Play Book Tag discussion
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"User has too many holds"
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HAHAHAHA, NO! I can't read that many books in 2 weeks. The only time I have multiple books on hold is if there are books I want that have a long wait list. Otherwise I am always under the 10 hold max. Two at a time at the max.
I am part of the Slow Readers Club :(
Well, I don't rely completely on library ebooks so I rarely hit the hold max. However, I have done so - and I move those books off hold onto wishlist that either don't have long holds or I keep extending on suspension endlessly as I figure I'll just put them back on hold when I actually believe I will read them. Wishlist at least lets me know the library has it.
My libraries don't have a max hold or max on physical books. But there is a low max on e-books (I mainly use that for audio) - in my home commune/ county it's 3 for overdrive and 3 for Danish books (another app) and the library where I work it's 8 for the Danish books and 3 for overdrive. But I am a member of both those libraries + an additional library card I use for work, but I also use it to get around the limits on English books (mwuahaha!). So yes, quite a bit of planning goes into that...
I'm always maxed out for e-library holds. My e-library only lets me have 6 holds at a time for the digital library, and I'm always using them for audiobooks. Trouble like you mentioned comes when 5 come out at the same time, and I have 3 weeks to listen to 60 hours of audio. I try my best to "time them right". I almost always have a book or two that are at "more than 6 months", one hold at 10 weeks, one hold at 2 weeks, a hold at 6 weeks- but this only works marginally well. (I currently have 4 at "available in two weeks" wish me luck). I have one library card for the city I grew up on, and a new library card for the city I live in now. Obviously these are used separately for their library systems in person, however the Oregon digital library is all connected (lib2go). So I have two library card numbers for the digital library. I use both, so I can "cheat" the system and have 12 holds going at once.
For PBT, I mainly use physical library books or available e-books since they're easier to get in time for deadlines, and I'm unwilling to mess with my precious holds.
Ouch - I don't know whether our library has a max on holds - I've got 8 open at the moment. I do make frequent use of the 'pause hold' feature though - it lets you keep your place in the queue for a later date, so when the 3 possible tags are announced, I try to put a possible book on hold for each, then if I get near the top of the queue, pause them until the start of the month (& cancel the unsuccessful tags unless they particularly interest me). I use the library a lot but typically only have a handful of books out at once. I was impressed earlier in the summer though when I saw a woman picking up her hold books & she had two big piles that she was struggling to get back to her car :-)
I’ve never had that many holds. Managing my library and the monthly tags have been more conservative than 25. Plus the books come in quickly. I always know exactly which titles or possibilities are up for the next six weeks or so, so I can be a bit more conservative.
My library does not have a limit on borrowing physical copies, that's how I read- but I know they do on e-books. Right now I have 8 on the wait list-1 physically holding for me to pick up. Normally the wait list is filled with at least 10 and I usually have 5-7 books out a time. As far as a strategy-I usually check out 3-4 for the tag and I read the first 2 or 3 chapters to see if I really want to read it. If not it goes back and I move on. For Horizon's I do the same thing-
I haven't hit the max and don't know if I'll ever have that issue. Here I have 3 library systems that I'm a part of. I have my county, Snohomish, and then since I'm near Seattle I also have their county library system, King, and the Seattle Public Library. I actually pass a Snohomish county library and a King county library branch on the days that I go into the office. And this week I happen to be working in Seattle and am tempted to run down to their library while I'm down there.
I mainly just stick to mine because it's too stressful to have too many books out. I feel like I have to read them and then it becomes less fun.
I really like reading print books so I mostly check those out. I do the occasionally ebook and haven't tried a library digital audio book yet. I mostly am fine with my Audible subscription.
Probably another reason that I don't use the library as much is my local used bookstore that I like to give business to if I can. I always have a pile on my counter of books to take to her. (And she has a store cat named Comma.) For some books I sometimes try to see if she has it first and then go to the library... just depends.
Charlotte wrote: "I haven't hit the max and don't know if I'll ever have that issue. Here I have 3 library systems that I'm a part of. I have my county, Snohomish, and then since I'm near Seattle I also have their..."
