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ILS - Polaris

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62 results found

  1. Sometimes libraries leave a consortium. Sometimes a branch is closed or merged into another branch. And after the Polaris ILS Admin takes care of clearing out all the bib, item, and patron data... the branches and libraries remain in System Administration.

    Just sitting there and doing nothing.

    I know it's a huge pain to remove a branch or library from Polaris and I know there's likely an extra cost to it because it's such an involved process.

    So add the ability to hide them instead.

    That way, when a library leaves the system, you're not wading through the settings and…

    28 votes

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  2. The Jacksonville Public Library leverages the Polaris API to manage student records. Currently we have to take an extra step in the LEAP UI to set the communication preferences. We don't bill students or send their accounts to collections, so we have to do a bulk update of all the records with the UI after already touching every record with the API. This is cumbersome because there are over 100,000 student records that need to be updated. Most updates are smaller, but at the start of the school year we do a full refresh.

    We would like to be able…

    10 votes

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  3. Across our consortium, we have some library staff who exclusively use Leap, some who exclusively use the Remote Client, and some who use both depending on the task.

    Currently, there is only one system-level setting responsible for the Visual Alert Configuration (top banner color) in Leap & the Remote Client. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work well given that Leap has a light font color and the Client has a dark font color across the top, so to achieve an ideal level of contrast for both versions simultaneously is impossible.

    To improve accessibility for all users, regardless of the version of Polaris…

    13 votes

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  4. Our previous LMS had functionality within the Solus app, where we could enter a collection code in the Solus CMS, and as new items were added in the collection it would automatically feed into a new items carousel on the app. It was a "set and forget" feature.

    With Polaris, it looks like our only options are to enter Bib IDs or ISBNs, or manually create & update Record Set IDs.

    It would be a great time saver if there was an option for an automated new items carousel. We raised the issue with our account manager who spoke to…

    6 votes

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  5. Currently the API only performs basic duplicate detection (name, birthdate, barcode, username, and optionally the name on ID) when a patron record is created using the PatronRegistrationCreate call. It does not apply other optional settings - email, phone 1, or the UDFs - these only get applied directly in Polaris or the PAC. This idea is for including these optional settings in the API logic.

    13 votes

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  6. Allow permissions to modify the branch floating table so that each branch can maintain their own float in counts for their collections and/or media types.

    2 votes

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  7. I realize this is niche, but if you go to set up SSO in your environment, heaven help you. My crew just got through a week of getting things set up. There were 3 of my employees and at least 1 Innovative support staff and 1 Innovative dev involved all week. I can't imagine the amount of $$$ that was burned in hourly staff time getting it going. And of course the good news is that an upgrade or server move could break it all again! Some of the documentation is wrong and some of the transcribing of the data…

    6 votes

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  8. Sometimes I have a lot of records open in the workform tracker, and it's a pain to have to go into each to close it. It would be useful to have a button I could quickly click to close them instead.

    In cases where a record has been modified it should generate a prompt about saving changes, and show you the record again in this case so it's clear what's being saved.

    20 votes

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  9. It would be helpful if we could move rows up and down in the item statistical class code policy table. We have librarians transferring items between branches that have statistical class codes in them. The codes will automatically change to a different code when assigned to the new branch because the position of the code in the policy table does not align. The cataloger must remember to update that field to the correct code.

    This would be beneficial to our librarians, simplify their workflow, and prevent errors.

    13 votes

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  10. We would like to see additional information and functions available in the Polaris Client or LEAP so that staff have more resources and information to support customers with questions about online resources.

    For example, library staff would benefit from seeing real-time hold information in Polaris about items on Overdrive or Hoopla. Currently, Polaris shows an asterix (*) under holds. Library staff need to either go to the PAC or Overdrive to provide customers with this information. It would help library staff to have information available in one place rather than requiring staff to go to multiple sources to answer a…

    24 votes

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  11. We would like to be able to copy an existing branch when creating a new branch, since often our additions are branch locations of an existing library that will have almost the same exact settings.

    32 votes

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  12. Reviewing the process of integrating Cirriusimpact at our library, we've encountered a notable issue: patrons opting out of text messaging and staff needing to adjust their notifications accordingly. Currently, we're relying on CGS to send daily email alerts when someone opts out, but it would be more convenient to add a non-blocking note to the Polaris account visible to all staff. This would ensure everyone is aware of a patron's preference change and simplify the search for patrons with similar notification settings.

    5 votes

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  13. The Polaris Transactions database TransactionID is an int data type. This 2,147,483,647 means the biggest number supported by the database. In our busy system, we're about halfway through the available TransactionIDs as we're about to reach 1 billion. This field should be moved up to a bigint data type. Otherwise inserting new data will fail.

    15 votes

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  14. It would be nice to have the ability to set different email notice schedules for each branch.
    We would like to line up our notice delivery times with the operating hours of our branches, or allow more frequent hold notice emails at a specific branch.

    14 votes

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  15. In addition to Single Sign-On (SSO) support for Microsoft Azure and ADFS, please consider support for Google Workspace. We recently migrated all of our email for our consortium (42 members) to Google and would greatly benefit from the ability to use the already signed-in information to authenticate into Leap. See screenshots for a design/concept mock-up.

    15 votes

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  16. We're working with a vendor to import patron records into Polaris as part of a program to give every student of the local school district a library card. As part of the arrangement, these student cards will be exempt from billing.

    Unfortunately, there is no means to check the "exclude from" overdues, billing, etc. boxes in the API, so this will have to be done manually every time a new batch of students is imported. Please make it possible to modify these options via API.

    12 votes

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  17. Currently, staff modifications to patron registration including card renewal do not update the Patron Last Activity Date (LAD). As more libraries move towards long or no expiration periods, LAD becomes even more important for patron database maintenance. We have seen cases in which patrons renew their card without any additional activity resulting in their record being purged during cleanup. Including renewal and/or extending the card expiration period in LAD will better allow libraries to track patron engagement.

    27 votes

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  18. The Polaris Leap login screen consists of two text fields, a button, and a low resolution PNG floating upon an ocean of #CCCCCC. It is, in a word, boring. There are no easy customization options offered that allow a library to give it the look and feel that they want, save for one option that will change the colour of the menu bar. Now, granted, if you have a staff member with some web coding knowledge, they can modify the Leap CSS and replace some images to give things a spruce up. Five lines of code and a fresh image…

    37 votes

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  19. Currently if we need to change the branch we're logged into in Leap we need to sign-out and log back in. This can be disruptive if we have records opening we're working with that would then need to be re-opened. It would be handy if there was a way to do this without signing-out and back in, in a way that would allow records to remain open.

    Admittedly I don't think this would be helpful for the majority of staff, likely more administrative roles that need to perform activity across a range of branches. But it would be a nice…

    44 votes

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  20. A customer contacted us recently and asked if we could possibly add a feature where lists can be sorted alphabetically by title. Since this functionality isn't currently available in the API, I wonder if it could be added?

    Mark W. Jarrell
    mjarrell@richlandlibrary.com
    Web Applications Developer | Richland Library
    1431 Assembly St. | Columbia, SC 29201
    Access Freely at RichlandLibrary.com.

    9 votes

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