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How reservations work

Understand how reserving works, so you can explain it to families or send them this page.

Who can do this: members reserve online. Coordinators and admins manage reservations and can change the rules for their library. This page uses your library's own word for what it lends; here it is "toys".

A reservation is like a shopping basket for one collection session: you choose where and when you will collect, add the toys you want, and confirm once. Your toys are then kept for you at that session.

How a reservation goes, step by step​

  1. Choose where and when. Pick the library site and the session you will collect at. You can book up to 12 weeks ahead.
  2. Add toys to your basket. Your basket shows how many toys you can still add, for example "2 of 4 toys". If a toy is not free for that session, Gizzago tells you the next date it is free and offers to move your basket there.
  3. Confirm. Nothing is booked until you press Confirm. You get a reference number and a confirmation email.
  4. Bookings close. Reservations for a session close at 6pm the day before. After that, volunteers pick your toys off the shelf and set them aside.
  5. The evening before, you get an email asking if you are still coming. One tap says yes, or lets the toys go to someone else.
  6. Collect. Come to the session, and the volunteer hands over your toys. Any hire fees are paid when you collect.
What you'll see

After confirming, the page says You're booked, with your reference (it starts with R) and an Add to calendar (.ics) button. Your reservation also appears under Reservations in your account, where you can change the session or cancel it until bookings close.

Fair to everyone​

  • Toys are only kept for the loan itself. A reservation for December does not take the toy off the shelf in October. Until your session, other families can still borrow it, as long as it will be back in time for you.
  • Limits are shown up front. By default a household can have up to 4 toys in one reservation and 3 reservations open at once. Your basket shows where you are, so you never hit a limit by surprise.
  • If you do not collect, the toys go back on the shelf 2 hours after the session ends, and you get a kind email with a Rebook button. There is no fine.
  • Waiting for something that is out? Press Tell me when it's back to join a queue. When it is your turn, Gizzago keeps it for you for 24 hours. See The waitlist.
  • You can still just turn up. Walk-in borrowing of anything not reserved always works.

For coordinators: changing the rules​

An admin or coordinator can change every number on this page in Settings > Borrowing, under Reservations: whether people can reserve online at all, who can reserve, how far ahead, the cut-off day and time, the limits, what happens to reservations nobody collects, and how the waiting list works. If you change them, tell your members, as this page shows the standard settings.