How long does a freaking book transfer take?
 

I'm going to blame my wife for this one since she works at a library, instantly making anything involving libraries her fault.

I put a hold on a book last Friday just after noon and said I'd pick it up at the library close to work. There are 8 copies of the book in circulation in the OCPL system, all of which are listed as on the shelf. The branches that have the book and the branch that the book is transferring to are open 7 days a week. So they've had half of Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and yesterday to process the request. And it's STILL not there.

What the hell am I paying my $.25 for anyway?!

First of all - this is why some people prefer a smaller library system. :D

Second - because it's such a large system, I have no idea how they process holds, and how they arrange deliveries. Does the branch nearest to your branch with a copy send the hold over? Or is it a random choice? How quickly do books get from one branch to another? Even in our small system of three locations, there are certain places that won't get their stuff on the same day, due to delivery routes. I'm sure this is true for OCPL.

Benefit of the doubt - you placed your hold, and one minute later someone returned the book at the farthest branch (which, for OC, can be pretty far). As it was the very next copy that saw a scanner, that exact copy was stuck on hold for you and is making it's way down the chain of deliveries to you.

I'd recommend that you call your branch and ask what the status is on your book. They should be able to say where it's at, and estimate arrival time. Don't forget to get very mad over this and yell at them for purposely screwing over your reading groove.

Oh - and you pay for onshelf holds? Man, OCPL sucks.

Hey, this is your fault, remember?

I'm finding this thread rather amusing.

I remember when holds were mailed to my house. In anonymous brown envelopes.

*sigh*