Library Technology Guides

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Statistical Report for Polaris

2022 : gen: 7.40 company 7.07 loyalty 6.88 support 7.06

2021 : gen: 7.57 company 7.18 loyalty 7.26 support 7.31

2020 : gen: 7.46 company 7.11 loyalty 7.10 support 7.31

2019 : gen: 7.41 company 6.75 loyalty 6.45 support 6.94

2018 : gen: 7.39 company 6.59 loyalty 6.52 support 6.94

2017 : gen: 7.25 company 6.71 loyalty 6.60 support 6.90

2016 : gen: 7.35 company 6.84 loyalty 6.75 support 6.96

2015 : gen: 7.24 company 6.67 loyalty 6.63 support 6.90

2014 : gen: 7.51 company 7.23 loyalty 7.11 support 7.36

2013 : gen: 7.63 company 7.70 loyalty 7.62 support 7.54

2012 : gen: 7.87 company 7.83 loyalty 7.97 support 7.52

2011 : gen: 7.77 company 7.80 loyalty 7.95 support 7.55

2010 : gen: 7.77 company 7.83 loyalty 7.92 support 7.74

2009 : gen: 7.79 company 7.80 loyalty 7.68 support 7.68

2008 : gen: 7.73 company 7.76 loyalty 7.33 support 7.41

2007 : gen: 7.78 company 7.89 loyalty 7.49 support 8.11

Comments

Contacts with Polaris side of Innovative are good. When working through the "Innovative" side, service and response was slow and/or messed up. (Type: Public)

Polaris is a good product. I'd like to see our library move to using the ILS as the underlying software with our own custom built interface through Drupal or another open source CMS. Our future as libraries depends on us being able to create seamless experiences for our patrons with the catalog, programs, reviews, digital information and entertainment all blending into one. I don't think any ILS can achieve that and so they need to be flexible enough that libraries can grab the data in them and use as needed. (Type: Public)

We have been very satisfied over the years with our selection of Polaris but with its purchase by III we are concerned with the future development of the product. With any takeover the loss of key contacts is devastating. We miss the feeling of family we had with the Polaris staff prior to the buyout and we are worried that the development of the core Polaris product will suffer. (Type: Consortium)

Polaris was acquired by Innovative Interfaces in April. It remains to be seen how this will impact Polaris throughout the organization. (Type: Public)

FYI: III acquired Polaris Library Systems in April of 2014. So far it has still been business as usual with the Polaris team serving our needs. (Type: Public)

We migrated to Polaris from Symphony recently. As a whole, the migration process was not managed well. The on-site process used for profiling and data mapping forced us to make split second decisions, rather than allowing us study and understand the new schema before rendering our decisions. The data migration itself left us with seemingly endless corrections to make. We are still finding problems with call numbers and other item data scattered in incorrect fields. On the positive side--the Polaris system makes some of the cleanup easier to do. Our bib records were not migrated in the correct format and we were told that we will have to fix that ourselves! Aside from the migration woes, we love Polaris (the software, the company and the people) and look forward to utilizing the many excellent features in the coming years. (Type: Public)

We have been very pleased with the Polaris product and its technical support. We hope that Innovative will continue the culture of helpfullness and personal attention that we value from Polaris. (Type: Public)

We are upgrading our Polaris system in December. Having had a poor experience with all the Sirsi/Dynix mergers we are waiting cautiously to see how the Innovative purchase will work in the next few years. (Type: Public)

All tech issues and applications are handled by [...] . Admin personnel. Policy issues are handled by a Committee of the Whole and sub-committees (Type: Public)

We are watching and waiting to see what impact the merger of Polaris with Innovative Interfaces will have on our consortium as a customer. (Type: Public)

Our survey responses reflect our experience with Polaris as we continue to deal directly with them and not the company that acquired them. This survey was difficult to fill out because of the recent acquisition of Polaris. (Type: Public)

We love the flexibility of Polaris, especially compared to our previous ILS, Dynix. After six years, there are a few minor functionality issues, but the product has truly improved with each release. We look forward to Polaris 5.0 and the Leap client. (Type: Public)

