I am a bit unclear, confused, etc about the "new" WL. What is the difference between having a WL item on "hold"  and not having it on auto-request? Are not they the same?

Hold keeps your place in the line.  You don't move up.  Would be good if you were short on credits.  Or to make sure that the later books in a series do not arrive before the earlier books. 

Not having it on auto request means you would move to the top and need to accept it or risk getting bumped off.  So there isn't much difference when you are at the bottom of the list.  And a big difference when you are at the top of the list.  It sort of makes a vacation hold for a single book.

Say you look at your WL and you've moved up to #1 for a book you really want. But (oh no!) you don't have a credit. If you don't put that book on hold, when the book is offered, it's offered to you and you have to either buy a credit or turn it down, thus losing your place in line.

With the hold, you can put the book on hold, and if it's posted, it will be offered to the person behind you, but you still retain your #1 place in line, so when you get a credit, you can unhold it and be eligible for the next posted copy.

Cheryl

I used it yesterday to hold some books by some author's that are new to me.  I have books by them in my TBR. So I put them on hold so I'll get bypassed until I read one that I already have.  This way I'll be back at the top if I decide I like the author and want more. But others can get the book before me until I'm ready and I don't have more of this author accumulating.  If I decide I don't like them then I haven't used more credits and acquired more books from them that I am just going to post without reading. 

My understanding is that even on hold you move up the WL line but, then when you get to #1 you are bypassed until you take it off hold...is this what everyone else understands?

Boy, you guys are great in explaining this WL hold!  I get it now. I was like Jason in totally not understanding what its purpose was. Your scenarios are great in showing how it can be useful. Thanks!

According to the new newsletter, Christy is correct.  I was wrong.  Books on hold do move up the WL.  But they are not offered to you until you take the hold off. 

Yep... I tried it today as an experiment on a highly posted WL book... I did move up in the line, even on hold.

Oh hooray, this is a feature I've been really wishing for! (Though not exactly how I wanted it implemented, but there are probably practical reasons for that.)

I have some books already on my wishlist. Can someone take me through the baby steps on how to put them on hold? I don't see a button...

Jennifer, I just did this on my WL, so here goes:

When you look at your WL, there is a box next to each book on the far left. 

Mark each of the books you want to *hold* by clicking in the box next to each of the books.

When you have selected all of the books you want to hold, scroll back to the top of the page.

At the top of the page, there is a button HOLD CHECKED. Push it.

A screen will pop up asking you to confirm that you wish to *hold* the checked books. Confirm.

The books you've *held* should now be rose colored, rather than blue (Auto Request) or white (Not AR).

Good luck :)

Edited to correct typos

Yay! Thanks Leslie!

Glad to help!   This is a really great new feature that I think many of us will use at one time or another.

Another reason to put your WL book on hold would be if you had several versions requested and one was en route to you.  Rather than get offered another version of the same book, you could 'hold' the other versions until the one en route arrives and then delete them.