Koha Question of the Week: Do Items Automatically Returned Go Automatically to the Next Person Waiting on Hold?

by Hebah Amin-Headley on Apr 12, 2024

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: Do Items Automatically Returned Go Automatically to the Next Person Waiting on Hold?

Answer: Some libraries use the automatic return functionality for items like museum/park passes or seed packets. For items like the passes, there may be a hold list of patrons waiting for their turn. Currently, Koha does not automatically fill that hold when the prior checkout is ended, so the item would go into the hold queue for staff to trap for the next patron.

The good news is, this requested functionality is coming to Koha with version 23.11, courtesy of Bug 33887: Automatic checkin should be able to optionally fill the next hold with the returned item, which will introduce a new system preference to enable automatic hold fulfillment on return.

Additional Resources

Monday Minutes: Automatic Checkin by Item Type