Setting Up Polaris PowerPAC - Overview

Many Polaris Administration settings control the features and behavior of the PAC in general and affect both Polaris PowerPAC and Mobile PAC. However, specific Polaris PowerPAC settings control the appearance and available features of Polaris PowerPAC. You can also choose the overall appearance of Polaris PowerPAC pages from several ready-made themes. In addition, you can customize most of the text that appears on Polaris PowerPAC pages by editing the text strings in Polaris WebAdmin (Language Editor).

Note:
For instructions on programmatic-level customization techniques, see Polaris PowerPAC Help.

You can customize Polaris PowerPAC to suit your library’s needs, from the home page start-up to the features you choose to offer to patrons. For the home page, you can use the Polaris PowerPAC portal page, including the dashboard lists, rotating book jackets or content carousels, and custom content. Alternatively, you can use your own home page. You can also offer events and hours pages. In general, you control what features are available in Polaris PowerPAC with Polaris Administration settings that display or suppress options.

Polaris PowerPAC settings for the organization to which the patron is connected typically control the features and functions the patron sees. You can choose to allow patrons to switch branches after they have connected to Polaris PowerPAC, by selecting a branch in the Switch to another branch list. When the patron selects a different branch, the settings for that branch become effective.

However, the system-level settings for the Patron Services parameter Consortium Circulation determine what branch’s policies govern due date calculation, loan and request limits, and fine calculation for renewals. Also, settings for the patron’s registered branch control many patron account functions.

For general information about PowerPAC, see:

For instructions on setting PowerPAC profiles that control basic features, see:

For information about options for displaying, managing, and circulating eContent, see:

For information about display and feature options for PowerPAC, see the following topics :

Updating Page Caches

When you change Polaris PowerPAC, Mobile PAC, and PowerPAC Children’s Edition settings, you might need to update page caches to see the effects of your changes. Most cached information is stored at the application level on the Web server. You can update that information with the Reload tool in Polaris WebAdmin (Language Editor). For more information, see WebAdmin online help. Some information is stored at the session level (one session for each currently connected client browser), and you cannot reload each session’s cached data for security reasons. In these cases, restart the Internet Information Server (IIS) to clear the cache and load any pages that have changed. Polaris Hosted customers should contact Polaris Customer Support to perform an IIS reset. You might also need to close and re-open browsers. You might want to organize changes to Polaris PowerPAC or Mobile PAC so that you do much of your planned work in one session.

Patron Privacy in the Library - Tips

In Polaris PowerPAC, the browser Back button does not work past the log-in screen. For example, if the patron does a search, then logs in to the patron account, then logs out, the next patron cannot use the Back button to see the previous patron’s account pages or search results.

You can also set an inactivity timeout for logged-in patrons working in the library. The patron is automatically logged out after a specified period. See Set an inactivity timeout for in-house workstations.

“Autocomplete” is the browser feature that automatically supplies information on forms, based on past entries. You should disable the Autocomplete feature in public workstation browsers. In Internet Explorer, for example, select Tools, Internet Options. On the Content tabbed page, select AutoComplete. Clear Usernames and passwords on forms. This prevents previous usernames and passwords from being exposed when the next patron logs in to use a feature.

Polaris PowerPAC and JavaScript™

Polaris PowerPAC uses JavaScript, and displays a warning message at the top of the page when JavaScript is disabled in the user’s browser.

The default message is
JavaScript has been disabled in your browser. Please enable JavaScript to enjoy all features of this site.

You can customize the message in Polaris Language Editor (WebAdmin). For more information about editing messages, see Customizing Language Strings.

Polaris PowerPAC Accessibility

Polaris PowerPAC pages include features to facilitate accessibility in the following ways:

Although these features are not generally visible when the pages are displayed, they improve the experience of patrons who use screen readers.

Note:
If you customize PowerPAC pages, you will likely want to retain these features. For more information about code-level customization, see the Polaris Developer Network.

In addition, the footer of the page displays a text-only site index.

The available links depend on the features you have enabled in Polaris Administration. For example, if you have suppressed Boolean searching from the menu bar, it is also suppressed from the site index.

Analyzing Polaris PowerPAC Use

Google™ Analytics is a free tool from Google that allows Web site administrators to record and analyze traffic on their sites. Polaris PowerPAC includes the JavaScript code for Google Analytics in the page footer. To use this feature, open the Polaris Administration PowerPAC profile PowerPAC Analytics. The profile is available at the system, library, and branch levels. On the Google tabbed page, check Enable and supply your Google Analytics tracking code. For more information about Google Analytics, and to obtain a tracking code, go to:
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Alternatively, you can supply your own JavaScript for site analysis. Open the PowerPAC Analytics profile, Custom tabbed page, check Enable, and type your JavaScript code in the field provided.

Note:
This profile also applies to Polaris PowerPAC Children’s Edition. A separate profile applies to Mobile PAC. SeeAnalyzing Polaris Mobile PAC Use.

Note:
If the PAC browser session is run directly on the PAC server, the following domain must be open for Google Analytics to work properly:
Port 80/443: google-analytics.com