Hi Jonathan,
As soon as books are checked in, they show up as "Available" in FRANCIS. However, they may take days or weeks to be sorted and returned to the shelves, especially when it's busy at the end of the term. So, your best bet is to ask at the Research Help Desk or Access Services Desk so that we can check in the sorting room for you, and report the book missing if it can't be found.
As for putting a hold on a book, this isn't a feature that our catalog software supports, unfortunately. I thought there was a Recall Button in FRANCIS, but I don't see it now. I'll refer this to our Electronic Public Interfaces Committee for investigation. In the meantime, you should try one of our InterLibrary Loan services, such as NExpress. It can take 2 weeks for a recalled book to come in, but just a couple days to get it from one of our partner libraries.
Nick Baker said on December 14th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Nick, there actually is a recall button on FRANCIS. However, it does not show up if the book is checked out to ILL since those items are not recallable. I suspect the book our user wanted was checked out to ILL.
Helena Warburg said on December 15th, 2008 at 7:22 am
There should be a way on the website to report books that are listed as available, but cannot be located in the stacks. There should also be a way to put a hold on a book that is currently checked out so that it cannot be renewed.
Jonathan Earle said on December 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm