CCS is excited to welcome Mount Prospect Public Library and Waukegan Public Library as our 30th and 31st members! Both libraries will go live with CCS on October 1, 2024.
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Prepare for Go Live
- Register for the Mount Prospect-Waukegan Go-Live Review and Offline Demo webinar. The webinar will be held Thursday, September 12 (1:30pm-2:30pm) and will review the September-October 2024 go-live schedule for all CCS libraries and demo remote offline circulation. The webinar will be recorded. The session will be recorded. The recording will be shared in CCS News and posted online for all to review.
Mount Prospect and Waukegan staff do not need to register for the webinar. Attendee lists for the libraries were submitted by your project training leads!
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- CCS will share more preparation tasks as we progress towards Go Live.
Go Live Schedule
Below is the Go Live schedule for the Mount Prospect-Waukegan migration. Mount Prospect will begin using Polaris remote offline on September 26. Waukegan will begin using Polaris remote offline on September 27. All other CCS libraries will begin using remote offline on September 28 while the new libraries' data is loaded into the CCS database. While the data is being loaded and indexed, all access to the production SQL database will be disabled, including the staff client, Leap, PowerPac, and Simply Reports. During this offline period, Innovative will provide SIP authentication and limited PowerPac access through the training database.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, September 25, 2024 (after close) | - Innovative extracts Mount Prospect data from Horizon |
| Thursday, September 26, 2024 | - Mount Prospect begins using Polaris remote offline circulation. - All other CCS libraries remain online in Polaris. |
| Thursday, September 26, 2024 (after close) | - Innovative extracts Waukegan data from Sierra |
| Friday, September 27, 2024 | - Waukegan begins using Polaris remote offline circulation. - Mount Prospect continues to use Polaris remote offline circulation. - All other CCS libraries remain online in Polaris. |
| Friday, September 27, 2024 (after close) | - After libraries close, production PowerPAC is redirected to training PowerPAC. - After libraries close, SIP authentication is switched to the training database. |
| Saturday, September 28, 2024 | - All CCS libraries begin using offline circulation. - Innovative begins the data load, data deduplication, and indexing process. |
| Sunday, September 29, 2024 | - All CCS libraries offline. - Innovative continues the data deduplication process and indexing process. |
| Monday, September 30, 2024 (day) | - All CCS libraries offline. - Innovative continues the data deduplication process and indexing process. |
| Monday, September 4 (evening) | - CCS and Innovative do QA when deduplication and indexing processing is complete. - CCS loads existing CCS library offline files. - Redirect to training PAC removed after-hours; SIP authentication switches back to production. |
| Tuesday, October 1 | - All CCS libraries, including Mount Prospect and Waukegan, are live on Polaris |
Offline Services
While libraries are in offline, a number of services will be unavailable.
Available Services
- Check out materials
- Patron registration (optional)
- Hourly material check-in (optional)
- Available holds pickup
- Training PowerPAC search functions
- Training Leap search functions
- Database/SIP Authentication against training
Unavailable Services
- Materials check-in
- Placing holds
- Paying fines
- Modify patron records
- Processing Holds
- Running the picklist
- Checking in expired holds
- Checking in delivery
- Creating ILL or on-the-fly records
- Technical Services functions (Adding/editing items, bibs, etc.)
- Simply Reports access
- API authentication
Offline Circulation
Offline Check Out
Libraries will use Polaris Remote Offline circulation to check material out to patrons. Using Polaris Offline is required. Offline files will be processed by CCS before libraries move back online.
Offline Circulation will alert staff if the patron has one or more of the following blocks:
- Library assigned blocks
- Free text blocks
- System-level blocks, including PAC self-registration blocks, and card expiration blocks
- Collection agency blocks
Offline circulation will not alert staff to the following conditions:
- Long overdue
- Patron has exceeded number of overdue items allowed
- Patron owes money
- Patron has exceeded maximum fines
- Patron has notes
- Patron has exceeded material type checkout limits
All properly performed offline transactions will be updated in the Polaris database before libraries are back online.
Hourly Material Check-In
Library staff may not check material in. In Offline Circulation, there is no way for the system to determine if material should transit to another library, is on hold for a patron, was returned overdue, or otherwise requires action. Material should be set aside until the morning of go live.
Hourly or daily use materials that are not eligible for holds such as laptops or other in-house use equipment, may be checked in. Your library should determine which, if any, materials would be eligible for offline check in and set up an internal procedure.
Offline FAQ
Q: What is my library's default offline loan period?
A: Every library is allowed to set their own offline loan period. Please email help@ccslib.org to confirm or update your library's setting.
Q: Will ereceipts be generated during offline?
A: No, ereceipts will not be delivered to patrons when checking out materials during offline. Libraries can configure their offline settings to allow staff to print Check Out receipts for patrons.
Q: My library currently allows patrons to self-register for a new library card in the catalog. Will patrons be able to do this during offline?
A: No. During the offline period, all library catalogs will be directed to the system-level training PowerPAC. Self-registration is not be enabled for this interface.
Q: Will patrons be blocked from checking out materials in offline if they owe too much money?
A: No. Polaris offline does not block patrons in offline based on money owed, unless that patron has been submitted to Collection Agency. Review the blocks that will or won't appear in offline above.
SIP and PAC Redirect
CCS is coordinating a SIP and PAC redirect with Innovative. This redirect will allow authentication with SIP resources to continue throughout the offline circulation period. We will post details about the SIP and PAC redirect here once they are confirmed.
This redirect will only apply to CCS libraries currently on Polaris. Mount Prospect and Waukegan will need to coordinate access individually with their legacy ILS (if available).
Addtional Considerations
Scheduling Staff
CCS strongly recommends that all libraries consider the go live schedule as they create their September-October circulation staff schedules.
Library administrators and managers are responsible for ensuring that scheduled staff have reviewed offline procedures and restrictions.
Management or other staff who are experienced with offline procedures should be scheduled for, at minimum:
- Saturday, September 28: First day of Polaris offline for current CCS libraries
- Tuesday, October 1: CCS libraries back online
Consider scheduling additional clerks and/or shelving staff on the day of and after go live. There will be a backlog of material to check in and shelve.
Library Due Dates During Offline
CCS will be adding closed dates to avoid due dates during the offline period. Information will be posted here once dates are confirmed.
Auto-Renewal
Auto-renewal will be adjusted to account for the offline period. This will ensure items due before and after the offline period will be considered for auto-renewal. CCS is currently evaluating how to adjust auto-renew.
PowerPAC Banner
CCS will add an alert banner to all library PowerPACs ahead of the offline period. More details will be posted here when available.