11. Educating staff
Ahead of the PAC: Pointers for Plucky Polaris Pursuits
Magic Spells
PATRON: "What books do you have by NEE-CHEE?"
STAFF: (TO PATRON): "Ah, yes, the famous German
philosopher FRRRREED-RISH NEE-CHUH, just a
moment, please." (smiling, secretly terrified, pretending
to type...)
12. Tips
Ahead of the PAC: Pointers for Plucky Polaris Pursuits
April 2007: Perplexing Polaris Puzzles
~~~Boolean Browsers Beware! ~~~ (for Advanced Boolean users)
If you’re using the Library catalog to perform a Boolean search with a
“CALL=” operation (this includes “CALL>=” and “CALL<=” searches), be
sure to use an asterisk wildcard at the end of the number (for example,
817.5*). By default, the search is explicitly truncated, which means
that a search for 817.5 will not bring up 817.5 BARRY or 817.5
PERELMAN – it would only return results for 817.5 with no name or
date following the number. You can’t search “CALL=817.5 BARRY”
either, because Polaris interprets the blank space (after the number) as
the end of one search. So remember to use that wildcard!
13. FAQs
Polaris Searches
Narrowing down DVD/VHS searches
#1: Search by Author to find directors or actors
#2: Use the Search Options to limit by publication date
#3: Keyword by Genre: Comedy films [or any genre from list below] >> Limit by:
[select]
Some popular genre subject headings:
Adventure films Horror films
Animated films Mystery films
Comedy films Science fiction films
Documentary films Spy films
Fantasy films Suspense films
Film noir Western films
14. “Reports”
Ahead of the PAC: Pointers for Plucky Polaris Pursuits
Often I’m asked for reports that can easily be gotten by using the Find Tool in
the Polaris Tech Client, what some are calling the Polaris Shortcut Bar. The
Scoping capabilities of this tool have increased with each new release of
Polaris.
For instance, how can you get a list of all the CDs that have a status of
Missing from the Downtown collection?
Hmm, maybe you should include Lost items as well since they aren’t going
to be coming back any time soon…
15. Secret Messages
Missing volumes in a set pose a problem. Patrons see that a volume if missing and
request that we replace it. However, sometimes I am not able to replace a single
volume and I want to tell everyone that I've tried but we'll just have to live without it.
In this case, I add a public note to the item record to communicate this. The note is
viewable in all three catalog interfaces. In the tech client, go to the item record and
click the Alert icon (left side, envelope/mailbox image). In the ActivePac and the
PowerPac go to Availability. Just hover over the icon that looks like a piece of paper
with a blue N. My note will magically appear.
For example, this note says "Unable to replace Season 6, Volume 3."
18. Did you mean…
Polaris search for Did you mean?
Invisible man (sic) Envious moon
Felting hats Floating heads
Baldwin, alec Baldwin ale
*the piano The Pawnee
KIA sportage Gay spirituality
Studio at Large by Palleroni Studio large ballerina
Drywall drawl
Larrson, Steig Larceny sting
Kid knits Quiet nights
Downs syndrome Dance centerstage
Preface – this is not a “how to tweak the code” sessionThis is a how to get staff involved and excited about using your catalog, and to make it easier for the public to use your catalogFrom http://community.websense.com/blogs/securitylabs/archive/2010/03.aspx – malicious code translated and parsed to be more readable, apparently.
UbicompMore folks using computers to find info who haven’t been in a library in yearsCatalog is a beast unto self – how can we make it easier and more accessible, more like other familiar ways of finding info? Polaris good – but catalog as a concept is pretty different from most folks online experience.NextGen CatalogIt’s easy (relatively speaking) to install Polaris, and get it working. What’s not as simple is exploring the myriad options for customization or configuration, and deciding what might be best for helping patrons orfacilitating staff workflow. share your own tips for making the off-the-shelf product become locally customized.So – how do you do this?
Hated new system
Penguincubator Book Vending Machine! (no, we didn’t really) , invented by Alexis Madrigal after a weekend visiting with Agatha Christie, in the 1930’s. 1st installed at 66 Charing Cross Roadhttp://forums.ebay.com/db1/topic/Booksellers/Old-Tech-The/520285077
http://xkcd.com/528/
(In honor geekitude and also of Sarah H-J, our keynote speaker)So, what did we do?http://xkcd.com/231/
Years of just 2 or 3 people - Director, SysAdmin, Tech Managertaking care of the catalog and OPAC. What do you notice about that list, for a mid-size library system?No direct public svce
List our prior prioritiesPublic Services took an interest, and realized that there was more to know about using the PAC, and not everyone had the same infoGrew fast, added branchesSo we created a representative team, and started…
(TO SELF): Hmm, I was a philosophy major; I should be able to spell NEE-CHUH, let's see--N-E-I-- nope, um, N-I-E…yes, that's definitely it…N-I-E…N-I-E…then S?.. CH?... Z?... T?...zounds, I'm doomed! Now I'm going to look like a total idiot, especially after correcting her pronunciation…what good was my liberal arts education?...what good am I? I'm a failure, a poser... And the patron will leave without knowing about Infinite Recurrence and the Ubermensch and Zarathustra…she'll probably just check out some Danielle Steel instead...go brain dead…begin hating books and the library…her children will grow up ignorant and hasten the end of the world…200703
200704
200602
200705
And, we adopted a Virtual Branch concept, more focus on online access, and remote access, less direct patron service, and more helping the patron to help themselves.Cost-cutting, right?And less frustrating.200708
Direct link to the library website Home pageDirect link to Downloadable materials (as well as from catalog hits)Direct link to Contact Us info on websiteThese are our highest hit pages outside the catalog, but were not easy to find in the catalog. Our hits rose significantly after adding these links. Different users? We believe that there are quite a few people who only use catalog, don’t even know about our other web resources
Used to say: Availability, Full Display, Place RequestNow changed Reviews and More to Details
Responded to reported “did you mean” oddities and worked on best bet alternatives.Then we got a new Intranet tool, using Sharepoint through the City.
