Moving to New Software

As you may or may not know, the Jerseyville PL was a member of the Lewis & Clark Library System.  Over a year ago, LCLS merged with three other library systems--Lincoln Trails, Rolling Prairie, and Shawnee--to form Illinois Heartland Library System.  On July 1, 2012, all of the Local Library System Automation Programs (LLSAPs) merged, too, to form SHARE (Sharing Heartland's Available Resources Equally).  On April 9, 2013, all SHARE libraries will "go live" on the new LLSAP software called Polaris!

SHARE TIMELINE

March 15--We/you will no longer be able to place holds in the Gatenet catalog.

March 22--Illinois Heartland Library System will cancel all remaining holds that have not been filled.  This is because the holds in our current software will not transfer to the new catalog.  Once SHARE is up and running, Jerseyville PL staff and volunteers will put holds back on in order.

Your Reading History will not transfer over to the new online catalog either, so if you want to keep it, you will need to export it.  Please ask a staff member for help with this process.  We are advising you do this before April 1.

March 23--No new items will be added to the old version of the catalog.

April 1-April 8--All libraries will be checking out using Polaris' offline circulation software.  During this week you will have to do 1 of 4 things in order to check out materials:  (1) Bring your library card, (2) Bring your library card number written down on a piece of paper or in your smartphone, (3) Memorize your library card number and tell us when you check out, or (4) Buy a new patron card for $1.00 before April 1.  We will not be able to type in your name to pull up your patron record as the software is not set up to work that way; no new patrons will be able to be registered and no changes can be made to existing patron records.  No late fees will be charged on any items returned during this week.

April 9--Go live day!!  Circulation will resume as usual using the new software.  We/you can begin requesting materials.  The Jerseyville PL staff and volunteers will be re-entering all of the approximately 1,500 outstanding holds which were not filled before the March 22, 2013 cutoff date.  Access to OverDrive, Freegal, and our other online reference sources will not be affected by the transition.

SHARE will have nearly 1,600,000 patrons and close to 10,000,000 items!  It will, quite likely, be the largest library automation consortium in the United States.