in a physical book) they are wanting the copy that is available the fastest. Additionally, by grouping editions of the same expression of the same work, Aspen prevents users from scanning multiple pages to search and compare availability and status. By default, if you click Place Hold, Aspen will fill the hold with the first available edition.

But what if your user is requesting a specific edition of a work (Example: For a class the user needs a specific edition)? Then, a user can click Show Editions, the view will expand to show any editions of that same title, author, and format. Then the user can place a hold on the specific edition they need.

Once you have something on hold, On Hold for You will show next to that format.

If your ILS allows it you can place an additional hold on that same bib record.

Once you click Place Hold, a message will display that reads:

This title is already on hold for you. Are you sure you want to place a duplicate hold?

and a patron will have to check Yes, Place Hold to contine.

If you have OverDrive enabled, library users can place holds directly within Aspen on econtent in OverDrive.

Users will clearly see the status of the item in red as "Checked Out". To place a hold, users click on Place Hold OverDrive.

If the user has linked accounts set up, they will see the option to Place hold for account and they can select from an account dropdown from one of the other user(s) they are linked to.

Users can also click Remember these settings to prevent this box from popping up in the future. 

Once the item is placed on hold, the user will get a success message. Within the success message, there will be other titles that Aspen recommends to the user. These recommendations are based on availability (Aspen will only show users other titles available now), your collections (Aspen will only show users titles that you own), and the item on hold's bibliographic data (like subject, author, etc.)

The most common way for a user to see their titles on holds in Aspen is within My Account > Titles on Hold. Users will be taken to this screen by default when they log into Aspen. Users can use the side navigation to find out more information about their titles on hold or they can click into the boxes in the center to get more information.

While navigating through Aspen, users can get back to My Account > Titles on Hold by directly via the Titles on Hold option under their name or though My Account in the hamburger menu.

Holds that are ready for pickup will automatically populate in a seperate section at the top of the holds screen. 

Buttons for modifying the hold will disappear. Once an item reaches this status, no modifications can be made (freezing, canceling, changing the location) without contacting the library and/or passing the pickup by date. 

Users have several options to customize the view of their holds.

Format Tabs

Users can choose to view their holds via multiple tabs:

• All - Physical Materials and eContent
• Physical Materials - Only physical items from the library
• Individual eContent Providers - Each econtent provider the library has enabled that use APIs (OverDrive, CloudLibrary, Hoopla, and Axis360) will have its own individual tab.

Sort By

Users can choose to Sort by Title, Author, Format, Status, Pickup Location, Position and Library Account to reorder their holds.

Hide Covers

If users want to hide all covers on their holds, they can click "Hide Covers".

Within My Account > Titles on Hold users can cancel a hold by clicking the Cancel Hold button. 

Users will get a confirmation screen prior to officially cancelling the hold.

As of Koha 22.11, libraries will now have the option to allow certain patron types and/or item types to cancel waiting holds/Holds Ready for Pickup in Koha Administration > Circulation and fine rules > Default waiting hold cancellation policy.

With these settings, users will see a Cancel Hold button now in the Holds Ready for Pickup section of Aspen.

If a user wants to cancel a hold but does not see the Cancel Hold button as an option, they will need to contact the library or wait for the hold to expire for the hold to be cancelled. 

If you want to allow users to freeze holds in within Aspen go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Holds > Allow Freezing Holds?

There is also a setting to set a Max Days to Freeze Holds if you would like users to freeze holds within a certain time frame. 

Once this setting is enabled, a Freeze Hold option will show for users in My Account > Titles on Hold.

Once the user clicks Freeze Hold, they will be prompted to select a date from a calendar. If you have a Max Days to Freeze Holds set, the calendar will only go out the x amount of days that you have set.

A default message will display "If a date is not selected, the hold will be frozen until you thaw it." 

Note: This and other language around freezing and thawing can be translated to match your library terminology.

Once the user clicks Freeze Hold, the My Account page will automatically refresh.

If you are using the Koha ILS, the Status will be: Frozen until {date selected from calendar}

For other ILS, the Status will be: Inactive

After freezing, users can click Thaw Hold at any time, even before the date they originally set, to reactivate their hold.

