Managing Holds Logic for Restricted Consortias

Vega Discover Consortia Libraries that restrict the display of content by Location in Collection Sites by checking the box in the Site Location settings for "Limit the consortia collection site to only the selected preferred locations". 

Restricted Consortias and Work Format Level Hold Logic

Some Consortias that we refer to as Restricted Consortias, do not share materials between all of their member libraries.  In some cases the libraries may catalog their bibliographic records and items separately and use ILS settings to restrict the sharing of materials to patrons belonging to branch locations in the consortia.  In this example there are two groups of libraries in a consortia. Each group creates a separate bibliographic record for each edition (or instance) of a publication of a title like Jane Eyre. The library group creates item records for its group locations that have copies of each edition of the title.  Patrons from Group A can only request materials owned by the libraries in Group A. Patrons from Group B can only request materials owned by Group B. Because Vega is a work based catalog however, the editions of group A and group B are joined in a work in the Consortia level catalog (whether the library uses that catalog or not) and in the Vega database. Because of the work, the normal Hold Logic for Vega Discover can cause a patron from group A to request a copy of Jane Eyre at the work level in their location Group A collection site and Vega may try to place that request on an edition from Group B because there are more available copies on one of those editions.  The hold request will however fail, because the ILS does not let patrons from Group A request items from Group B. 

The Restricted Consortia Hold Logic Setting

To resolve this type of issue Vega Development has create a feature flag that can be turned on for individual libraries that have this or a similar set up. When enabled the feature adds the following logic to our default hold logic ONLY for restricted sites for the library: 

1. If the Site has been limited by checking the box in the Site Location settings for "Limit the consortia collection site to only the selected preferred locations"... First restrict all hold logic to the editions and items displayed in any limited collection. 
2. Then apply the default hold logic to select an edition from the work, from only the displayed editions and items. 
   1. If there are DISPLAYED copies available at the Patron's Pickup Location as selected in the Hold form, Vega selects the DISPLAYED edition of that work that has the MOST copies available at the pickup location to fulfill the hold.
   2. If there are no DISPLAYED copies existing at the Patron's Pickup Location as selected in the Hold form, Vega looks at the Patron's Home Location and selects the DISPLAYED edition with the most available copies at the Patron Home Location. 
   3. If all existing copies at the Pickup Location and Home Location are currently unavailable, but there are available copies at other DISPLAYED locations Vega chooses the DISPLAYED edition with the most available copies overall. 
   4. If all copies of the title are unavailable, Vega chooses the DISPLAYED edition with the best Holds:Copies ratio to fulfill the hold.  
   5. In all cases above, if two or more DISPLAYED editions have the same amount of available copies, or the same holds:copies ratio, Vega chooses the newest of those DISPLAYED editions to fulfill the hold. 

Request This Setting From Support

To request this feature be turned on for your library, create a Support Ticket and request the Restricted Consortia Hold Logic setting. 

Other Types of Consortias

This setting will work the same way even if your library uses a single bibliographic record for all items but you restrict patron circulation by location. Vega only chooses the edition for the work format level hold from displayed editions and items. While problems with hold failures are less likely when using the default Vega Hold Logic with this type of restricted consortia cataloging, a failure could occur if the patron's allowed library doesn't have a copy on the selected edition. If you limit circulation by locations at all and use the "Limit the consortia collection site to only the selected preferred locations" in any of your sites you should turn on this setting. 

If your consortia does not restrict patron circulation via location or group then you do not need to turn on this setting. Regardless of whether your Collections sites have been limited via the "Limit the consortia collection site to only the selected preferred locations" setting, Vega will choose the edition with the best hold fulfillment options to place the hold from the work for the patron.