POLARIS AT GOSHEN PUBLIC LIBRARY 1

Polaris at Goshen Public Library

Abigail McLinden
Ivy Tech Community College
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For this assignment I chose to interview Michael Miller, the circulation head at Goshen

Public Library. We spoke about Polaris, the system used there. Polaris is a powerful and flexible

ILS system, with only one big drawback. No wonder it’s one of the more widely-used programs

out there.

Goshen Public Library is technically not my local library, however I had trouble getting

in contact with the correct person from my system. I was able to get ahold of Mr. Miller and set

an appointment for a phone interview the next day.

We spoke about the ILS system used by Goshen Public Library, Polaris. Overall Polaris

seems a powerful and flexible system and a good choice in software.

Polaris is widely used, which means it’s also well-supported. Integration with online

services such as Overdrive is solid. It’s easy for staff to use, and if they wanted to search up

information on a patron there are 15 to 20 fields available for that. You can even search by

birthday!

Patrons also like Polaris. It’s simple to log in to their account, and they can access online

services easily. Searching is also powerful and easy for patrons, with combinations of keyword,

author, title, and so on available for them. Goshen Public Library is part of a consortium as well,

and patrons can limit their search to only consortium materials.

The biggest drawback is that setting up a new account can be tedious, especially for the

technical department. Which as far as drawbacks go, there are a lot more that are a lot worse, so

no wonder Polaris is a common choice for libraries.

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The training process is informal, since Polaris is so easy to use. New staff watch already-

trained staff for four weeks, observing their use of the system and what they do. There is a

simulation available with a fake patron if needed, but often it isn’t.

Check in and check out procedures don’t differ too much from the standard. The items

are secured with RFID tags, which are deactivated upon checkout. The circulation staff scans the

card, verifies the patron’s information, scans the item, verifies that information, repeats until all

items are checked out, and then gives the patron their items and receipt.

There also is a self-checkout available, and patrons are encouraged to use it to assist with

social distancing. However patrons sometimes have difficulty scanning their own cards,

especially elders. I’ll talk more about that later.

The procedure to register patrons is fairly simple (if tedious). Goshen Public Library

requires an ID with name, address, and a photograph. Service to Goshen Public Library is

restricted to certain townships, so staff have to make certain a patron falls into the correct

geographical demographic. There is also a paper form with basic information, birthdate being

one of the required pieces of information. This is to prevent duplicate registration. When asked if

they ever had to deal with family members sharing a birthdate, Mr. Miller said they hadn’t. I’m

not sure how they’d deal with it if/when that happens.

For circulation, the library limits cards to 100 items at a time. More because they have to

have an upper limit in Polaris than because they want to limit patrons in their selection of books,

which is why it is so high. Some teachers do at times hit it, however.

The library does wish to limit patrons on CDs, DVDs, and audiobooks. CDs and

audiobooks are limited at 10 apiece, while DVDs are limited to six.

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The main problems Goshen Public Library faces right now in patron relations are COVID

related. As mentioned before, they encourage the use of the self-checkout machine. Patrons have

difficulty scanning their own cards, especially the elderly. It frightens some patrons as well,

jerking their cards away too fast for the machine to read.

The other COVID related problem the Goshen Public Library faces is due to quarantining

items after checkout. Often patrons will check out their limit of six DVDs, and then will be

unable to check out six more after returning their materials. I can imagine some patrons would be

upset about that.

A more regular problem the Goshen Public Library faces is patrons coming in who don’t

qualify for service. The Goshen Public Library has a very limited service area, and sometimes

people will come in expecting that they fall within that area when they don’t. In fact due to their

limited service area, there are some people that don’t have a public library to call their own. Staff

explain the situation to patrons and tell them who they can speak to see about expanding the

Goshen Public Library’s service area.

Overall the Goshen Public Library sounds like a well-run library with a good system to

back it up. It’s small, only one branch in its system, and that allows it to get by with some

informality. Polaris sounds like a good choice in ILS, and Mr. Miller was very helpful in

answering my questions.