Seattlest: Small Things We've Noticed at the Seattle Public Library

Superpatron Courtney Nash in Seattle writes this in the comments of a good post on Seattlest:

Seattlest: Small Things We've Noticed at the Seattle Public Library:

I don't know about power using, but it is inevitable that at least 3 books I want to read will come available all at the same time, with a minimum of 500 pages each. It cripples me.

I'd be overjoyed if the SPL system could juggle some form of Netflix queing, where I could say which items I'd like most, and how many I'd like to have at one time. If one I want isn't avail, but one later in the list is, go ahead and give me that one. But only give me 3 at a time no matter what, and keep the other holds "active" in the meantime. I'd be happy just with the option to control the number that get dumped on me at a given time, regardless of overall preference, since that preference order could be hard to do with the library's limited inventory (versus what NetFlix has to work with).

I always forget to go in and check where things are in my hold list, to delay items that might clobber me all at once--that's the only mechanism I know to prevent too many items getting dumped on me simultaneously, but it is tricky because your position in the queue is only a rough estimate for when you'll actually get that item.

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Comments

[Jonathan]

LibraryCamp got me thinking about a similar problem that I have--keeping track of the many, many books that I want to read, but only a few at a time. I started a prototype of a Netflix-style queue for books that you can use Library-Lookup style to place a hold when you're ready. (That doesn't really solve the problem for books that aren't immediately available, though. Being on a long waitlist and then ending up with too many books at the same time sucks, and there's really no way to fix it except from within the library.)

[Anthony]

Tooting our horn, and I apologize in advance. I read your blog quite regularly, and wanted to comment today. AquaBrowser Library OPAC offers RSS fees on items. This means the status and even the search itself will show up in your feed reader. This means you can not only keep track of things you are waiting for, but you'll know when the library gets new titles you are interested in. Perhaps this could assist in the problem of getting too many 'holds' showing up at one time?