San Juan Island Library is switching the software used to manage library services (books, movies, and patron records) to help staff serve users better.
Although, the library seems to do a darn good job serving its clientele today, as evidenced by its latest honor.
The library is the recipient of the 2015 EBSCO Excellence in Small and/or Rural Public Library Service Award from the Public Library Association, an affiliate of the American Library Association.
The national award, bestowed upon only a single library each year, recognizes a public library serving a population of 10,000 or less that demonstrates excellence of service to its community as exemplified by an overall service program or a special program of significant accomplishment, according to the ALA website.
It comes with a $1,000 honorarium attached.
“We are really pleased to receive this national award for excellence in small, rural public libraries,” library Director Laurie Orton said. “And I know the functionality of Polaris will help us to provide an even better experience for library users.”
The library selected the Polaris integrated library system after a year-long process of comparing more than 10 software systems. A 400-point score sheet was used to evaluate various functionalities, appearance and ease of use for the volunteers, staff and the public. After attending demonstrations and visiting other libraries to see different systems in use, library staff concluded that Polaris ILS would best serve the needs of San Juan Island.
“It’s past time to have smart search capabilities to offer suggestions or let you know when you misspell word, but Polaris has more that,” Orton said. “You’ll be able to find our e-books and e-audiobooks in our catalog, and check out and download right from there. Our upgrade just shows we are doing everything we can to be a great, small rural library.”
The library will be closed March 23-24 for installation of the new software and will suspended fulfilling requests for new holds, purchases and interlibrary loans March 16-24.
Polaris is supported by Innovative Interfaces, which also supported the previous ILS used by the San Juan Island Library, known as Millennium.
In addition to its collections of materials to loan, the library also provides public access computers and WiFi. Library cards are free to islanders with proof of residency. Visit the library website, www.sjlib.org, for info, hours of operation.
