Freezing Holds instead of Cancelling

Traveling for the holidays? Did you know that you can "Freeze" your holds while you are out of town, and then "Un-Freeze" them when you get back so you don't lose your place in line?

Here's your dilemma: The book you are waiting for has a really long holds list.

The good news: it might come in any day! The bad news: you might be gone when it comes in and you might not be back in time to retrieve it, since the library only keeps holds for six days before sending it along to the next person

To avoid this scenario, you could cancel your hold and then re-request it when you get back. However, you will lose your spot in line and get stuck at the bottom of the list. To keep your spot, "freeze" your holds in your online Minuteman account, instead.

To log in, go to the Minuteman Library Network catalog and click the "Login to My Account" button in the upper right hand corner.

In the middle of the page, you will see a link to your current holds, which you can click on to see more details.

You will notice that the far-right column says "Freeze." If you click this button, and then click the "Update List" button, your holds will remain frozen until you re-activate them.

When your hold is frozen, it will look like this:

And when you un-check the box and click "Update List", it goes back to normal!

This way, you will be "skipped" but not cancelled. And when you unfreeze, you will retrieve your spot in line instead of having to face the bottom of the list.

Happy traveling!!!