Communications are less transparent since the acquisition of Polaris by III. For example, during the October Polaris Users Group, III management was not proactive in announcing that several Polaris staff had been let go the prior day. Customers ultimately gleaned this information from Polaris line staff. (Type: Public)

We have been a hosted Polaris customer for one year after migrating from Millennium. We're a mid-sized public library and Polaris is working well for us. I have been very highly impressed with Polaris customer support, where I've gotten quick responses and clear, useful explanations. I like having a dedicated customer support person as opposed to a generic help desk. Their acquisition by III has raised some concerns, but so far, at least, all is well. I hope that III will adopt the positive Polaris traits and not subsume them into the existing III structure. (Type: Public)

The Polaris merger with III is a concern for us. We have already received word that the Fusion module, used for electronic resources, is going to be replaced by III's version in the future. Fusion is not very functional and we anticipated improvements that are probably now not going to happen without investing in another product. Even without the merger there seems to be problems internally with product development. Polaris told us we would need the API to integrate OverDrive with Polaris. We purchased the API and then were later told we did not need that, we needed a connector, which was a separate purchase. We purchased that, but hear about so many problems with the integration of OverDrive and Polaris that implementation is on hold. In the meantime, we are being encouraged to buy LEAP, which is barely developed. We don't want to purchase any more half-developed modules. (Type: Consortium)

We are concerned since our ILS vendor, Polaris, was acquired by III. We wonder if the prior good service and understanding of public library issues will continue under Innovative. Nothing to do but wait and see... Our choices of an ILS are now even more limited. In general, ILS vendors don't "get it", that is, the relationship between back end and front end interface and a library's need to deliver to its customers what the customers want. The data is still not open and flexible enough. (Type: Public)

We had to request a "clear search" button for our public search interface for Polaris. We may be the only Polaris library that has it. Public Libraries are still concerned about patron privacy in the branch and this seemd like a basic feature. It took at least 3 calls and 3 emails to get the change made - probably over a 3 week period. With Polaris, one help request always leads to a follow up call or email to clarify the issue. We miss the days of the DYNIX call center where our issues were handled on the spot by the next available employee. Polaris wants to tell us how to fix it ourselves, which is fine, but good customer service will fix it for you and tell you how to do it the next time. We are hosted and paid for and clearly requested Administration support. Now we only want to call if we are really, really stuck because it takes longer to get help directly from Polaris. We can usually figure most things out ourselves in a couple of hours of tediously hunting through menus. It might take Polaris a week to address the issue. We need an easy WYSIWYG editing process to experiment with the look of our catalog. It seems more complicated than necessary. IMHO (Type: Public)

Overall, we are happy with the Polaris ILS and the support team. As technologies evolve, we hope Innovative Interfaces will keep us on the cutting edge of ILS technology. (Type: Public)

Polaris was recently purchased by III -- our systems folks are keeping an open mind, but we are fearful that the level of great service we had with Polaris may diminish. So far, so good, however. Also, while we are sticking with Polaris/III, we are migrating to the LEAP system -- not sure if that should have been noted above. (Type: Academic)

The jury is still out, but Polaris's strengths (public library focus, excellent customer service) seem at first glance to be trending downward post-III buyout. (Type: Public)

The acquisition of Polaris by Innovative Interfaces Inc makes us uneasy. We have already seen that talented Polaris software and support staff have been dismissed. We are very concerned about the customer support that III will provide as well as the cost for annual maintenance. At this time, we will wait and see but have already started to look at other ILS products in case we decide to migrate. The statements that III CEO Kim Masana have not been convincing nor has the departure of Bill Schickling from product development. (Type: Consortium)

It was very disconcerting to have Polaris purchased by III this year. I worry that Polaris' culture of providing a customer focused ILS will disappear into the morass of III's poor customer service and nickle and dimeing libraries to death. So far they (III) talk a good game but I haven't seen any evidence that their culture has changed. (Type: Public)

