Say you know you'll be on vacation March 12th and you want to be sure you have the latest bestseller for two weeks of uninterrupted reading time. You're worried that if you place your hold too soon, the item will come in too early... but if you wait too long you might get stuck at the back of a long line.
This is where suspending your holds come in. You can place a hold on an item as early as you like, then suspend it immediately until a date of your choosing. You'll continue to move up the holds queue until you get to the front - and then pause until the date you picked.
1: Find the item you want to reserve and place your hold as usual.
You will have to log in with your library card and PIN if you haven't already. Then choose your pick-up location. Leave the activation date set to today.
2: Once the request has been submitted, you'll be prompted to view your list of requests, where you will see your list of active holds. Now that your hold has been placed, you can suspend it until a date of your choosing.
Check the box next to the item you want to suspend, then click Suspend/Reactivate Selected.
3. Choose your reactivation date and click Submit. Your hold will be suspended, but you will continue moving up the line at a normal rate.
Keep in mind that your hold may be reactivated on that date, but that doesn't mean a copy will be available. You may have to wait for someone to return one if all copies are checked out. If you want to be sure, check the availability of the item in the catalog when it gets closer to your desired date:
Say you need the item for March 12th. Take a look two weeks before March 12th and see that a copy will be due March 9th. You can set your reactivation date to March 9th so that no one else has a chance to check it out right before the date you need it (assuming you've placed the initial hold early enough that you are now at the front of the line).
Remember to allow at least two days for the book to travel from its return location to your chosen branch!
• There is no guarantee that the person who has the item checked out before you will return it on time.
• Items can need up to two days to be delivered to your chosen branch if they were returned elsewhere.
• If you didn't place your initial hold far enough in advance, you may not be first in line when your reactivation date comes. You can always wait to suspend your hold until you see that you're close to the front of the line.
• If someone checks out the item right before your reactivation date, it will not change that person's due date; your hold will be activated, but you will still have to wait for the item to be returned before you can collect it.
