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OCLC Support

Settings

Determine the default location for a free text hold request and determine whether to enable the Fulfil using variant records setting for title-level hold requests.

Default Locations

Determine the default location for a free text hold request. Select the Default Holding Location and the Default Shelving Location from the drop-down lists for free text hold requests. Use this screen to set the default location for special request holds.

Special requests allow patrons to ask for a specific item when they do not have enough information to select a specific copy or volume. For example, a patron wants the volume with the red cover but does not know if that is volume 1 or 2 of a set.

  • The default holding and shelving location are required if your library uses special requests
  • The default holding and shelving location will be used as the branch and shelving location associated with special requests on the Pull List, etc.
  • Staff must select the appropriate barcoded item to fulfill the special request. For more information, see Pull list.

In WorldCat Discovery, patrons can place special requests by choosing the 'Special Requests' option.

  • Default Holding Location: Holding Code, as set on the Holding Codes Translation Table screen.
  • Default Shelving Location: Shelving Location, as set on the Holding Codes Translation Table screen. If an item has a temporary and permanent location in WMS, the circulation policy will use the temporary location.

Fulfill using variant records

To fulfill title-level hold requests using any item cataloged for the requested edition, enable the Fulfil using variant records setting. 

When enabled, the system will store all OCLC numbers held by the library (or its circulation group) in the same edition cluster as the bibliographic record selected by the user. The list of OCLC numbers will be visible to library staff in WorldShare Circulation. The hold will appear in the hold queues of all variant records and in the patron's hold queue.

The Pull list will provide any relevant item in the variant record set that is otherwise allowed to fulfill the hold. Checking in a relevant item will fulfill the hold request. No preference will be given to any of the OCLC numbers in the variant record set. Variant records cannot be removed or added to the set. Contact OCLC Support to report inaccuracies in the variant record set.

 Note: Queue position is an estimation of the order in which holds may be fulfilled. Queue position may vary when the request is viewed in different queues. When viewing the patron's holds, the queue position will reflect the OCLC number that the user selected when the hold was created.