Holds and Requestability

Make an Item Unrequestable

To make an item unrequestable because it is in poor condition, please fill out this form.

New items to your location are unrequestable by IndyPL patrons for the first 30 days. Although we wanted to make them requestable only at your location for that amount of time, Polaris wasn’t able to be that flexible. Your new items may “trap holds” for other Shared System locations before your first 30 days are up. When you check the item in, and a hold is trapped, you can answer “no” to sending the item to fill the hold and answer “yes” to keeping the patron in the hold queue.

Just as a reminder, this is a Shared System.  It is against library policy, and thus a violation of your agreement with us, to delete a patron’s hold because you don’t want to share something they have requested.  If the item is new, or you know it will be needed soon, please check it out to a person so that it is legitimately being used.  Too often, new items will get checked out to a display card or a library teacher card and forgotten.  That means your patrons think the item is out and so they will request it from another location.  If you have a title you know a lot of your students will want to read, please request lots of copies on your library teacher card and set them out so your patrons will see them! 

Shared System members do not share DVDs or Blurays. Some locations also select specific parts of their collection to be unrequestable. For example, students may require a set of books for a capstone project, or each grade may have a number of books that are required reading. Please discuss this with us so we can work out the most efficient way to make those books available only to your patrons.

Multiple Title Requests for the Same Patron

1. Go to patron record
2. Click on holds
3. Click on Multiple Holds (If you don’t see multiple holds, then click on the MORE button)
4. Click on Add Titles button
5. Search for items (Filter as necessary)
6. Select items by checking the box next to them
7. Click on the Open button which will take you back to the patron record.
8. Select the items by checking the box next to them
9. Click the Place Hold Button.

Multiple Item Requests for the Same Patron

1. Go to the patron record.
2. Click on holds
3. Click on Multiple Holds (If you don’t see multiple holds, then click on the MORE button)
4. Click on Add Titles button
5. Change from a Bibliographic Search to an Item Record Search (Item Record—Basic Search–-Title–-Exact)
6. Search for title

• Select copies by checking the box next to them (You probably will want to make sure that the item is in before checking the box, and the format)
• Click on the Open button which will take you back to the patron record.
• Select the items by checking the box at the top of the list which will select the all the items.
• Click the Place Hold Button.
• There will be a Pop Up that says you are placing multiple holds on the same item. Just click the Continue button until it stops popping up.
• The holds will have a book symbol next to each item. The book symbol or icon indicates an “item level” hold.

Hold Statuses

Polaris Hold Status	Horizon Hold Status (prior to January 2020)
Active – When a hold is placed, it will have an Active status if no items are available	Open, unfilled request
Cancelled – When a hold is cancelled by patrons and/or staff	Hold cancelled by patron/staff
Expired – If a hold is not satisfied after one year, the status automatically changes to expired	Hold cancelled by library
Held – An item has been trapped to fill the hold and has been placed on the hold shelf for pick up by the patron.  We hold items for 7 days.	Hold Shelf
Inactive – Inactive holds have an activation date in the future.  The future date is set by staff or by patrons.	Suspended hold
Pending – Item is on a pick list, but has not yet been checked in
Unclaimed – Was held for 7 days and not picked up	Expired Hold
Shipped – Shipped for hold (NOTE: The circulation status for the item satisfying this hold will be Transferred.)	In Transit