Proxy Checkout with Cancel Holds!

Let me be the first to admit that I had never heard of this until yesterday- but it is the default setting for those (hopefully) rare instances when you want to check out an item that is currently on hold for one patron to a different patron. The two most obvious and legitimate applications of this are:
• A patron is notified of a hold and a family member comes to pick up the item on their behalf, using their own card.
• A patron brings a book to the circ desk that was assigned to satisfy a hold through the onshelf holds report, but has not yet been pulled and put into transit

To emphasize- the first option is for items that are ON the holds shelf for a patron, the second is for items that are in the stacks.

When this occurs, you’ll see a screen like this when you try to check out the item to the patron who doesn’t have the hold:



The middle button “Override checkout item and cancel hold” is the proper choice for the patron’s relation/family member scenario- since the item is intended for the patron who it is on hold for, you DO want to cancel the hold.

However, the first button- “override and checkout item” should ALWAYS be used in the following circumstances
• If the patron has found the book on shelf in the stacks and brings it to the desk- it’s unreasonable that they shouldn’t be allowed to check out a book that they found, due to our administrative processes, and since the item hasn’t been transited the patron with the hold will not have been notified about an item being available- and they will retain their place in the holds “queue”.
• If, for some reason the item is ON THE HOLDS SHELF and is NOT being checked out to someone related to the patron with the hold. If you are going to take this option, it is vital that the proper patron retains some their hold. This option does not cancel the hold- although you will still be in the position of having to explain why the item is not available to them at that point, since they may already have been notified that it is available for them, especially if they have email notices.

It’s a fact that there are probably some rare instances where staff might legitimately exercise some kind of discretion about the holds queue, so please make sure that staff know about the proper circumstances to cancel or not cancel a hold in this type of situation.