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6.2. Actions on the Hold Shelf
Last Updated 06/11/2026
What Actions Can You Take on Holds Listed on the Hold Shelf?
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Staff can take a variety of actions on holds once they reach the hold shelf, including viewing past circulations, retrieving the patron, editing the pickup location, notification preferences, or shelf expire dates, marking the item discard/weed or missing, re-targeting the hold, and cancelling or uncancelling the hold. Some actions may cause the hold to go into a hopeless state, so check the hold type before performing any actions. Other actions may require follow up actions, such as scanning the item in the checkin interface to trigger a transit.
Once holds become available for pickup, staff can take a variety of actions on them from the Holds Shelf interface. To take an action on a copy on the Holds Sehlf:
- Navigate to Holds Shelf from the Circulation menu.
- Check the box in the grid for the item you want to take an action on.
- Right click or open the Actions menu to see what options are available.
Most actions will either open a pop-up modal, or open a new page in Evergreen in a new tab, leaving the Holds Shelf page active in the original tab.
Available Actions
The following actions may be taken on most items:
Show Last Few Circulations: This will open the Item Status page to the Circ History List tab. From here, you will be able to see however many previous circulations your library has elected to retain (based on Library Settings).
Retrieve Patron: This will open the patron account for the patron who requested the item.
Edit Pickup Library: If a patron would like to pickup their item from another branch, you may change the pickup library using this action. This will change the hold status to "Wrong Shelf." The item will not automatically go in transit to the new pickup library, and must be scanned in the checkin screen to trigger a transit. Once the item is received and scanned at the new pickup library, the shelf expire time will reset, allowing the patron 7 days to pick it up.
Edit Notification Settings: You may edit notification settings for items on the hold shelf, but this will not retrigger a notification. Future notifications (such as a shelf expire warning) will use the settings selected here. This selection will not update the default notification preferences in the patron's account.
Edit Hold Dates: This will open a modal in which you can change various dates related to the hold. Once the hold is in a state of Ready for Pickup, the only date that should be changed is Shelf Expire Date. If your patron is unable to pick up the hold before the 7 day expiration period is up, you may elect to extend this date for the. Use this feature with caution, and only occassionally.
Mark Item Discard/Weed: This action will change the item status to Discard/Weed, and re-target the hold to a new copy. Please note: if the hold was a Copy level hold, it will go into a hopeless state.
Mark Item Missing: This action will change the item status to Missing, and re-target the hold to a new copy. Please note: if the hold was a Copy level hold, it will go into a hopeless state.
Find Another Target: If the item on the shelf is not suitable for the hold (for example, the patron would prefer a hardcover and the copy pulled to fulfill the hold is a paperback) you can use this action to re-target the hold. This will return the selected copy for reshelving or transit to another library, and target a new copy in the system.
Cancel Hold: If the patron is no longer interested in a title, the hold may be cancelled from the Holds Shelf. The canceled hold must be checked in after cancellation in order to trigger a change in item status.
Uncancel Hold: If a hold was canceled from the Holds Shelf by mistake, you may uncancel it as long as it hasn't been checked in and been reshelved, gone in transit, or triggered a hold for a new patron.
Note: for any actions that result in the hold re-targeting, the patron will retain their queue position.
Actions with Silent Failures
The Mark Item Damaged action is currently broken. This action fails silently, meaning there is no indication of failure. The item remains on the hold shelf, and no damage notification is appended to its record. If you find that an item on the holds sehlf is damaged:
- Click on the hyperlinked barcode in teh holds shelf grid. This will open the Item Status page.
- From the Item Status page Actions menu, select Mark Item Damaged.
- This will re-target the hold for the patron, but you may need to notify them of the delay.
If this is a function you would like to have restored to the Holds Shelf Action menu, add some heat to the Launchpad bug!