[Koha] Holds Queue Idea for Patrons

[BWS Johnson]

Salvete!

> When patrons inquire about this type of feature, I always tell them about the 
> hold suspension feature.  They can keep their holds all suspended and unsuspend 
> them one at a time as they decide which one they'd like next.  Also a great 
> option for patrons who worry that their holds will all come in at once.
> 


    I am enjoying this discussion so far. It would surely be super popular for just about every type of Library.


    Ah, but Patrons shouldn't have to! One of the delightful topics at Conference was that we Librarians often work about things unbeknownst to the Developers. This seems like summat we have most of the parts for already. Some of the pieces that we are missing would be an array that attaches to trigger upon return to circulation. Then it could check against the Patron's private list and do the unsuspend for them. If folks wanted to be fancier, the Patron could set a preference about how many holds were waiting at the Library at a time, just as certain subscription services charge per widget per month. Of course, one would want a Staff toggle on all of this stuff so that individual Libraries could set their policies. (But being non Patron centric is generally bad policy.) Bonus points for a good olde rewrite of the Holds Module so that the rats nest of code that is surely there gets properly cleaned and folks that don't give a fig about holds (yes those exist) do not have to run a big chunk of an ILS that they don't actually want.


    My question for the developers or cost analysis folks is the usual: May we please get an rough aestimate of how many hours this would take and what a ballpark of the cost to do so would be?

Cheers,
Brooke