 Serving public libraries in Cayuga, Cortland, Seneca, Tioga and Tompkins Counties 
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Polaris Tips: Patron Services
6/29/2007 - Identifying problems in the patron's phone number field
Do NOT put any letters in the phone number field of the Patron’s Record. There is a process that runs every night as part of overnight processing that updates the password field of the patron record and inserts the last 4 digits of the patron’s phone number if the password field is blank. However if there are any letters at the end of the patron’s phone number field, this automatic update of the password field fails. Please do NOT put any letters in the phone number field of the patron record, that means no C or Cell, no H for Home, no W for work and no ???, etc. Any characters other than numbers in the phone number field could also disrupt future Polaris functionality.
- Use the Patron Record Find Tool to find phone numbers with the letter C for Cell, or H for Home, etc. and remove them.
- In the By box, select Voice phone
- In the For box, type in the letter followed by an *
- In the Limit by, Select Patron’s registered library and select your library from the drop down list.
- Left click on Search • Double click to open a patron’s record and REMOVE ALL letters from the phone number field.
2/9/2007 - What do I do with this Purge Inactive Patron Record Set?
I recently sent around a Purge Inactive Patron form for you to fill out.
This form identifies patrons who have not used the library for a specified
period of time (usually 3 years) and who owe equal to or less than the fine
amount indicated. Instead of emailing the list of prospective patrons that
will be purged, I have added those names to a patron record set. Please
examine this record set and if all these patrons can be deleted, let me know
and I will purge them for you.
Here are some instructions to find the record set so you can view these
patrons.
- From the Polaris Shortcut Bar
- Select Patron Services
- Select Record Sets
- In the For box type in your library code (NIC)
- The Record Set is entitled NIC Purged Patrons
- Double Click to open it up
- If you want to look at a record in Patron Status
- Right click on the name and Select Status
To remove a patron from the list, highlight the name and left click on the Minus sign
To Print the List, Left Click on the down arrow next to the Printer icon and Select Record Set
12/1/2006 - How can I use the Guardian Field in a patron record?
Some of you may remember the feature in Dynix that allowed you to insert a parent’s name in the Guardian field of a child’s record and the notice would print with an in care of (c/o) and the parent’s name.
In Polaris the Guardian field in the patron record should contain the barcode of the parent you want the notice to go to. The parent’s name will NOT work.
The notice will print c/o and the parents name. The only notice that can be sent this way is the patron account statement. This notice is based on the minimum balance the patron can have.
For example, Apalachin’s is set at $50. If the patron accumulates $50 or more in fines, a patron account statement is generated. If this is a child’s account and the parent’s barcode is in the Guardian field of the Child’s record, the fine notice will then be addressed to the child, c/o the parent to the address in the Parent's registration.
If you would like the patron account statement of a child to go to the parent, the Guardian field in the child’s record must contain the barcode of the responsible parent.
10/27/2006 - How do I remove a patron's block?
How do I remove a block from a patron’s record?
If the block was added manually, you can remove it in Patron Status.
Search for the patron’s record using Patron Status Open up the patron Record
Left click on the General screen icon
This screen displays
Highlight the block you wish to delete and left click on Delete Block
10/06/2006 - How do I add a patron's address?
We have noticed some errors in the way the Patron’s address is added
during registration.
When you register a patron or edit their address, the TYPE of address Must
be selected.
In the window below, notice the Type is identified as “Home”.
What this does is tell the software where to send all notices.
When that identifier is missing, the software has no idea where to
send notices so they are not even generated.
This piece of information can be removed by accidentally hitting the space
bar or the backspace key or the delete key.
Notice in the registration form below, the type is missing and therefore
the fields for “Address for notices and bills” and “Address for monthly
statements” is blank.
These MUST be filled in so notices can be generated and sent to the patron.
This is how it should look, with the Type of address identified and matching the corresponding information in the Address for notices and bills.
8/18/2006 - How can I use the Local Use field and why would I want to?
