Can I suspend ("Freeze") my holds so that they don't arrive when I am on vacation?

Yes. We highly recommend that you log into "My Account" first. Then select "search the catalog" from the first page of My Account.

Then search the catalog to find the item that you would like to request. Click on the "Request" button at the top of the screen.

Then the system will remember your library card number and PIN when you place requests. You will still need to designate a pick up location for each request. Feel free to disregard the "Cancel if not filled by:" field.

Continue searching the catalog and placing requests.

You can have 30 requests on your account at a given time.

The catalog will not allow you to place requests under the following conditions:

• you have already placed a request (hold) for that item.
• you already have 30 holds on your card.
• a $5.00 fine threshold is met.
• Your patron record has reached its expiration date. You need to contact any Minuteman library to extend the life of your card

Staff at any Minuteman library can assist you with your account.

Log in to My Account and enter these numbers before searching for items in the catalog.

No. If you don't enter an expiration date, the catalog keeps your request effective for one year.

Yes. If you have entered your email address into My Account, you will receive email notification.

Minuteman library notices come from: library.minlib.net

How to add Minuteman Library Network to Your Hotmail 'Safe List' :

To ensure that MLN Library emails are not sent to your Hotmail Junk E-Mail folder, you can add an email address or domain (A domain is the portion of the e-mail address that comes after @ -- e.g. @ library.minlib.net) to your Hotmail Safe List.

• 1. Go to the Options page. (upper right of screen)
• 2. On the left side of the page, click Mail, and then click Junk E-Mail Protection.
• 3. Click on Safe List.
• 4. Type an address or domain from which you always want to receive messages (in this case type, 'library.minlib.net' - no quotes), and then click Add.
• 5. Click OK.

Other email programs (such as Yahoo, AOL, etc.) may have a similar way of filtering email and there will likely be a similar "Safe List" procedure for each provider.

The words "Ready. Pick up by xx-xx-xx" in the status column tell you that your request is ready.

Any other status, or the lack of a status, means that your item is not yet ready for you to pick up. Copies may still be at the owning library, a copy may be In Transit between libraries, or all of the copies may be currently unavailable to fill requests.

Additionally, because of a bug in the system if you see only the status "READY FOR PICKUP" your item may not be available at the library. Please call the library you pick up at to verify that the item is there for you.

No, the software does not provide that precise information.

However, there are some facts that will help you to interpret the data that you can view.



In the case of a bestseller such as this, the ratio of requests will give you a good idea of the length of the queue. In the case illustrated above, there are 67 holds for 52 copies. So, on average, the next round of returned items should fill all of the currently outstanding holds.

Priority given to Holds for Pickup at the owning location. Our system is configured to give priority to filling requests for pickup at a given location with items owned by that location. This minimizes the time items spend in the delivery system, as well as giving patrons of a given library priority for use of that library’s items.

By specifying a location that owns the item as your pickup location when you request material, you can improve your priority for receiving the material. This can be especially useful if there are multiple editions of a title. Take care to choose an edition owned by a location you find convenient to use as a pickup location. (When searching for material, identify material owned by your potential pickup location by using the ability to limit to a library.)

Minuteman has to control the volume of materials that are going through the state funded delivery system because the budget for delivery is not sufficient to support its extraordinary growth.

Feature films make up about 15 % of the network transfer (delivery) business. They are easily damaged and easily stolen in transit. In addition, 50% of Minuteman libraries already restrict the lending of new feature films in some way and this has created confusion for staff and patrons about what is truly available to borrow. New feature films are very much a browsing collection that walk-in patrons look for in all of our libraries and walk-in patrons generate 91% of our total circulation.

In many libraries, feature films circulate for one week. When sent through delivery, that hot new title spends days in bins, on a truck, at the warehouse to be sorted, on a hold shelf, and back again on a truck. Over the course of a year, weeks are wasted in the life of a new film as we transport it around the network. For all of these reasons, this seemed the best choice in the effort to limit volume in delivery.

No, it simply means that we cannot transport new feature films for you to the pick-up location of your choice. You may still go directly to the owning library and borrow the films there with your Minuteman Library Network card. It is a good idea to call first and ask about the loan policies that apply in that library. Some libraries will set materials aside for you when you call. That varies from library to library and typically depends on the availability of staff.

We do limit the total number of holds that a patron may have at any one time to twenty. Our software does not allow us to limit by the type of material. In other words, we cannot set limits such as ten books, four DVDs, two CDs etc. We can only set one total limit.

Yes, there are two things that library patrons can do to help. One is to let your state legislators know that you think funding resource sharing among our libraries is important. The state cut funding at a time when the demand for library service was growing. Funding for resource sharing was $4,400,000 in FY 2001. This year it is $2,000,000. At the same time, interlibrary borrowing was expanding from 424,000 items in delivery in fiscal 2003 to 2.8 million items through delivery in fiscal 2005.

The second way to help is to return materials where you borrow them whenever it is convenient. Last year, more than 400,000 items were borrowed directly from one Minuteman library and dropped off at another. This is a convenience that we have willingly supported for many years. Now however, with the tremendous growth in inter library borrowing, we really need our patrons to return where they borrowed whenever they can.

Yes.

• Log in to My Account
• Place a mark in the check box that appears on the right in the column headed "FREEZE".
  • This box only appears if your Hold is eligible to be suspended.
• To save this option to suspend a request, click on UPDATE LIST

When you come back from vacation, reverse the process by unchecking the box in the FREEZE column and click UPDATE LIST.

You will not lose your place in the request queue by freezing a request. When you unfreeze your request you will be restored to your previous place in line.

If the system has already identified an Available item to fill your request, you will not be able to freeze the request. This option works best in the situation where your request is in a long queue of requests waiting for an item.

When you view your Holds in My Account, there will be icicles over the titles that have frozen Holds, as well as the presence of a mark in the checkbox in the FREEZE column for those titles.

Yes, so long as the item is not already on the way to fill your request, or already on the Holdshelf.

• Log in to My Account
• Using the dropdown menu that accompanies the current pickup location for a given title, select a new pickup location.
• Click on UPDATE LIST to save your new pickup locations.