Hi,

I would like to highlight what I believe to be a shortcoming in the hold/request system used by the UQ library. This has become apparent to me through my experiences in attempting to borrow the book "Introductory Macroeconomics" by Hubbard ... [et al] ( HB172.5 .M332 2009), which is the set textbook for the popular subject ECON1020 this semester. There appears to be 6 copies of this book available for loan, and one high use copy. Due to the popularity of the subject, there are a significant number of people requesting the item.

The problem lies in the fact that instead of being able to place a request on the book in general, a request must be place on one specific copy of the book. This means that when I need to request it, I have to gamble on which copy would be returned to the library first, which makes much less sense than my name being placed in a queue and receiving a copy of the first book to be returned when my name reaches the top of the queue.

In particular, this has caused a significant inconvenience to me when I received an email today stating: "The Library has had to CANCEL your request for the above material as it has gone missing."

I have been slowly making my way up the request queue for this particular copy of the book (which I required for an assessment item due next week). When the item went missing, instead of maintaining my place in the queue for another copy of the book, I have been forced to place my name at the end of the request queue for another copy of this same book. I perceive this to be unfair on people who have been waiting in the hold queue for this copy of the book.

On a different note, I also believe that with so few copies of a very popular book, a greater proportion of the copies, (perhaps two or three instead of one) should be available in the high use section.

Regards,

Hi,

The workstation SSH118 is not working, due to a lack of network connectivity.

Cheers
Paul