Renew your checkouts – even if they have holds – as long as another copy is available
Have you ever seen this message when you tried to renew one of your checked-out items?
Preventing a renewal makes sense if other library users are waiting to borrow the title and all the copies are checked out. But, as many regular users noticed, there was a flaw in our system's logic: renewals were being blocked for items with holds on them even if other copies of the title were available to borrow. The only way to renew an item with a hold on it was to contact library staff, who would manually check whether or not other copies were available and override the system setting to allow the renewal.
This approach to managing renewals was inconvenient for users and an inefficient use of staff resources. So we're delighted to announce that, following an upgrade this past weekend, the library's account system now has logic that checks for available copies and allows renewals to proceed as long as there is a copy on the shelf that can fill an outstanding hold.
There are still situations where you won't be able to renew a checked-out item:
- It's a popular item with a waiting list and no available copies
- It's a popular item with a waiting list and the "available" copies are not copies that can fill holds (e.g. they are reference-only or Best Bets copies)
- The item is a new feature DVD or part of a Book Club Set
- You have already renewed the item the maximum number of times
Our goal is to make borrowing and renewing more convenient, while still ensuring equitable access to library materials. Thanks to everyone who has sent in feedback to help us improve the self-service renewal option!
10 thoughts on “Renew your checkouts – even if they have holds – as long as another copy is available”
This is excellent news!
Enfin!
Nice usability improvement!
Thank you so much! You fixed a problem that’s plagued me for years!
Enfin. I will not need to call to have it renewed by library staff. Thank you very much.
thanks for addressing that irksome issue!
This makes me happy. I’ve often seen no holds out on an item I’ve borrowed, but have to return it – just to see another copy take weeks to arrive from across the city!
A couple of questions though:
(a) to double check contingencies, the system should consider items that are marked as misplaced (“Not Available – Search in Progress”) as an unavailable copy; not a copy that is available. Has that been done too?
I ask because this title [ http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDM550202&R=550202 ] has a reported 86 copies (“74 holds / 86 copies”). It’s 86 in total but there are 7 copies classed under “Not Available – Search in Progress”. So, should not the numbers be: 74 holds/79 copies?
(b) does this mean that there are, or aren’t, changes to renewing an item after it’s already been checked out twice? If someone has a copy of Ender’s Game, there are 79 copies in circulation and the title has 74 holds, would someone be able to go into a branch to check it in with staff and then borrow the same copy again?
Hi Kevin,
(a) Available means “in library” – copies we can’t currently locate would be considered unavailable for the purpose of allowing a renewal. The total copies shown for each title on the website includes all copies, not just available copies. (You raise a good point, though: it might be helpful if we provided a number of available copies for each title. That’s something we can look at adding in the future.)
(b) There are no changes to the maximum number of renewals allowed – it’s still 2.
Hi Sandra,
Okay, sounds good.
Thanks for your reply.
So glad they have changed that – I would take the actual copy into the branch and ask them to check just how many copies were on the shelf and the information desk person would then renew it.