The Local Use field in a Patron record can be used to identify specific groups of patrons. Let’s say you want to keep track of your summer reading participants. In the Local Use field, type in Summer Reading. See below
But let’s say this patron also belongs to the Teen Advisory group and you want to include that information also in the Local Use field. Can you record 2 pieces of information and if so, how do you search for that second string of text? First of all, separate the information using a slash. See below
Now if you want to search for that second string of text, using the Find
Tool, in the For box, insert an asterisk in front of teen, *teen.
This will ignore any text in front of the word “teen” and start the search
based on what you type after the asterisk. See below:
7/21/06 - How do I change the Address Check Date in a patron's record?
Since we have been on Polaris close to a year now, you will see a block
appear in the Checkout record referring to the address check date.
This is how it would look:
- Left Click on the Patron Registration record button
- This will open up the Patron’s record
- Notice the TERM is set to 0 and the DATE is in the past.
- You need to update the TERM.
This is how it’s done:
- Verify the patron’s address information, if everything is correct:
- Change the TERM to 1 by clicking on the up arrow next to it or type in the number 1
- Change the field next to TERM to years by clicking on the arrow next to it and selecting it from the drop down menu
- The date is automatically calculated
- Save the record
- The block will disappear after overnight processing runs.
- If you do NOT wish to update the address check date at this time,
- Simply answer Yes to the question "Do you want to continue with this operation?"
6/30/06 - How do I update the Expiration Date in a patron's record?
When a patron’s card expires in Polaris, the software automatically insets a block that will display every time this patron’s card is scanned at Checkout. Updating the expiration date is done in Patron Registration. See Below
Left clicking on the Patron Registration button will open up the patron’s registration workform and allow you to change the term.
- Select the number of years and the term “years” to update the expiration date.
- After changing the date, save the record.
Once this date is changed and overnight processing is run, this block will automatically disappear. However, if you don’t want to wait until the next day, you can manually delete the block.
- Left click on the Patron Status button.
- Go to the General screen.
- Highlight the block
- Left click on the Delete Block button. See Below
6/23/06 - How do I add "Head of Household" to multiple patron records using the bulk change function?
Rex has designed a custom report that allows you to generate patron mailing labels. However it is based on the occurrence of “Head” in the PSTAT3 field of the patron record. You should be identifying one person in the family to receive targeted mailing to avoid duplication. This is done by inserting “Head” in the PSTAT3 field of their patron record. See below:
If you have not been doing this, it’s fairly easy to do using the bulk
change function in a record set. Here’s how:
Under the Patron Services Menu, select Patron Records. This brings up the
Find Tool.
Go to the Miscellaneous tab and increase the Record Limit and the Sort Limit
to a number slightly higher than the estimated number of patrons you think
you have.
Click on the General tab and in the “By” box search by Patron Code
In the “For” box type in the patron code for Adult (Adu)
Now click on the Search button
Retrieve all results by using the Control Shift A key combination
Sort your results by Library by clicking on the Library column heading.
(If, like in the case of the Cayuga Connect libraries, you see patrons that
are not registered at your library).
Highlight the first name on the list for your library, and then scroll
down until you see the last name on the list for your library.
Holding down the shift key, select all these records.
Right click to bring up the menu and select “Add to record Set” “New”
Name your record set and save it.
Retrieve all the names by using the Control Shift A key command
Sort your record set by name to identify two adults in the same family.
Remove the duplicates by highlighting the name and clicking on the minus
sign
Save the Record Set again after removing all the duplicate names
Now let’s add “Head” in the PSTAT3 field by using the Bulk change option
Clicking on the Bulk change option
displays
this window.
Place a checkmark next to Registered branch and select your library from the
drop down list
Select the UDFs tab
Place a checkmark in the box next to UDF 4 field and select from the drop
down menu,
Overwrite – add value to every UDF 4
In the Text to overwrite box, type in HEAD
Select the Report/Record Set tab
Left click on the Browse button
Left click on Desktop and leave the File name as report
Left click on Save
Left click on OK
Left Click on Continue
All patrons in the record set will now have HEAD in the PSTAT3 field
6/16/06 - How do I select a Zip Code when registering a patron?
