Block patrons from placing holds in VEGA, Mobile App, PAC and Leap if patron is blocked
Having patrons blocked from placing holds if there account is blocked is greatly needed, as patrons can currently place holds through Leap, Vega, Mobile App even if they are blocked for having too many fines.

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michelle commented
I feel that if there card is expired or the are blocked from fines over $10 they should not be able to place holds or request- they should get a pop up saying they can' place this hold or request and the should contact their home library to see what the problem is. We have to make phone calls when items come in and their card is blocked because the card has expired or the owe more than $10. Then we hold the book for a few days and either they come in or they don't and we have to send back to the owning library. This I feel is holding up the book from patrons that are in good standing and wasting the time of the staff .
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Samantha McCoy commented
We had a patron who was in bad standing (owed $20) and had expired yet was able to place holds! I was shocked ... especially because people sometimes do not pay attention to blocks. Please amend this in LEAP!
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Eleanor commented
I agree with Carl Ratz and Lynn Reynish (this should be a configurable setting) and Eric Young (patrons can't place holds through Leap, staff should be able to override a fine block), but otherwise yes, this is kind of ridiculous that we can't already do this? We have one patron who has been submitted to collections but is still able to place holds through the PAC. There's no way any staff member would let them check out, so why let them place the holds? I think ideally this would work like the Polaris SelfCheck blocking conditions, where branches can choose whether or not to block the hold if the patron has money owed, and if so how much money needs to be owed before it becomes an issue.
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Amy Fletcher commented
Being able to block patrons from placing holds when their account has exceeded the financial limit or expiration date is extremely important and surprising that it isn't built into the software.
Patrons that don't realize there is a problem with their account until they try to pick up their item. This can be even more frustrating with locker pickup since the library is closed and now they can't even get someone to help them. We have heard comments such as "How come I was able to place the hold, why didn't it stop me?"If the system prevented the hold in the first place, the patron could call or come into the library to rectify the problem. This would save a tremendous amount of time for staff, delivery and also creates a more positive patron experience.
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Lindsay Braddy commented
In a large system, the volume of holds that can be placed and then potentially not picked up/checked out is huge and not having an option to block holds based on card status fundamentally affects our operations. With this option, we would be able to streamline staff time and workflows substantially.
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Elizabeth Hoffert commented
This would help us greatly, since many of the items placed on hold for our Patrons are at other libraries around the state and must be shipped to us. If the Patron does not clear the block so they can have the item, we just then ship it back without is being used at all. This costs time and money that it should not if the Patron had been prompted to clear the block before they placed the hold.
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Carl Ratz commented
This should be a opt in or out SA setting. For our Library, we allow holds on accounts regardless of status on regular cards. We only block the checkout when the account is in question. We figure if someone wants an item bad enough to put a hold on it, they will have their account status corrected.
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Lynn Reynish commented
We wouldn't object to this being available as a configurable option - but not as the default or only option. We have no objection to customers that owe too much money placing holds and we definitely want the option for staff to place holds in Leap - despite how much money a customer might owe.
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Eric Young commented
I would like to add that Leap is a staff tool and should not be included with this logic. Also, the block should be configurable by the library under SA access.
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rice-anne@monroecounty-fl.gov commented
This improvement is especially relevant with off-site holds lockers. Patron places hold, staff pull items and travels to holds locker to load, patron receives notification hold is available but then unable to check out items due to blocking condition. This creates undue staff workload and patron frustration.
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Jill Martines commented
My staff are asking about this. We have some patrons who are blocked due to lost items placing holds and then taking them.
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Emma Olmstead-Rumsey commented
This should maybe be linked to this idea, too: https://ideas.iii.com/forums/951742-ils-polaris/suggestions/46813915-block-patron-hold-requests-in-the-pac-if-they-are