ByWater Question of the Week: Why Did this Hold Expire Early?

by Hebah Amin-Headley on Jan 3, 2025

Each Friday, we will bring you a new ByWater Question of the Week. We will select real questions that we receive and share the answers with you!

Question: Why Did this Hold Expire Early?

Answer: Sometimes libraries are surprised by hold pickup expirations that don't match the value in the ReservesMaxPickUpDelay Koha system preference.

One of a couple things may be at play in this case.

First, a patron may have supplied their own expiration date, which Koha interprets as a "not needed after" date. For example, if a library typically gives patrons seven days to pick up a hold, but the patron's expiration date occurs three days into that usual seven-day window, Koha will honor the patron's expiration date rather than the system preference default. The ability to retain the patron's "not needed after" expiration date came into Koha back in 22.05; prior to that, the patron expiration date would be overwritten when the hold was captured for a patron. The holds action logs will show if a patron has supplied a specific expiration date.

A newer feature as of 24.05 allows libraries to apply more granularity to the ReservesMaxPickupDelay value via circulation rules. This eases a multitude of holds woes by allowing branches to set their own pickup periods either for all holds or for certain locations or item types. However, it adds a layer of complexity to hold expiration date troubleshooting when anomalies occur, especially since the holds pickup period (if using something other than the system default) is set on a rule-by-rule basis, with each layer adding room for human error via typos or missing a rule when making large-scale changes for a branch.

If the hold logs have ruled out patron expiration date as a culprit for unexpected hold expirations, checking the applicable branch's circulation rules is a next best place to look for variant hold pickup periods.

Additional Resources

Koha 22.05: New Holds Functionality

Koha Question of the Week: How Do I Search the Hold Logs?

Monday Minutes: Holds Awaiting Pickup