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On-Order Holds Extension

SWAN performs a monthly extension to holds expiration dates for items that are on-order. This is in response to member libraries reporting that patrons' holds were expiring for items that undergo publication or delivery delays. The extension prevents early-acting patrons from falling off of a hold queue for certain long-awaited items.

Holds extension process

Each month, SWAN staff runs a report of bibliographic records with one or more copies on order. We then examine all holds attached to the record that meet the following conditions:

  • Hold is not available
  • Hold is of status ACTIVE
  • Hold expires within the next 60 days

We will then adjust the expiration date of these holds to push them out an additional month. If holds are not fulfilled and copies remain on-order, these holds will continue to be pushed out until copies arrive to fulfill them.

Types of materials affected

Primarily, the items we see in the holds extension report are pre-publication items that happen to have been in our system for a year or more. These represent materials that have undergone publication delays or back orders.

We have also observed items in this report that have been lost or discarded but have replacement copies on the way.