Introduction to SierraDNA

The Sierra Services Platform incorporates a PostgreSQL relational database that captures the library's material, circulation, patron, financial, and operational data. A collection of database views provides direct access to the library's bibliographic and transactional data. Each view is constructed from one or more tables and can be queried as a single table. Views are read-only.

The SierraDNA manual provides documentation of all views and their constituent columns. In addition to view and column descriptions, it includes an entity relationship diagram (ERD) for each view group. Each record type (for example, bibliographic, item, patron, and so on) is a view group. Transaction data includes acquisitions and circulation view groups. Master data includes a variety of information such as categorization, location, and system configuration view groups.

For information on using creating custom reports and query examples, see Sierra Direct SQL Access in the Sierra WebHelp.