Hello neighbour! I'm in Seattle & I've found SPL to be the best library system I've ever come across - so many branches + so well integrated = a huge choice of conveniently-available books. I think I do also have a King County card from when we first moved here & briefly stayed in an apartment in Bellevue too - I always joke that when moving countries, a library card is one of the very first things I get sorted...
Joi wrote: "Trouble like you mentioned comes when 5 come out at the same time, and I have 3 weeks to listen to 60 hours of audio...."Joi ... get an MP3 player. You can download / transfer the files from Ovedrive to your MP3 player. Return the e-audio and still listen at your leisure via your portable player. Of course you have to listen WITHOUT connecting to any Wi-Fi, but that's not much of an issue. I do this whenever we're going to be on the road for a while.... stockpile some audiobooks on the MP3 player so I'm good to go while away from home.
I don't know if my library has a max # of physical item holds (or checkouts) or not, but I am really careful to try not to have lots come in at once. I rarely put holds on anything that already has 10+ holds (it gets too tricky to judge when it will come in). For e-books + audio, there is a max of 50 books out, I think. And/or 50 books on hold? In any case, same thing. I am less likely to put something on hold if I can't guess as to when it will come in for me. The more holds are already on the book, the harder that is to figure out.
In the past year or so, I have been more willing to put audio books on hold and when they come, they come (though if I notice and I don't think I'll be ready, I am able to suspend them for a bit). But, I only do that because audios seem to be much more popular than they used to be, so it's much harder to get my hands on the ones I want!
Nikki wrote: "Charlotte wrote: "I haven't hit the max and don't know if I'll ever have that issue. Here I have 3 library systems that I'm a part of. I have my county, Snohomish, and then since I'm near Seattle..."
Hey neighbor!!! I love the library systems here!! I rarely used the one back where I lived in FL but they make it so easy here. I mostly use the Snohomish county one but they all seem super similar and if I can't find a book in Snohomish, I'll sometimes check King or SPL. I love the SPL library... so pretty!!! I've worked from there a couple of times when I've been down in Seattle. I live out in Monroe but work all over depending on the customer.
I often flirt with my library's 30-hold limit, but my main problem is that I tend to have holds on a number of things that are still on order. It gets a little hairy sometimes, but I also work at one library branch and live pretty close to two other branches and often have meetings at the Central branch, so I don't always have to place holds so long as I remember to grab a book when I'm at another branch.And speaking as a library person who used to work in circulation, don't feel bad for taking advantage of your holds! It's kind of baffling the number of times I offer to place a hold on something for people and they don't want to be a bother or make more work/want to just wait and see if the book comes back to this branch. Library holds are literally built into the workflow of a library system, and many systems have what are called floating collections, which means something checked out at your branch may land on the shelf at another branch if someone returns it elsewhere and no one is placing a hold on it.
Hebah wrote: "I often flirt with my library's 30-hold limit, but my main problem is that I tend to have holds on a number of things that are still on order. It gets a little hairy sometimes, but I also work at o..."I use to feel bad about requesting so many holds-I too put a lot of holds on books that are still on order. Then I started volunteering at my library and realized that what you said is spot on. I am one of the patrons who always has something sitting on the shelf at the circulation desk, waiting to be picked up.
Having retired from a public library I can tell you that we don't have a name for people with "too many" holds! At least at my library. The only limit we put on borrowing was, whatever you feel you can read in the allotted time. We loved people who checked out a lot of books, as long as they eventually get returned because that always made out circulation numbers good! We live on statistics!I think right now there is a limit of 10 e-books at a time, checked out, not on hold. There might be a 25 item list for holds but that's only the library's actual holdings - not the on-line stuff.
I feel like a slacker. I feel like I need to put a bunch more books on hold!!! LOL
Barbara wrote: "Having retired from a public library I can tell you that we don't have a name for people with "too many" holds! At least at my library. ...Hebah wrote: "I often flirt with my library's 30-hold limit, but my main problem is that I tend to have holds on a number of things that are still on order. It gets a little hairy sometimes, but I also work at o..."
We loved people who checked out a lot of books, as long as they eventually get returned because that always made out circulation numbers good! We live on statistics! "
Wow, it's great to know that we're helping the library! I think it helps with funding too.
