New Polaris ILS at the Dallas Public Library

On May 29, the Dallas Public Library will begin using its new Polaris ILS. Library staff and patrons alike are pleased at the prospect of moving to a new system that offers so much flexibility and control. This system is used in, among others, Plano, Texas, and Maricopa County, California, but Dallas Public Library is its biggest client so far. Dallas Public Library and Polaris were mentioned in an ARLIS session, What’s New in Technology---because Polaris provides graphics.

Those not mastering Polaris will not be provided with a password. This has given your non-technie, Luddite correspondent a powerful incentive to learn the new system. So far, it has seemed simple to use, and that has frightened me.

I tend not to pay much attention to the latest technical news and didn’t really know what was meant by Polaris. About six months ago a former employee, who once worked in technical support at this institution, and who is a prolific writer of science fiction, and abstract painter of science fiction subjects sent me a new web page of his latest work and commented “I hear Dallas is going to Polaris,” I thought it was the name of one of his paintings.