Setting Up a Valid Hold Pickup Location

If you are a library with multi-locations, then users can pick up at any valid hold pickup locations. You can set locations as valid holds pick up locations in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Locations > ILS/Account Integration > Valid Pickup Location?

The dropdown offers the following options:

• Valid for all patrons - A valid pickup location for any patrons registered in your ILS
• Valid for patrons of this branch only - A valid pickup location for any patrons registered with this library as their Home Location
• Valid for patrons of this library only - A valid pickup location for any patrons registerd with this library as their Home Location and any other Locations that are within the same Library System
• Not Valid - This is not a hold pickup location (exp: storage, drive thru window, closed stacks)

Changing the Pickup Location in My Account > Titles on Hold

Users can only change pickup locations if the item is still in a pending status. If the hold is already on the shelf for them waiting, they would have to contact the library to make the change.

Once a user clicks Change Pickup Loc. they will be prompted to select a new location. The locations that show are based on the settings configured above. 

Messages in My Account > Holds

Holidays and Hours

Within My Account > Titles on Hold users will see a banner message letting them know the current day's hours of their home location and/or if the library is closed for a regular closing, special closing, or holiday. This also shows on My Account > Checked Out Titles page for easy account management. 

This banner message will show automatically once these settings are configured:

Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > Pick Library System > Holidays

Note: If you are using Koha, set these up in Koha first under Tools > Additional Tools > Calendar first and then this will automatically be updated in Aspen.

Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Locations > Pick Library Location > Hours

System Messages

Libraries can choose to set custom messages to display within the Titles on Holds portion of My Account in Aspen Administration > Local Catalog Enrichment > System Messages.

Here is a sample message. To place this message only on My Account > Titles on Hold, select Show On: Holds Page from the dropdown. You can also choose a message style, a time frame for the message to display, if the message is dismissable (not shown in screenshot) and apply the message to certain libraries and locations (not shown in screenshot). 

Here is how this message displays on the My Account > Titles on Hold Page:

In My Account > Titles on Hold users will see a button under their hold modification options entitled While You Wait. This will provide recommendations similar (similiar author, subject, etc.) to the title that the user has on hold.

When the user clicks on While You Wait, they will be presented with three recommendations. These recommendations are based on your library's collections and will only show users available items. 

By clicking on one of the recommended items, the user will be taken to the grouped work record to see more about the item, the formats the item comes in and its availability.

Titles that a user currently has on hold will show while they are browsing the search results within Aspen:

Titles that a user currently has on hold will also show while they are browsing lists:

Note: When the user clicks On Hold for You, they will be taken to their holds information in My Account.

Once you have added a Linked Account (see My Account documentation on how to add a Linked Account), you will now start to see the users' holds interfiled with your holds.

Holds

You will now see the items oh hold for accounts you are linked to specified by the field On Hold For in My Account > Titles on Hold.

You can sort by Library Account to group and sort these holds.

To enable holds, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Holds > Show Hold Button and Show Hold Button with the search results

Beyond the specifications you set in your ILS, you can make decisions in Aspen about whether or not items are holdable.

By Location

To make items non holdable by location, go to Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Item Information > Non Holdable Locations

You'll want to use Regular Expressions (regex) and seperate locations by bars and no spaces.

These settings will take an overnight index for the changes to be reflected in the catalog.

By Status

To make items non holdable by status, go to Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Item Information > Non Holdable Statuses

You'll want to use Regular Expressions (regex) and seperate statuses by bars and no spaces.

These settings will take an overnight index for the changes to be reflected in the catalog.

Koha Libraries: when item subfield 7 (Not for Loan) is set to anything with an authorized value of 1 or greater, then it will be nonholdable automatically. Otherwise, in Aspen's Non Holdable Statuses field, enter in the Description field for the authorized value (not the number). For example, if the value in Koha is -2 and the description is "TS Professional Collection," you would enter in "TS Professional Collection".

By Item Type (IType)/Format- Regex

To make items non holdable by item type (IType)/Format, go to Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Item Information > None Holdable ITypes

You'll want to use Regular Expressions (regex) and seperate statuses by bars and no spaces.

These settings will take an overnight index for the changes to be reflected in the catalog.

