I received a message saying that a book I had requested had been charged out to me. I went to pick it up, and waited for 15 minutes before it was established that the book was not yet available. The person working the circulation desk told me to try back at 4pm. He also that notifications were regularly sent before they are available. I would think that a better system could be arranged, so that people do not waste their time going to get books that are not yet available.
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Gee, Answer Person was ready to say that there was a reply to your comment, but decided to wait until the reply was actually written. What you have experienced are a couple of communications problems. First, when ILL gets a group of materials ready to take to the Circulation Desk, they take care of the notifications, and then take them over. Yes, it is possible for you to get the notice before the book is delivered, but only by minutes. That brings up the second communication problem–you should never have been told you would have to come back at 4 PM. We will try to speed up the first, and are taking care of the second.