The first in, first out patch that was applied earlier this week has unforeseen and uncorrectable issues. With the patch in place, when an item was checked in, Evergreen looked at the first 10 people on the waitlist to try to fill the hold. This would work for older items. However in the case of any newer item, or an item that doesn’t circulate outside of the library system (like a DVD), if one of the first 10 patrons is not a patron of that library, no hold is trapped at all.

For example, if an Adams Public Library System patron is number 11 on the holds list for the DVD of Letters to Juliet, and the APLS copy of the DVD is returned, the APLS patron is not getting the hold.

If we changed the limit to have Evergreen check 20 patrons, the time it would take for the check-in to be complete could be doubled.

Because this so adversely affected the holds process, the patch has been turned off for the time being.

The Holds Stalling function is still set to “0.” When an item is returned to a library, Evergreen is filling the hold at the point of check-in, whether it is for a local patron or another library’s patron.