Library Technology Guides

Webinar recap: The fight against book bans. Innovative, part of Clarivate, hosted a webinar with Illinois State Senator Laura Murphy and Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown on the topic of book bans in America. The webinar, hosted by Innovative Director of Sales Carrie Pearson, started with a discussion of Illinois's anti-book ban legislation, which made history when it was passed in June of 2023. The way the legislature enacted this “Ban against book bans” is to require that, in order for any public or school library in the state to receive state funding, they must adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, which “indicates materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” [Full Announcement].

What presentations do you want to see at IUG 2024?. Innovative, part of Clarivate,will be participating in the Innovative Users Group 2024 conference in Detroit, Michigan. The main goal of the annual IUG conference is for attendees to make connections and learn new tips and processes to take home to their library. [Full Announcement].

Ray Township Public Library launches Vega Program. Innovative, part of Clarivate, announced that the Ray Township Public Library is now using Vega Program for library events and room booking. [Full Announcement].

Innovative invites customers to learn more about Polaris and Vega LX updates at SWITCH in Penrith, Australia.. Innovative will participate as an exhibitor at the SWITCH Conference held in Penrith, Australia, November 14-17, 2023. Visitors will also have the opportunity learn about Vega Discover's new end-to-end integrations with Axis360, CloudLibrary, OverDrive, and Hoopla, which include the automatic ingestion of bibliographic records from electronic content vendors into Vega Discover catalogs. [Full Announcement].

Innovative travels to London for the Libraries Rewired Conference. Innovative, part of Clarivate, will participate as an exhibitor at the Libraries Rewired Conference held at tech venue CodeNode, London on November 10, 2023. Libraries Rewired is a CILIP digital transformation event that is the leading voice for the information, knowledge management and library profession. [Full Announcement].

Polaris 7.5 Brings More Flexibility and Workflow Efficiency. Innovative, part of Clarivate, announced the release of Polaris 7.5. This release focused on improvements for staff workflows and the patron experience, including some long-anticipated enhancement requests. [Full Announcement].

Ypsilanti District Library chooses Polaris and multiple Vega Library Experience modules. Innovative, part of Clarivate, announced that the Ypsilanti District Library in Michigan has selected Polaris as their new Integrated Library Service, Vega Discover as their new discovery layer, Vega Promote for email marketing, INN-Reach resource sharing, and the SkyRiver bibliographic cataloguing tool. [Full Announcement].

Warren-Trumbull County Public Library chooses Vega LX solutions. Innovative, part of Clarivate, is pleased to announce that the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library in Ohio has selected Vega Discover as their new discovery layer, Vega Program for event and room management, Vega Promote Web to build their online presence, and the Innovative Mobile patron app. [Full Announcement].

Innovative hosts webinar: The Fight Against Book Bans. Innovative, part of Clarivate will host Illinois State Senator Laura Murphy and Library Commissioner for the Chicago Public Library Chris Brown for a webinar about fighting efforts to ban books. Illinois State Senator Laura Murphy championed a measure in Illinois to make it the first state in the U.S. to prohibit the banning of books in libraries. Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown was instrumental in establishing the first Book Sanctuary movement in Chicago. Carrie Pearson, Director of Product Sales at Innovative, will moderate the session, where participants will hear from Senator Murphy about why calls for banning books are on the rise and how libraries are fighting back at national, state, and local levels. [Full Announcement].

Innovative Travels to New Zealand for the LIANZA Annual Conference. Innovative, part of Clarivate, will participate as an exhibitor at the LIANZA Conference held in Christchurch, New Zealand October 31-November 2, 2023. [Full Announcement].

Hastings Public Library chooses Vega Program. Innovative, part of Clarivate, announced that Hastings Public Library in Nebraska has selected Vega Program as their new event management and room booking tool. Vega Program is designed to give libraries full control of their event management and attendee communications, all with a sleek, modern interface for both library staff and patrons. While Vega Program works great with the Sierra and Polaris integrated library systems, you can use Vega Program with any ILS. [Full Announcement].

