Holds can be placed by phone (the Main Circulation Desk is (905) 579-6111 ext. 5200), by using the catalogue at any branch, or by asking one of the library staff to assist you. You can also place holds using our online catalogue here. For more information on placing a hold while searching the catalogue, follow these steps:


Enter your search terms and you will get a "hit list" of results. Click on the title of the item you would like to place on hold.

When the Item Detail screen loads, you can scroll to the bottom of the information to find the list of the items for this record. It shows the Status of each item - if the status is the same as the Shelf Location, that means the item is in the library and can be picked off the shelf at the appropriate branch. You can still place a hold on an item that is in the library, and staff will pull the item for you on the following day. The right-most column in the display is a link to "Request Item". Click on any one of these links to place a hold on this title.

You will now be prompted to log into your account. Enter the barcode from your library card (without spaces) and your password. If you have never set or changed your password, the default value is the last four digits of the telephone number we have in your user record. If that does not work, please call the Library at 905-579-6111 and press 0 to speak to someone who can look up your current password. You will be able to change it at your convenience after getting logged in. To see instructions to change your password, click here.

Once you are logged in, the next screen displays the Title and Author of the item on which you are placing the hold. You can select the Branch where you'd like to pick up the item. The expiration date is automatically filled in to be one year from the date the hold is placed. You may also enter suspension dates. A suspended hold maintains its position in the hold queue but will not fill a hold. This is convenient if you want to place a hold on a popular item, but you know you will be unable to make use of it for a period of time (travelling out of the country, for example). You could put the start and end dates of the suspension in the provided fields which would allow you to move up in the hold queue and not lose your place, but would not try to fill the hold while you are unavailable to pick it up. When the suspension end date is reached, you will now be eligible to have the item be captured for your hold and you will not have lost your place in the queue.


Click the Place Hold button.

You will then get feedback about the hold you have just tried to place. If there is some reason that your hold cannot be placed, you will be advised of that here. If everything went smoothly, then you will see a screen with a confirmation message. Click the OK link to return to your initial search results.