Set the Outreach Patron’s Preferences

The outreach patron’s preferences determine what titles are included or excluded as possible selections. A title is selected based on subject, author, and genre preferences. You can also include or exclude titles based on target audience, material type, language, and publication date.

To set the patron’s preferences:

Note:
The options available for selection are determined by Polaris Administration settings. See Setting Outreach Patrons Options.

  1. Open the Reader Services view of the patron’s Patron Status workform, if it is not already open. See Set up outreach services for a patron.
  2. Click the Preferences icon PrefIcon.gif.

The Patron Preferences dialog box (General tabbed page) opens.

  1. (Optional) Select any physical conditions or special equipment needs that apply to this patron in the Disability and Equipment lists.

Your selections are informational only, in case your library delivers special equipment along with the materials. They do not affect what titles are selected for the patron. The options available for selection, if any, are determined by Polaris Administration settings.

  1. Click the Subject tab, and set the patron’s subject preferences:

Important:
Selection lists for Outreach Services patrons are generated by searches constructed from your patron preference entries (Subject, Author, Genre, Target Audience, Language, Material Type, Publication Date). All patron preference entries are used when the system constructs the search. If the record includes 50 or more preference entries, the selection list fails and a server error results. Enter fewer patron preferences to prevent the problem.

  • To specify a subject that the patron prefers, click PrefPlus.gif above the Subjects to Include list. An edit box appears in the list. Type the subject in the edit box. A broad subject will retrieve more results; a more exact subject will retrieve fewer, more exact results. Multiple-word subjects are treated as explicitly truncated phrase searches (similar to the Find Tool). If you specify multiple subjects, the system searches for them with the equivalent of the search command or.

Note:
To remove a subject from the list, select the subject and clickPrefMinus.gif above the Subjects to Include list. To move a subject higher or lower to indicate the patron’s preferences, select the subject and click the arrow buttons. The order in the list does not affect the search results, but may help you indicate which subjects the patron more strongly prefers.

  • To specify a subject to exclude from selection for the patron, click PrefPlus00078.gif above the Subjects to Exclude list. An edit box appears in the list. Type the subject in the edit box. (This is equivalent to the search command and not.)

Note:
To remove a subject from the list, select the subject and click PrefMinus00079.gif above the Subjects to Exclude list.

  1. Click the Author and Genre tabs to set author and genre preferences. The selection process is the same as specifying subjects (see step 4). Multiple-word authors are treated as explicitly truncated phrase searches (similar to the Find Tool). Genre is a keyword search.
  2. Click the Other tab, and set any target audience, language, material type, and date preferences.
    • To specify preferred options, select (check) the items in each list. You can select multiple items.
    • To exclude options from selection, select the appropriate items in a list and select (check) Exclude beneath the list.
  3. Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog box.