Jump to a section:

• Prepare for Go Live
• Go Live Schedule
• Offline Circulation
• SIP and PAC Redirect
• Additional Considerations

Prepare for Go Live

• Watch a recording of the Warren-Newport Migration Go-Live Review and Offline Demo webinar, held on August 16 (10:00am-11:00am) and review the presentation slides. The webinar reviews the September 2023 go-live schedule for all CCS libraries and demos remote offline circulation.

• CCS will work directly with Communico to disable mobile app access and add a banner about services being unavailable. To opt-out of this banner, email help@ccslib.org by Friday, August 11.

• CCS will add an alert banner to all library PowerPACs on August 22 that will read, "Alert: The CCS library network grows larger with the addition of over 300,000 items from Warren-Newport Public Library. From September 1 to September 4, account access and search will be limited as we add these items to the catalog." Email help@ccslib.org by August 11 if you prefer to display a custom PAC banner message.

• If interested in pausing RAILS delivery fill out this form by August 11. If opting in, delivery will be paused for your library on Friday, September 1. Delivery would resume for your library on Tuesday, September 5.

• Will you be registering new patrons during offline? If so, libraries must designate a specific workstation to register new patrons on in Polaris offline. No checkouts can occur on this workstation. Send the workstation name that will be used for patron registration to CCS at help@ccslib.org by Wednesday, August 30.

• Review and test remote offline procedures by end of day on Wednesday, August 30.  CCS will be unable to resolve remote access issues that are reported after this date.

• Confirm staff working August 31-September 5 are subscribed to CCS News . Sign up on our website (scroll to the bottom of the page) or email help@ccslib.org to batch subscribe staff! 

Go Live Schedule

Below is the Go Live schedule for the Warren-Newport migration. Warren-Newport will begin using Polaris remote offline on Thursday, August 31. All other CCS libraries will begin using remote offline on Friday, September 1 while Warren-Newport 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
Thursday, August 31	- CCS production database is copied to training database before libraries open. - Warren-Newport begins using offline circulation. - All other CCS libraries remain online in Polaris. - Innovative extracts Warren-Newport data from Sierra. - After libraries close, production PowerPAC is redirected to training PowerPAC. - After libraries close, SIP authentication is switched to the training database.
Friday, September 1	- All CCS libraries begin using offline circulation. - Innovative begins the data load, data deduplication, and indexing process.
Saturday, September 2	- All CCS libraries offline. - Innovative continues the data deduplication process and indexing process.
Sunday, September 3	- All CCS libraries offline. - Innovative continues the data deduplication process and indexing process.
Monday, September 4	- All CCS libraries offline. - CCS and Innovative do QA when deduplication and indexing processing is complete. - CCS loads existing CCS library offline files. - Redirect to training PAC removed; SIP authentication switches back to production.
Tuesday, September 5	- Warren-Newport uses Polaris offline. - CCS libraries, with the exception of Warren-Newport, work online in Polaris
Wednesday, September 6	- Warren-Newport goes 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 and Polaris 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. Once online, libraries can email help@ccslib.org if they would like a copies of their library's offline error reports.

Patron Registration

Libraries may register new patrons using Polaris Offline. Libraries should designate one circulation workstation for patron registration to help minimize potential load errors. No checkouts can occur on this workstation. If you will register new patrons during the offline period, you must submit the designated workstation name to CCS by August 30. Please email help@ccslib.org with the workstation name.

CCS will load offline transaction files the evening of Monday, September 4. Having designated workstations for offline registration allows new patron records to be created first before any circulation transactions are uploaded. This ensures no checkout transactions will error out due to a non-existent patron record.

Patrons registered during the offline period will not be recognized by tools that authenticate against Polaris.

Using Self-Checks and Sorters in Offline

All self-checks must be either disabled or set into offline mode prior to the SIP redirect at 9:30pm on August 31. If you will be using your self-check in offline mode, confirm settings with your vendor and test prior to August 31.

Sorters must also be disabled during the offline period.

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

SIP authentication and the PowerPAC will be redirected from production to training during the offline period. Innovative will switch SIP authentication from production to training on Thursday, August 31 at 9:30pm. This will allow authentication with SIP resources to continue throughout the offline circulation period. API services will be unavailable during this period. Please continue reading for more information about API.

Patrons registered using offline mode will not have access to SIP tools, and users that become delinquent or expired during the offline period will still have access to resources that may have been restricted during normal circumstances.

Leap Access

Training Leap will be available during offline for reference only. Library staff may not perform any transactions in training during the offline period. All transactions must take place in Polaris Offline. CCS will work to restrict permissions, but it is the responsibility of each staff member to follow procedures. CCS cannot guarantee recovery of transactions that take place in the training database. Access training Leap at https://ccs-training.polarislibrary.com/LeapWebApp. 

Because of the temporary changes to permissions, staff will encounter an override block when attempting to open a patron record to the checkout tab (image below). When you encounter the override block, click cancel to close the block and view the patron’s account.

PowerPAC Access

Production PowerPAC will be unavailable during the offline period. Innovative will temporarily redirect production PAC to the training PAC, with limited functionality. This will allow patrons to search for materials and check their accounts. We will disable certain functions, such as the ability to place holds and make changes to account information. We will put a header image and banner in place to indicate that catalog maintenance is being performed and search results may be out of date. As items are checked out in offline, item availability will become out of date.

Neither patrons nor library staff will be able to place holds, update account information or pay fines in PowerPAC. Libraries should communicate these dates to their patrons as appropriate to your community.

The redirect is unable to apply a user's search terms when redirected from a website search widget.

API Services 

API-connected services will be down during the offline period. Libraries may want to reach out to vendors of other API-connected resources to discuss options for the offline period. Vendors may be able to display a message to patrons similar to Communico (below) or adjust authentication for the offline period so that patrons can still access these resources.

API services may include:

• Axis360​
• BiblioCommons​
• Boopsie​
• CapriaMobile​
• CenTec​
• CincoBooks​
• CloudLibrary​
• Communico​
• Comprise​
• Creativebug​
• CuriosityStream
• Ebsco Stacks​
• Ebsco​
• Evanced​
• Explore More IL​
• Hoopla​
• Kanopy​
• LibraryMarket​
• Libro​
• LinkedIn
• Lynda​
• NoveList​
• PatronPoint​
• ReadSquared​
• Solus​
• SpringShare​
• Syndetics Unbound​
• Vega​
• Zoobean

Communico 

CCS will work directly with Communico on behalf of libraries to disable app access and add a message about services being unavailable. Communico will be disabling the following features in library mobile apps:

• Searching on the catalog 
• My Account 
• Recommended Reads (as this also allows the ability to place holds)

If you would like to opt-out of these updates or work directly with Communico yourself, email help@ccslib.org by August 11.

Addtional Considerations

Scheduling Staff

CCS strongly recommends that all libraries consider the go live schedule as they create their September 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: 

• Friday, September 1: First day of Polaris offline 
• Tuesday, September 5: 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.

RAILS Delivery

By default, CCS will not pause RAILS delivery for libraries. If libraries are interested in pausing RAILS delivery fill out this form by August 11. If opting in, delivery will be paused for your library on Friday, September 1. Delivery would resume for your library on Tuesday, September 5.

Library Due Dates During Offline

No items will be due from September 1 - Septmeber 4. As a reminder, items returned during offline cannot be checked in until we are back online. If you would like to extend due dates beyond September 4, please email help@ccslib.org.

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.

PowerPAC Banner

CCS will add an alert banner to all library PowerPACs ahead of the offline period on August 22. The banner will read:

Alert: The CCS library network grows larger with the addition of over 300,000 items from Warren-Newport Public Library.  From September 1 to September 4, account access and search will be limited as we add these items to the catalog. 

Email help@ccslib.org by August 11 if you prefer to display a custom PAC banner message.

Web Reports (AUG 30 UPDATE)

Innovative is providing a window after libraries close on August 31 for CCS to compile report data for Web Reports. We originally anticipated being able to compile all monthly reports during that window. However, we are limited to compiling statistical checkout reports.

Available monthly reports:

• Annual Stats By Item Collection Material Type
• Annual Stats By Item Collection Material Type Stat Code Shelf Loc
• Annual Stats By Item Collection Stat Code
• Annual Stats By Patron Home Library (Also an RBP Report)
• Cummulative Unique cards Used
• ILLINET
• IPLAR
• Monthly Circ Activity By Day
• Monthly Circ By Workstation (Library Level)
• Monthly Circ Dept Stats
• Monthly Graphs
• Monthly ILL
• Monthly Items Lent and Borrowed Ratio
• Monthly RBP
• Monthly Record Counts By Item Characteristics (non-excel)
• Monthly Record Counts By Patron Characteristics (non-excel)
• Monthly Stats By Item Collection
• Monthly Stats By Item Collection Material Type
• Monthly Stats By Item Collection Material Type Stat Code
• Monthly Stats By Item Collection Material Type Stat Code Shelf Loc
• Monthly Stats By Item Collection Stat Code
• Monthly Stats By Item Material Type
• Monthly Stats By Item Material Type Shelf Location
• Monthly Stats By Item Material Type Stat Code
• Monthly Stats By Item Shelf Location
• Monthly Stats By Item Shelf Location Stat Code
• Monthly Stats By Item Statistical Code
• Monthly Stats By Item Statistical Code
• Monthly Stats By Patron Code Patron Statistical Code
• Monthly Stats By Patron Home Library (Also an RBP Report)
• Monthly Stats By Patron Statistical Code
• Monthly Stats Includes In-House Activity
• Monthly Unique cards Used
• Patrons Added/Removed
• Items Physically Deleted
• Monthly Items First Available
• Monthly Items Marked For Deletion
• Tech Department Statsistics