Hold Service & Faculty/Staff Office Delivery

The Place Hold service allows you to ask library staff to pull items from the ECU Libraries’ shelves for your use and allows you to be added to a waiting list to be notified when a checked out item is returned. Requested items from the Libraries are usually pulled within 1-3 weekdays, depending on staff availability. You may place holds on materials in all three ECU libraries and choose the library where you would like to pick up the items. Faculty and staff who have offices on-campus may also request delivery of items to their departmental offices using Place Hold.

Place Hold Instructions with Screenshots

Eligibility

  • ECU students, faculty, staff, and anyone with an ECU Libraries borrower card may use this service. Only faculty and staff who have offices on-campus may request delivery to their departmental office.
  • Distance Education students, faculty, and staff living outside Pitt County and not coming onto the ECU campus may request materials be delivered through Joyner Library’s or Laupus Health Sciences Library’s document delivery services.

Material & Collection Restrictions

  • Some library materials are not eligible for the Place Hold service, including those materials in Reference, Microforms, Current Periodicals, Manuscripts and Rare Books, and University Archives. If you need to consult these materials, you may visit the library that holds the materials. If you do not know where they are in the library, please ask for assistance at any of the ECU Libraries’ service desks. You may also request scanned copies of articles and chapters through Joyner Library’s or Laupus Health Sciences Library’s document delivery services.
  • Items on Course Reserves may be placed on hold, but the hold will not be fulfilled until the item is removed from Course Reserves.
  • Holds may be placed on most equipment items (notable exceptions include one-day laptops and marker kits). Equipment is not delivered to faculty/staff offices or shipped to distance education addresses. Multiple requests for the same type of equipment item may be cancelled by library staff. If more than one equipment item of the same type is needed or if you have specific dates you need the equipment, please contact the library to discuss your need in advance. If you have questions about borrowing equipment, please contact Joyner Library Circulation, the Music Library, or Laupus Library.

Submitting Requests

  • Use the ECU Library’s Catalog to place holds on books, media, and equipment.
  • Instructions are available in a PDF with screenshots.
  • If requesting Office Delivery, please ensure that your office address, including campus Mail Stop number, is correct in Pirate Port. Instructions are available in an FAQ entry.

Notification, Hold Period, and Departmental Office Delivery Time

  • You will receive an automated email when requested materials are ready at your selected pickup library. Multiple automated reminder emails will also be sent during the time the materials are on hold for you at your desired pickup library location.
  • Items will be held for three days. Materials will be placed back on the shelves for others to check out after the hold period expires.
  • Items being delivered by Joyner Library to a faculty or staff member will be delivered within several weekdays and will be left in your departmental office if you are not in your office. If your office is closed or declines to accept the items, you will be contacted to pick up the items at one of the libraries.
  • Faculty and staff with offices in the Fletcher Music Center will have their held materials delivered to the Music Library rather than to a departmental office.
  • Items being delivered by Laupus Health Sciences Library to faculty and staff will be hand-delivered within the Allied Health Building and shipped through campus mail to other buildings on the health sciences campus.

Checked Out Items

  • Materials with a due date in the Location field in the Library Catalog record will have a hold placed on them for you. When placing a hold, you have the option to enter an expiration date. You will be notified when the item has been returned, sometimes weeks to months later.
  • If you need a title more quickly, ECU students, faculty, and staff may request an interlibrary loan. This has the library borrow the title from another library. Delivery time cannot be guaranteed, but is often within one or two weeks. For details on interlibrary loan, visit the Joyner Library’s Interlibrary Loan and the Laupus Health Sciences Library’s Interlibrary Loan.

Order of Request Processing

  • There might be times when there are multiple hold requests for the same titles. In such cases, the request received first will be the one fulfilled — unless one of the requests is to have the title placed on Course Reserve. Other hold requests will be added to a wait list.

Time Required / Rush Processing

  • Place Hold requests from Joyner Library and the Music Library will usually be available for pickup within 24-48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays. Requested items from Laupus Health Sciences Library will usually be available within 48-72 hours, excluding weekends and holidays. Staff and student employee absences or other library priorities may delay fulfillment further, though.
  • If you have selected for items to be delivered from one library to another one, availability might be delayed by an additional day.
  • Delivery to departmental offices for faculty and staff might be delayed by staff availability, weather conditions, incorrect addresses, and campus mail.
  • You will be notified by e-mail when your requests have been pulled and are available for pick up at the library. Faculty and staff who have requested delivery to their departmental offices will not receive an email unless library staff are unable to locate your departmental office, are unable to leave items at the departmental office, or if we are unable to find your campus mail address.
  • Unfortunately, rush requests are not accepted. If you need an item quickly, please visit the library that owns the material, as indicated in the Library Catalog. If you need assistance using the Library Catalog or locating materials in the Libraries, please ask for assistance at any of the library’s service desks or Ask a Librarian.

Due Dates and Renewals

  • Titles will be checked out to your ECU Libraries’ account when you pick them up from the library or when they leave the library for delivery to departmental offices for faculty and staff.
  • Your due dates will be determined by your university status (undergraduate student, graduate student, staff member, faculty member, etc.), the type of material you have requested, and the library that owns the material. Since loan periods vary, consult the Laupus Library circulation procedure and the Joyner Library/Music Library circulation procedure for details or ask a library employee.
  • Renewals may be requested for most items. In the Library Catalog, you may login to My Account to request a renewal online. You may also contact one of the Libraries’ circulation service desks.
  • Faculty/staff may request library staff to schedule with them to pick up items from their offices for return to the library or to come to their office to do an in-person renewal.

Fees

  • The Place Hold service is currently free. Faculty/staff office delivery, renewal, and return pick up services are also currently free.
  • Standard overdue fees will apply to any materials not returned or renewed by the due date. For loan period, fine, and fee information, consult the circulation procedures for the library in which your requested material is housed. Consult the Laupus Library circulation procedure and the Joyner Library/Music Library circulation procedure for details.

Canceled Requests

Help

  • Questions about the Place Hold service, including the departmental office delivery service, may be directed to any of the libraries.
  • Questions about a specific hold request should be directed to the library that owns the requested material, if you remember.