By Item Type (IType)/Format- Format Map

You can also make items non holdable by item type (IType)/Format using the Format Information Format Map. Go to Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Format Information > Format Map 

Find the iType/Format that you want to make non holdable in the Format section and match up with the corresponding Hold Type drop down. Here you can select No Holds Allowed. You can also make other hold-related decisions by changing the type of hold (bib only, item only, either bib or item), suppressing the IType/Format completely, marking it 'In Library Use Only,' or marking it 'Must Pickup at Holding Branch' (for holds you may fill but not transfer, ie: bulky, expensive, or fragile delivery items).

These settings will take an overnight index for the changes to be reflected in the catalog.

Depending on your catalog processes and your underlying ILS, you may need to set certain ITypes/Formats to a Bib and/or Item Level Hold. To make adjustments to these settings, go to Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Format Information > Format Map

From here you can select from the Hold Type dropdown menu either Bib Only, Item Only, Either Bib or Item, or No Holds Allowed.

Bib Only Hold

Most of the items in your catalog are most likely set to Bib Only Hold. 

When a user places a hold on a bib level item, they may be asked to select their location (in a multi-library system) or set a hold cancellation date (if you have this turned on) or the hold will be automatically placed (if they have set their My Account > My Preferences settings to not prompt to ask for pickup location) or any specific hold messaging (if you have set up additional hold messages). 

Whatever your library configuration is, they will be met with a success message and While Your Wait recommendations when the hold is placed.

Item Only Hold

For items set to Item Only Hold, users will be presented with a dropdown to choose the specific volume/season/title they would like to place on hold. 

Either Bib or Item Hold

For items set to Either Bib or Item Hold, users will be presented with an option to choose First Available Item or Specific Item.

Here is an example of the MAGAZINE Itype/Format set to Either Bib or Item Hold. When the user hits the Place Hold button, a window like this pops up (might vary slightly depending on messaging and other functionality turned on).

This is an example of the view when a user chooses First Available Item. Once the hold is submitted, the first available issue of the New York Times Magazine will fill this user's hold.

This is an example of the view when a user chooses Specific Item. Users will then be prompted to select the specific volume/season/title of the New York Times Magazine they want to request. Once the hold is placed, that specific edition they chose will be requested to fill that hold. They could go back and click Place Hold again to select another issue of the magazine and request another hold. 

No Holds Allowed

If an Item Type/Format has been marked No Holds Allowed but is not suppressed, the item will show up like this with no Place Hold option.

If you are a library with multi-locations, then users can pick up at any valid hold pickup locations. You can set locations as valid holds pick up locations in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Locations > ILS/Account Integration > Valid Pickup Location?

The dropdown offers the following options:

• Valid for all patrons - A valid pickup location for any patrons registered in your ILS
• Valid for patrons of this branch only - A valid pickup location for any patrons registered with this library as their Home Location
• Valid for patrons of this library only - A valid pickup location for any patrons registerd with this library as their Home Location and any other Locations that are within the same Library System
• Not Valid - This is not a hold pickup location (exp: storage, drive thru window, closed stacks)

Once a user clicks Change Pickup Loc. in My Account > Titles on Hold they will be prompted to select a new location. The locations that show are based on the settings configured above. 

To show the number of holds and number of people waiting on holds in the search results and grouped work display, you can enable this in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > Holdings Summary > Show Hold and Copy Counts.

Once this is enabled, the number of copies owned and number of people on the wait list will show in the grouped work display. These numbers will display both for items in your physical collection and for eContent (when applicable).

Libraries can set a custom message to show to users when placing a hold. To create a message go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Holds > Hold Disclaimer? 

Once enabled, the message will show up when users click on Place Hold for physical library items. 

Libraries can choose to delay holds showing a X number of days to users. This would be if you were a bit backed up on holds processing and shelving and if once the hold was trapped, you wanted to give staff extra time to put it out for the patron. To enable this go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Holds > Delay showing holds available for # of days and enter the number of delay days.

Libraries can choose to have holds automatically cancel after a certain amount of time. To enable this go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Holds > Default Not Needed After Days

Some libraries will set this to 365 to automatically cancel the hold after one year. 

