Manage Your Holds on ODL

Few things about the library are quite as handy as being able to place a hold on an item you want that is currently checked out. A friend, or a friendly librarian, recommends a couple new authors and mentions a particularly interesting new book, so you log onto the Ohio Digital Library ASAP to start reading them. Sadly, too many other people have heard good things about these books, too, so there are no available copies. You place holds on all of them, eager for them to start arriving.


And just when work is the busiest, you’re leaving town to visit your in-laws', and the leaves need raked, all three books you placed on hold arrive at the same moment.


Happens. Every. Time.


But no more! Now you can freeze the holds you place with the Ohio Digital Library, just like you can freeze the holds you place for physical items from SCDL. You keep your place on the hold list, but the hold isn’t actually filled until you’re ready for the item. And best of all, it’s simple.


After you’ve placed an item on hold, go to your account (the icon that looks like a person) and select Holds. Selecting Options next to an item reveals several new features. (You should check them all out!) One of these options is Suspend hold.

Use the drop-down menu to choose to suspend your hold for 7, 14, 21, 28, 60, or 90 days. Click Submit, and you’re done. In other words, you can prevent your hold from coming in for two weeks until you’re done with that presentation at work, or an entire month, because your mother decided to extend her visit. Or have it hold off for a week while you read that other hold that just came in.

So manage your holds so you never again have to bemoan the fact that the books you really want to read only show up when you can’t read them.

Shelia