When you need to either register a patron or edit their address, selecting the correct zip code can be a little confusing.
For example, when I type 14850, this pop up window displays: Notice the series of dots next to Ithaca indicated by the arrow. These dots indicate there is more text that is not displaying
To view the additional text, move your cursor there until it changes to a cross and then double click on the line between city and state by. See below
The entire text now displays and you can see that the city is Ithaca College NOT Ithaca
You can now highlight the correct city and double click it for insertion into the patron record. If for some reason you need to stop this procedure and get out of the Add/Edit Address window, simply pressing the Escape key will take you back to the patron record
6/09/06 - How do I use the Mailing Label Manager to produce mailing labels?
Using the Mailing Label Manager Would you like to print mailing labels
for a specific group of patrons? Let’s say you want to mail your book club
group notice of an upcoming event.
First identify the book club members by using the local use field in their
patron record
Under the Utilities Menu, select Mailing Label Manager
Left click on the Search by Address icon
This will bring up the Find Tool
Under the Options Menu, remove the checkmark by left clicking on it, next
to the Close on Open option (this will force the Find Tool to say open
displaying your results even after you select a record)
Now search for the patrons you have identified in the local use field using the local use field search option in the By box
- With the name highlighted, press enter
This patron is now in the Mailing Label Manager - Use your arrow key to highlight the next name, press enter
This patron is now in the Mailing Label Manager - When you have all your patrons added, Save the list
- From the File Menu, Select Print or left click on the Printer icon
- Select your Label type
The Print Mailing Label dialog box appears.
- Select the label type in the Mail Label Template box:
Avery 5163 labels are 4 inches x 2 inches. Avery 5252 labels are 4 inches x 1.33 inches.
If necessary, type or select the number of labels to skip. (Use this option to print on a partially used sheet of labels.)
- Click OK. The labels are printed at your default workstation
printer.
This means that if you are printing from a workstation that only has a receipt printer attached to it, it will print to the receipt printer.
You must use a workstation that has a printer other than the receipt printer attached to it and select that printer prior to printing your labels.
5/26/06 - I don't understand the Patron Statistical Fields?
We have recently found numerous errors in the Patron Statistical fields of the patron record. There seems to be some confusion as to what code goes where. Some libraries are duplicating the information in PSTAT2 and inserting it in PSTAT3. Some libraries are not filling in the statistical class at all and inserting that information in PSTAT3. Some libraries are duplicating the Patron Code and inserting it in PSTAT3.
This is the correct way to enter in statistical information in the patron record. Displayed below is a typical Patron Record
The Statistical class should be filled in with the smallest municipality
chosen from the drop down menu.
PSTAT2 should contain the funding or taxing district.
PSTAT3 should be used exclusively for identifying “Head of Household” using
the word “HEAD”.
We are in the process of identifying errors in PSTAT3, adding these to record sets for you to correct. The only way the custom mailing label report will work is if “Head” is in the PSTAT3 field.
Please follow these rules for entering in statistical information to the patron record.
- STATISTICAL CLASS = Smallest municipality
- PSTAT2 = Funding or Taxing District
- PSTAT3 = Head
If you need some unique way to identify patrons, use the Local Use field.
12/9/05 - How do I run the Patrons Without a Password report?
When you register a new patron, you must insert the last four digits of their phone number in the password field of their patron record. Polaris does NOT automatically insert this information.
Patron records that were migrated from Dynix into Polaris did include this information, however “new” patrons registered must have this information entered manually by staff. We have discovered that most libraries are NOT doing this.
We have identified over 3000 patron records that do NOT have a password entered in their patron record. A custom report has been created to identify those patrons who do NOT currently have a password in their record.
This report is available in Report Manager on the Web, Polaris, Custom, Public Services, Patron Services and is entitled “AA-Patrons Without a Password.”