Phone Attendant Overview

Your library may offer patrons automated telephone services to access their account information and renew items. When a patron calls the designated telephone number and supplies the patron account number and an optional password, she can listen to library hours and any special announcements, and choose from the following activities:

• Hear an activity summary - Lists the total number of items out, the total number of items overdue, the total number of “open” hold and ILL requests, the total number of currently held items, the total current account charges, and the total current account credit.
• Hear a list of all items out - Lists all items out with due dates, and provides options to renew all the items or a specific item, either by selecting a title or entering an item barcode.
• Hear a list of overdue items - Lists only overdue items checked out to the patron.
• Hear a list of all requests - Lists all the patron’s “open” hold and ILL requests, that is, all requests that are currently filled or may yet be filled, but not requests that are cancelled or unclaimed.
• Hear a list of items held - Lists all items currently held for the patron.
• Hear an account statement - Summarizes the patron account: total amount owed, total credits, total deposits.

Patrons choose options and provide information, such as a barcode, by pressing telephone keys. Patrons can quit the session at any time.

Note:
If your library system allows the use of the significant digits (the last unique portion) of a patron barcode, the patron can supply just this part of the barcode. If the unique part of the barcode begins with one or more zeroes, these do not need to be entered. The system supplies the complete barcode, including any leading zeros.

You can determine which specific telephone features to offer your patrons, and optionally require a password for patron access. Optional messages include an expiration warning for patron accounts due to expire in a specified period, and an additional announcement message that you can add or change at any time.

Note:
If the patron registration has already expired, the caller is advised and the call returns to the main menu.

The audio portion of the Polaris Phone Attendant consists of both computer-generated SAPI (Speech Application Programming Interface) voices that derive their message text from the Polaris database, and message variables that change, such as specific title information. You can edit the text of the SAPI messages, including the greeting message and all menu and response messages. You cannot edit the message variables.

Note:
Polaris currently supports English, Spanish, and French inbound telephony. If you have purchased the appropriate license, you can provide a menu choice for English, Spanish, or French and customize the Spanish or French natural-voice messages as well as the English versions. See Editing Messages and Prompts.

You configure the Polaris Phone Attendant with the configuration utility PhoneAttendantConfig.exe, which is placed in C:\ProgramFiles\Polaris\version\Bin
when you install Phone Attendant on the telephony server.

Blocks to Telephone Renewals

If you offer telephone renewals, the same blocking conditions apply to both telephone-initiated and PAC-initiated renewals. If any of the blocking conditions are in effect when a patron attempts to renew an item by telephone, the system plays a message and the renewal is not allowed. Item blocks as specified by the item’s assigned branch also apply to telephone renewals.

Note:
On-the-fly item blocks and “verify patron data” blocks (for example, the block the system creates when a patron self-registers) do not apply to telephone renewals.

Phone Attendant Log File

A log file is generated when the Phone Attendant  runs. It is available on the telephony server at the following location:

C:\ProgramData\Polaris\[version]\[datalink]\logs\PhoneAttendant

Statistical Transaction for Reporting

When the Phone Attendant receives a call, a Phone Attendant: Call Received statistical transaction is posted to the Polaris Transactions database if you have chosen to log this transaction. For more information about logging transactions and querying the Transactions database, see Logging Transactions.