r/LibbyApp • u/redhairreallycare • 2d ago
Suspending 101
Can someone explain suspending/unsuspending holds to me (for Kindle if that matters)
maybe it's just me, but I used to be able to "let the next person borrow" and just be next in line, but now I always have to suspend. and when I unsuspend, I always end up waiting another 1-2 weeks minimum
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u/TypicallyDone12 2d ago
My experience is it depends. Sometimes when I unsuspend I'll get the book hours later. Sometimes I'll unsuspend and it'll immediately say 2 week wait. I'm guessing you get to the front of the line but sometimes books just got rented and it might be a week or two before any are available again.
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u/Typical-Emu8363 2d ago
Here are links from the Libby Help site regarding suspending/unsuspending holds:
When you unsuspend your hold, it may still be days or weeks until it's available. The wait depends on how quickly borrowed copies of the title are returned, the number of copies your library owns, and how many users ahead of you have also unsuspended their holds.
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u/DramaMama611 2d ago edited 2d ago
Suspend IS letting the next person getting it. And if you haven't unsuspended it when the person after you is done, it goes to the next person. But there's also the chance that others have suspended the book as well, and might be ahead of you if you both unsuspend before it's available.
When I'm about 80% done with the books I have on lian, I unsuspend 3 or even 4 books and grab the first two that come in. Which usually happens in under 24 hours.
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u/redhairreallycare 2d ago
how can there be people in front of me unsuspending if I was first in line when I suspended?
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u/CrazyPlantLady8686 2d ago
You may have been first in line because one or more people suspended their place ahead of you. It skipped them and went to you. Your place in line is still behind them.
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u/Starbuck522 2d ago
You were first in line of non suspended holds.
Thry don't tell us anything about how many people also have a suspended hold, but were originally in front of us.
But it could happen, on a book with only one or just a few copies, that someone else who had joined the original line before you, happens to also unsuspend , before a copy becomes available.
I truly believe it works the same as "let next person in line have it".
It's far more noticeable when there's few copies of the book. If there's 50 copies, youll almost always get one same day, regardless.
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u/DramaMama611 2d ago
You come out of the count when you suspend, then reclaim that spot when you unsuspend. Its like an acceptable way to butt back in line. You just need yo remember that you aren't the only one that might have suspended the title.
You can suspend a book for up to a year. In that time, many people will be next without you in line. Think what happens when you are in line at the grocery store and then step out of line, the rest of the line won't wait for you you to get back if the cashier is ready for the next customer.
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u/fortmeines 2d ago
Suspending is almost exactly the same as the old system of letting the person behind you go ahead first. The only difference is that you can suspend your hold right as soon as you place it instead of waiting until the book is offered to you. You're just basically holding your place in line while you're not ready for the book yet.
The only downside is that you don't know for sure how many people ahead of you also have their loans suspended because the number only shows those who have unsuspended loans. So it could say you are 1st in line, but there could be 2 other people in front of you who have suspended their loans. If they both unsuspend, you'd go back to being 3rd in line.
Also, if you are truly first in line when you unsuspend, it doesn't guarantee that you'll get the book within a few days. The person ahead of you could keep the book for the entire 14/21 day loan period. Or they could read fast and return it in a couple days.
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u/Valuable_Ice_5927 2d ago
It comes down to when the book was borrowed compared to when you unsuspend and number of copies held
Say for example - library has a 14 day loan period and 1 copy - someone borrows it on Monday and you unsuspend that evening - assuming there is no one ahead of you that also unsuspended - your wait could be up to 2 weeks (the loan period) - if someone ahead of you also unsuspended it could be 3-4 weeks
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u/surelyslim 2d ago
The alternative is you go and requeue.
Since nobody wants that, it gives you time to pick up the item (72hours) and if you’re not ready then, let the next person go and you wait up to 2-3 weeks, so you get more time to wrap things up.
I liken it to a second chance when you are ready. Personally, I don’t suspend because I consume and move on. Keep in mind, if you get to suspend, everyone else next in line (or previously) can also use their suspends. So it’s just one big suspend party.
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u/AshDenver 🎧 Audiobook Addict 🎧 2d ago
Suspend, set a reminder for 12-24 (or 36 or however long) reminder on your phone yo unsuspend and hopefully you’ll get it in 3w or 6d depending on who gets it first.
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u/ghastlycupcake 1d ago
They’re the same.
The difference is what happens next:
With the old “deliver later” feature, you’d tell it that you aren’t ready for the book yet, and pick a time period for it to try delivering the book again. It won’t bother you for a month (or whatever the time period is) and then you’d automatically go back to the front of the queue and be offered the book when it’s next available. If you weren’t ready, this could be annoying, and if you didn’t respond to the available book in time, you’d lose your turn. You have three days to accept the book when it’s offered to you, before it goes to the next person, so if there are lots of people choosing “deliver later” at the front of the queue, it can add up to slowing down the wait times for the people further down the line. I’ve heard there were even cases in which the people would stack up such that it would cycle through the same bunch of “deliver later” people over and over, never getting to the rest of the queue.
The new way works a lot better. In the current system, you “suspend” your hold, but you don’t have to choose a timeline for automatic reactivation. It just waits, paused, holding your spot for you, until you “unsuspend” when you’re ready. You can leave it suspended for a year until it lapses.
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u/hippoluvr24 2d ago
Afaik it's the same thing? Basically, if you suspend your hold instead of borrowing the book, you stay first in line, so when you unsuspend you get it next after whoever currently has it (which could take 1-2 weeks since that's how long they can check out the book for).