Like Joanne, I order a lot of tag and horizons books to read a little to see what I like. Some go back right away, especially if the font size is too tiny. The reviews in this group often help me decide which Horizons books to try first.
My hold list has a few new books 'on order' that haven't been released yet, so they might take months. So when Olive, Again is released, I'll get one of the first copies in my library system. They ordered 30 copies already, so they must think it's going to do well.
I love seeing all the different strategies, and hearing about the different libraries. Apparently 'move to the Seattle area' is a good one. My husband loves the area, so who knows?
I have access to 2 library systems, city and county. I'm a daily overdrive user. I believe the limit is 12 checkouts and 12 holds, if I get close to the limit, I just cancel or return something that I'm probably not going to read in a reasonable amount of time. I also request paper books from both systems. There's always a stack with looming due dates that I will extend as far as I possible can.I love having the ability to request books online. I'll frequently request a new book in every available format in the hopes that at least one edition will have a shorter queue. Occasionally, I end up with the same title in 3 different formats. I'm very greedy.
I just realized, the reason I participate in this group goes back to my use of LA County Library's request services. Back in 2008, I was still teaching. I used to request books and video tapes for classroom use. The home page for the library system had links and a bit of info for Shelfari (RIP) and Librarything. I had serious insomnia at the time, so I'd do my lesson planning, request my education materials, and then spend hours on shelfari, lurking and finally participating in book discussions. ....the rest is history.
Charlotte wrote: "I feel like a slacker. I feel like I need to put a bunch more books on hold!!! LOL"Not at all! For me, it doesn't mean I'm reading more books, it's just that I'm reading newer books (or large print books) that have long wait lists. Plus, ever since I challenged myself to avoid buying books, I feel liberated from the need to finish every book I start.
Jgrace wrote: "I have access to 2 library systems, city and county. I'm a daily overdrive user. I believe the limit is 12 checkouts and 12 holds, if I get close to the limit, I just cancel or return something tha..."I do the same things. Requesting multiple formats saves a lot of time.
I'm with Barbara on this one. I work in a public library and a lot of our funding depends on stats: all of your holds make a difference and we love you for it!
NancyJ wrote: "I tried to put Us Against Them (the sequel to Beartown) on hold for mid-September, and my library computer told me "Use has too many holds."Does this happen to anyone else? It happens to me every..."
This is why I hold onto my kids' library cards for as long as they let me--I can beat the system by using theirs :). Once my son wants his (not too likely for some time), I'll be stuck with the 20 my library allows (that is very generous, too). We can have quite a few books out at once, too. So happy this is so!
Karin wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I tried to put Us Against Them (the sequel to Beartown) on hold for mid-September, and my library computer told me "Use has too many holds."Does this happen to anyone else? It happ..."
Karin, it's just practical, right?
My grown up son still teases me for the fact that I got his card frozen when he was a kid because I lost one of the CDs in a set. I didn't realize it, until one day he wanted to take something out. I always say "So what. I paid for it, and you got your book the next day." But they all think it's really funny. He mentioned it again recently. (After my husband warned him not to trip over one of my bright colored library bags by the door.) You'd think there would be a statute of limitations on this sort of thing.
Come to think of it, my sibs and I still love to tell a story that embarrasses my mother.
NancyJ wrote: "Karin wrote: "NancyJ wrote: "I tried to put Us Against Them (the sequel to Beartown) on hold for mid-September, and my library computer told me "Use has too many holds."Does this happen to anyone..."
Yes, it's practical :). Plus as long as I have their cards, I pay the fines unless they do something really stupid (hasn't happened). Once they have them, they pay all the fines :)
Does this happen to anyone else? It happens to me every month, especially when I'm considering many options for the tag and horizons books. My library system allows us to put 25 books, and 10 electronic books on hold. If all my requests come in at the same time, I'll have too many books out. Our max is 50.
When I have too many requests I put them on my husband's card, and his account is almost to the limit too. (Don't tell him.) A lot of my holds are are for upcoming bookclub selections, and Trim books that have long wait lists. I can suspend them for a later date, and I'm often #1 on the list by the time I need it.
Does anyone else have strategies that help you play book tag?
Also, is there a name for greedy library patrons who take out too many books. If so, I'm guilty.