Polaris Administration Overview

Polaris Administration settings determine how data is categorized, used, and stored, and what functions are available in the staff client software and the PAC.

Note:
Certain Polaris features are available by specific contract to your library. If your Polaris installation does not include a specific feature, the Polaris Administration controls for the feature may not be available.

For more information on the features and functions you can use to administer Polaris for your library organization, see the following topics:

Polaris Administration Records and Settings

Description of the Polaris Administration records.

Accessing Administration Records

Methods for finding and opening Administration records.

Managing Record Locks

Instructions for finding and releasing records locked by staff.

Editing Parameters, Profiles, and Tables

Basic procedures for working with parameters, profiles, policy tables, and database tables in Polaris Administration; setting staff client profiles. Setting visual cues for staff client log-in server; automatic staff client log-in.

Setting Up Organizations

Creating and editing system, library, and branch records; setting up resource groups for remote resource access; setting up addresses, postal codes, contacts, and dates closed; viewing licenses.

Working with Collections

Setting up and editing collection records; associating collections with branches; deleting collections; collections report.

Setting Up Workstation and Staff Member Records

Setting up and editing workstation and staff member records; identifying in-house computers; staff and workstation reports.

Granting Permissions

Setting up Polaris security and permissions; using permission groups to manage permissions; setting permissions specifically related to Polaris Administration.

Setting Up Server Records

Registering local and remote servers in Polaris; setting server parameters; telephony servers; Polaris and MuseGlobal federated searching; making databases available as staff client search targets; offering the Polaris database as a search target.

Specifying Report Servers

Server and URL settings for SQL Server Reporting Services; Windows authentication for reports access.

Ensuring Locale and Time Consistency

Enabling automatic checking for consistency in date and currency formats, as well as the time recorded for logs and transactions.

Setting Find Tool Characteristics

Settings that affect the general behavior of the Polaris Find Tool and public catalog search functions, including search databases, leading articles for browse searches, languages for scoping, Find Tool filtering and defaults.

Setting Preferred Workform Views

Setting opening views for the Bibliographic, Item, and Patron Status workforms.

Collecting Transaction Statistics

Selecting which Polaris actions to include in the log file; Polaris transactions database queries; Statistical Summary report; Library Journal circulation statistics.

Defining Barcode Formats

Setting barcode formats for item and patron records; significant digits in patron barcodes; saving records with invalid barcodes.

Setting a Default Web Page

Enabling the Web Browser option on the Polaris Shortcut Bar, and specifying the default Web page that opens when the option is selected.

Polaris General Permissions Reference

Permissions required to create and use SQL searches; default permissions for groups; fields that identify record ownership and the organizations that can own them.

Setting Public Access Profiles and Parameters

List of System Administration permissions with summary descriptions; list of System Administration permissions by workflow.

Staff Client Profiles Reference

Profiles that affect the overall Polaris staff client.

Administration Tables Reference

Policy, database, and notification tables reference.

Polaris SQL Jobs Reference

Summary list of SQL jobs with their functions and schedules.

Administration Shortcut Keys

Shortcut keys for navigation and select actions in Polaris.