Wishlist: Provide functionality to bypass capturing for a hold pickup location when the org unit is closed

[Michele Morgan]

When libraries are closed, there are ways to control what happens to their own items that can fulfill holds, but there is no way to control whether holds for pickup at the closed library are captured or not.

The org unit settings circ.holds.target_when_closed and circ.holds.target_when_closed_if_at_pickup_lib control how a library's copies are targeted on days that are entered in the Closed Dates Editor. There is also the ou setting circ.holds.target_skip_me which will turn off targeting a library's copies indefinitely.

There are no settings that can turn off capturing holds for pickup at the closed library, however. So the library can control items going out but not coming in. Some use cases:

Use case 1:

The library is closed on Saturday and Sunday. It's fine if items are captured at other libraries on those days and set in transit to the closed library since it will reopen on Monday.

Use case 2:

The library is closed for a week for a semester break. It would be preferable if other libraries' items were not targeted for holds for pickup at this library while it's closed since the library cannot receive them and patrons cannot pick them up. Continuing to target other libraries' copies for these holds makes copies unavailable for circulation and other holds, and causes delivery backups.

Use case 3:

The library is closed for a month while they move to a temporary location in preparation for a construction project. Presents problems similar to Use case 2, but magnified.

Perhaps an enhancement to the days closed table could work for this. Adding two True/False columns to the actor.org_unit_closed table:

capture
capture_if_at_pickup

which could be set for each closure so the library could decide during which closures items should be captured at other libraries to fill their holds, and for which closures their holds should be bypassed.

Taking this a step further adding two additional True/False columns:

target
target_if_at_pickup

could replace the circ.holds.target_when_closed and circ.holds.target_when_closed_if_at_pickup_lib ou settings, allowing libraries to set the targeting behavior in advance when setting up their calendars.

[Jennifer Bruch (jbruchpails)]

This would be really handy for libraries who close temporarily during renovations and Covid exposures.