Seattle Public Library Keeps You in Suspense!

Back in '06, Seattlest James mentioned that the library let you scope the difference online between active and inactive holds, which made us pine for a "Netflix queue" for hold requests, not realizing that active/inactive was a big step in that direction.

Previously, when you created an online account with the library, you could search for whatever (books, CDs, DVDs) and place a hold on anything that was not "in" at the moment, telling the library to send it to your local branch when it was available. For really popular items, you could be in a line several hundred people long, so it was difficult to time the arrival of multiple holds.

But now if you get to the top of the list of several holds simultaneously, you can suspend your hold (i.e., make it inactive) until a set date, without losing your place in line. Very handy! Unlike SPL's Chat with a Librarian platform, which connected us with a librarian in Pennsylvania when we wanted to find out more for this post.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By MvB in Miscellaneous on March 30, 2009 1:00 PM

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Shelf Talk

Here's another way we keep you in suspense!

Ashley

I definitely didn't know you could suspend a hold at SPL. Good tip, as that would have been mighty useful when three seasons of the same TV show came up within two weeks of each other.

...even the most avid Desperate Housewives fan cannot be THAT avid.

Toby

Hi,

It would be great to have a queue that is as easy to manipulate as Netflix. Unfortunately we're stuck using a third party vendor software (from SirsiDynix) that we have limited ability to modify. We have had this suspend/inactive hold option for awhile now.

As for the chat experience, I'm sorry that chatting with a librarian in Pennsylvania wasn't helpful in this situation, but that's the trade off for being able to provide live customer help 24/7. We at SPL do cover the chat service M-F 10-6 and Sundays 10-12, so during those times you're likely to get one of us.

We do try to make it understood on the chat form that you might end up with someone outside of SPL helping you (which turns out to be fine for homework help questions, finding general library information, searching for books, movies, etc.).

"Librarians from around the country are available 24/7 to help you find information on any subject."

And finally, just putting a plug in for the new Popular Searches link currently only found in the Search tab of the catalog.

From reading your blog, I'm sure that you're a regular library user... hopefully you'll keep coming back! And we're always looking for feedback on things, so keep contacting us to let us know what works and what doesn't.

Cheers!

Toby@SPL

ozmafan

i've been using the library as netflix for at least three years now and i'm almost certain you've been able to suspend your holds all this time...i could be wrong, though.

MvB

Nope, you are correct! That's what I meant by the "not realizing" part. For the benefit on new users, it doesn't at all *look* like a Netflix queue, but it does give you more control over when things show up. Kinda wish the library had emailed me about that to explain the functionality--I do place 40+ holds per year.

ChrisB

Yeah, I've been using this service for years now. I mean, this is why you'll find that you're 15 in a queue with 4 active holds in front of you.