Koha Question of the Week: What is the difference between Holds to Pull vs Holds Queue

by Kelly McElligott on Feb 25, 2022

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

Question: What is the difference between Holds to Pull vs Holds Queue

Answer: Great question!

There are a few differences between these two Hold reports that can be found in the Circulation Module within Koha.

Holds to Pull

Holds to Pull- Generally, this report will be used by a single branch. This report will show the library the items on the shelf that have been placed on hold and are currently available. For a multi-branch library system, using this report will show If the items are available at multiple libraries then all libraries with that item available will see the hold to pull until one library triggers the hold.

Holds Queue

Holds Queue- this report is generally used by a multi-branch library system. Also, this report runs off of a cron, so if a library isn't using this and want to start, reach out to their support provider to activate the "Build Holds Queue Cron Job". This cron will run every hour or the frequency a library system would desire. This cron job will determine which library should be responsible for fulfilling a given hold request.

A few system preferences control how this cron job determines what holds go on what library's report.

StaticHoldsQueueWeight, RandomizeHoldsQueueWeight and UseTransportCostMatrix.

Library systems can determine what library branches are participating in this Holds Queue report. If you do not want all of your libraries to participate in the on-shelf holds fulfillment process, you should list the libraries that *do* participate in the process here by inputting all the participating library’s branch codes within the system preference.

Table Settings

Both of these reports can be configured to show/hide any desired columns. This can be done within the Table Settings option found in the Administration Module.

The Holds Queue table settings can be found under the "Holds-Table"

The Holds Pull table setting can be found under "Holds to Pull" You can customize the columns of this table in the ‘Table settings’ section of the Administration module (table id: holds-to-pull).