Libraries can choose to allow users to set a hold cancellation date after a certain amount of days. Some patrons may find this confusing but if a library wants to enable this, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Show Cancellation Date? 

Once enabled, users will see Automatically cancel this hold if not filled by with a calendar when they go to place a hold. There is also a default message that can be translated below the calendar option. 

Once a user selects a date, if the hold is not filled, the hold will automatically be cancelled. Some patrons may think they are specifying the day they need the hold or that they are having a guarantee of the hold being filled by a certain day. If enabling this feature, we suggest adding clear messaging for patrons. 

In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Patron Types library staff can set max holds by patron type (p-type).

You can make adjustments to the patron type and their max holds by clicking into the patron type you would like to adjust and saving the changes. By default, Aspen sets all max holds to 300.

Aspen will always follow the hold rules set up in your ILS. However, matching the hold limits (Max Holds) in Aspen to your ILS rules will give users a more specific message when trying to place a hold if they’ve reached their hold limit. This message will display at the top of the "Place Holds" screen:

If the user then tries to place the hold anyway, they will see this message:

If the Max Hold value in Aspen is higher than the limit specified in your ILS (Aspen defaults this value to 300), the user will not see the "Maximum Holds Reached" warning message on the Place Hold screen. They will be able to successfully place holds until the limit set in your ILS is reached.

If the Max Hold value in Aspen is lower than the limit specified in your ILS, users will see the "Maximum Holds Reached" warrning message per the limit specified in Aspen's Max Hold value, but users will still be able to successfully place holds until the limit set in your ILS is reached.

If you want to translate the default hold message in Aspen, you can customize it in Aspen Administration > Languages and Translations > Translations

Each of the three sentences is its own phrase to translate in Aspen:

For consortiums or libraries with multiple pick up locations, libraries can set up holds by Pick Up Location for various item types/formats.

In Aspen Administration > ILS Itegration > Indexing Profiles > Format Information > Pickup at > libraries have three options per item type/format: Any valid location, Holding Library and Holding Location

• Any valid location: The library will put it on the courier to any other library in the consortium
• Holding Library: The library will put it on the courier to any other branch of our library system, but not to another library system
• Holding Location: The library isn't putting it on a courier but the user can come pick it up where the item is

If a single location is using Aspen with only one pickup location, you can remove the "Change Pickup Loc." button by going into Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Locations > ILS/Account Integration > change "Valid for all patrons" to "Valid for patrons of this branch only". 

When you save, the button will be removed.

Set Your Patron Types - Max Holds

If you have holds maximums in your ILS, you will want to make sure you have these reflected in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Patron Types > click into the patron type > adjust Max Holds. 

The default for all patron types is 300.

Once you adjust this number and a patron is about to go over that limit, a message will appear at the top of their holds screen.

In this example, the patron only can place 10 holds and they are attempting to place an 11th hold.

Before setting up the patron type max holds, this message will not appear and when a patron goes to place a hold, they will get an error message (may be slightly different depending on ILS):

Both of these messages can be translated in Aspen Administration > Languages and Translations > Translations

Translate Holds Limit Warning Message

Note: You will want to keep the <span class="maxHolds">%1%</span> because this pulls in the hold limits by patron type. 

Translate Holds Failed Too Many Reserves Message

To have Aspen show the user the position in line for their holds, this is controlled in Koha by the System Preference OPACShowHoldQueueDetails.

As long as OPACShowHoldQueueDetails is NOT set to "Don't show any holds details" then users will see the position they are in for their holds. 

Users will also be able to use the Sort by Position option.

As of Koha 22.11, Aspen will honor the System Preference OPACAllowUserToChangeBranch for changing hold's pick up locations in relation to status.

Koha libraries can Allow users to change the library to pick up a hold by status:

• All
• In transit
• Pending
• Suspended

As of Koha 22.11, libraries will now have the option to allow certain patron types and/or item types to cancel waiting holds/Holds Ready for Pickup in Koha Administration > Circulation and fine rules > Default waiting hold cancellation policy.

With these settings, users will see a Cancel Hold button now in the Holds Ready for Pickup section of Aspen.

If a user wants to cancel a hold but does not see the Cancel Hold button as an option, they will need to contact the library or wait for the hold to expire for the hold to be cancelled.