Things I've Noticed: Hovering at the top of my hold queue can be frustrating

All right, let's start by admitting that this really isn't a problem.

That when it comes to getting (effectively) free stuff from the library should not lead to me complaining.

And most importantly, that my problem is entirely a problem of my own making.

Good.

So my local library (which is wonderful, by the way) allows you to put holds on titles you might like to take out (pretty much like every other library), and even allows you to put holds on items they have ordered, but which have not yet entered the actual collection.

My problem is that my account lets me put twenty five items on hold at one time, and as I regularly check on "just ordered" items and also make use of my library's Inter-Library Loan policy (where one library borrows an item from another library), I tend to have a lot of items on hold at any given time.

Like say, twenty five.

Which means that when new stuff shows up - and yes, I know complaining about my library getting new stuff that they are willing to loan me for free makes me sound pretty terrible - I cannot put holds on anything and instead have to add it to my "for later" shelf - which allows me to keep track of things I'd like to check out someday, but not today (also an amazing service, by the way).

Which leaves me with maybe one or two slots available at any given time to put one or two of the fifty or so items I want on hold...

Aw man - looking back at my complaint I'm pretty sure I've just written a decent advertisement for my local library.

So there you go.

Things I've Noticed: The Hold Queue can be a good thing

Although it was only a few weeks ago that I was complaining about how my public library sent me too many of my holds, I’m now sitting in a large number of hold queues; basically I will be lucky if any of the 23 items I am waiting for will be available before January.

So with a whole bunch of time on my hands (the next three books I’ve scheduled myself to read are all loaners from friends who I won’t be seeing for a few days) I’ve decided to dig into my comic books. Having read Starman last month, and reading Justice Society of America for this month, it’s time for me to check out a few titles I’ve been meaning to get around to reading.

Over this week I’ve read Joe Hill’s Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, Things Undone by Shane White, Tim Seeley’s Hack/Slash Omnibus #1 (I’ll have a book review of it up on Monday), a bunch of Hellboy titles and some Astro City as well. The best part is I can read a couple a day and get a nice dose of great genre fiction.

In the end, I’m always looking forward to my library holds, but spacing like this allows me to check into a lot of my own stuff, so it works out for everyone.