Franklin Township Public Library chooses Polaris and Vega Discover. Innovative, part of Clarivate, announced that the Franklin Township Public Library in Somerset County, New Jersey has selected Polaris as their new integrated library system and Vega Discover as their new discovery layer. The Franklin Township Public Library serves a community of approximately 68,500 residents with three branches. FTPL's collections include local resources, including physical and digital archives of local photos and newspapers, as well as a reference collection of New Jersey life and history. The library's events include story times for little ones, chess for adults, jewelry making classes, Zumba and yoga classes, film showings, tai-chi, tech help, and book clubs. [Full Announcement].

Five public libraries beta testing Innovative's new website builder. Innovative, part of Clarivate, announced five influential public libraries are serving as beta partners for its newest product, Vega Promote Web. As beta partners, these libraries will test and launch Vega Promote Web, Innovative's website building and management tool developed specifically to help public libraries better engage with and serve their communities. [Full Announcement].

Optimizing event management at Middle Country Public Library with Vega Program. Library staff members from Middle Country Public Library recently joined Innovative for an inspiring and informative webinar to share how Vega Program, Innovative's module for event management at public libraries, improved their patron registration and event management processes. [Full Announcement].

Contribute to Innovative changes and improvements with Idea Exchange. Idea Exchange, which replaces Idea Lab, is the next generation for our idea-sharing platform. It's configured a little differently for an improved user experience. With Idea Exchange, you can continue to contribute ideas for Sierra and Polaris – and we've expanded our forums to include Vega modules like Discover, Program, Promote, Promote Web, and Guide, as well as Innovative Phone Alerts, LX Starter, Innovative Mobile, and INN-Reach. [Full Announcement].

Over 100 libraries now live on Innovative's LX Starter. Innovative, part of Clarivate, noted a milestone achievement for its Library Experience (LX) Starter suite, which now supports over 100 libraries using the solution. Included with Polaris and Sierra Integrated Library Service subscriptions, LX Starter brings branded, visually appealing emails to libraries while keeping patron data safe within one integrated ecosystem. LX Starter includes an intuitive, web-based interface that empowers library staff to design and send modern circulation notices directly to patron inboxes, on a schedule that works for the library. In addition, staff can view email bounces, patron records, and review engagement metrics such as open rates and click rates on notices. [Full Announcement].

Sullivan County Public Library selects Vega Program. Innovative, part of Clarivate, is proud to announce that Sullivan County Public Library has selected Vega Program as their new event management solution. [Full Announcement].

Webinar recap: build your library brand with Vega Promote Web. Powered by both website expertise and library expertise, Vega Promote Web gives libraries unmatched freedom to build a website the way they want and makes it easy for library staff to update their website any time without coding knowledge or the need for help from another department or vendor. Promote Web Senior Product Manager Nathan James co-hosted a webinar in July with Maria Laude, Senior Technical Solution Consultant, to introduce Promote Web and share some of their favorite websites. They pair discussed the best of web trends and how libraries can match—and even stay ahead of—those trends using Vega Promote Web. [Full Announcement].

Rapides Parish Library selects Vega Program. Innovative, part of Clarivate, announced that the Rapides Parish Library in Louisiana has selected Vega Program for event coordination and room management. Vega Program is a module of the Vega Library Experience (LX) suite of tools. Vega LX is a cloud-based platform that allows library staff to easily communicate and manage a full range of materials, programs, and services. Vega LX works with the Sierra and Polaris ILSs to provide library staff with a holistic view of their patron activities and community engagement. [Full Announcement].

Use Vega LX to Promote the Stars of Summer: Summer Reading Programs. Summer reading programs being offered by public libraries in the northern hemisphere are a wonderful way for your library to reach a greater audience and promote your wide array of resources. Vega LX boosts community awareness of summer reading programs by promoting them across multiple channels. [Full Announcement].