I aggree with you Gary. ----- Original Message ----- From: Gary Petraccaro To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2009 12:32 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Hold fors I re-offer my solution. Timed holds. Use it or loose it--one month. If your book is actually needed, nobody should have to wait more than that--assuming that that already isn't too long, but this isn't a perfect world and never was. Another possibility, which seems more of a pain, but would still work, is a limit on the number of holds for any particular person. My problem would be how to do the maintenance on such a site. ----- Original Message ----- From: Monica Willyard To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 10:45 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Hold fors Hi Mickey. Over time, I am slowly shifting my point of view on the hold for issue. It used to be that less than ten percent of books were hold fors, and I was content with that level. I still think it has value and is needed in instances like Marilyn's or when someone needs help with fixing up recipes, charts, and such. I have seen it abused though, and I'm beginning to think we're going overboard as a group. I don't mean that any specific person is doing this. I think it's more of a group drift. I was startled Sunday night when I discovered that the entire first page of books were hold fors when I went to look at books. I have mine set to 50, and I didn't find one single book on that page that wasn't being held for someone. In fact, only 16 books from page 2 didn't have holds. I don't mind it if a person is actively working on a project or is taking the books to proofread on a consistent basis. I recognized some of the names like Marilyn's and understand what's going on with her holds. After some thought, I wrote to a few of the people with books being held for them, and three of them didn't even know someone had posted books for them. I don't have a great solution here. I'll bet we can come up with one that works well, if not perfectly. I guess I would just ask people to take a couple of very quick precautions. If a book is being held for you and you find that you can't handle it, just post to the list. We understand that life happens and would rather get the book proofread than have you tied up in knots because you can't do it. If you are someone who submits books with holds on them, I ask you to consider doing two things. First, if your book is going to be held for someone, please make a point of writing or calling them to let them know the book is available once you submit it. Second, if your book has special needs like recipes that need to be fixed, please note that in the comments. That way, if your proofreader can't take on the book after some time, Carrie could remove the hold with your permission and let another qualified volunteer work on it. These things would keep communication flowing for all of us. Maybe that would be enough to help us get back on track with each other. What do you think? Monica Willyard "The best way to predict the future is to create it." -- Peter Drucker ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Mickey Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 8:48 PM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Hold fors Hi. I just went to get a book to validate, but I'm truly discouraged. There are so many hold for books that I have the definite feeling that only the ones nobody else wants are available. There are some people who have 10 and 12 books waiting for them. I'm sorry, I'm just discouraged. Some of those books have been there for a long time. Maybe if a book has been in the queue for two weeks, the hold should be removed? Just a thought, and probably a very unpopular one. <smile> Not trying to be destructive, only trying to get books out there. Mickey