Our system decides most of the decisions that you have asked.... we use the product, but don't make the decisions (Type: Public)

We are all waiting to see what happens with Polaris costs now that III is the vendor. (Type: Public)

We have always had a great relationship with and great service from Polaris Library Systems. They have recently been purchased by Innovative, so only time will tell if those things will remain the same. We certainly hope that they will. (Type: Public)

It is my perception that customer support has gotten worse since Innovative bought Polaris - I am not certain if this is correct. I do know that things take longer (I am waiting for a quote for adding a report and they have let some of the former sales staff from Polaris go - no one at the company knows how long it will take to get a simple sales quote.) (Type: Public)

While our customer support continues to be excellent we have been left hanging when it comes to a PCI compliant solution. Communication with sales has been dismal. Their communication with 3rd party vendors seems to have deteriorated. We hope this will get sorted out as the company settles after the merger, but also realize that there will be less resources put into our software platform. (Type: Public)

With the purchase of Polaris Library Systems by Innovative Interfaces, Inc., half of the Polaris developers have been laid off and the development has been slowed. I question the commitment of the new vendor to the Polaris ILS and its future. (Type: Consortium)

The Library retained its contract with Polaris, which we had used for one year previously as part of the [...]. When the Library was dropped from that system, the [...] took over funding for the Library, which contracted Library Systems and Services to manage the Library. The transition from branch to independent status went smoothly during the two week changeover, and staff were able to use their prior knowledge of Polaris to make the Library's reformation easier. There are two improvements that could make Polaris more efficient: a bulk processing function without the creation of record sets and a more dynamic search function within the staff interface. A pick and scan function, similar to the one found in Voyager, would make weeding far more efficient. Also, when searching among various databases in Polaris' acquisitions module, an advanced search feature allowing multiple field searches would produce more relevant results and fewer irrelevant ones. Overall, though, the Library is pleased with Polaris' functionality and reliability. We have experienced fewer crashes, and the system seems far more reliable than CARLweb, the Library's previous integrated library system. (Type: Public)

We migrated to our present platform as part of a larger Library System (cooperative) which merged 4 separate ILS systems into 1. My perception is that the system serves public libraries reasonably well, and probably schools as well, though I am less certain about this point. Academic libraries are definitely minority members of this consortia (8 out of over [...] members), and so our voice in suggesting improvements in the system is pretty small. That is one reason we decided to pursue a discovery interface, though we have still not gotten our physical holdings into that system yet, so it is not a real alternative to searching our catalog - yet. (Type: Academic)

Our Consortium[...] recently purchased the Fusion Module of Polaris to digitize and catalog local history images. It is wonderful to search a local history subject and find an image. (Type: Public)

The Polaris product is outstanding in customer service and services. (Type: Public)

We have not seen major changes to customer service or development since the acquisition by Innovative Interfaces. We hope that these stay high and that the new company will provide additional benefits. (Type: Public)

In the last year, Polaris Library Systems was acquired by Innovative. Polaris is an excellent product, we are concerned that we will be lost in a company as large as Innovative (in spite of what we heard at the recent Polaris Users Group conference). While our technical support issues are still being handled by Polaris people, other customer service/financial staff have changed and I am tracking down invoices that we have not yet received. Innovative has yet to earn our trust, but the pool of ILS companies is rapidly dwindling, so making a change is not on our list at this time. (Type: Public)

Since the merger with III, I feel the direction of the company has changed. It seems that the concentration is on LEAP, which we cannot afford, and not on the actual Polaris client anymore. This is a disappointment as I have always given Polaris high recommendations. Support staff still remains attentive and hopefully will continue to be so. (Type: Public)

We have concerns over the recent acquisition of Polaris Library Systems by Innovative Interfaces. Although we have been assured the Polaris platform will be maintained, we are concerned about future development and the inevitable fusion of the different ILS platforms. (Type: Public)

We selected Polaris based on its reputation for customer support and service, as well as their advertised features. We've been disappointed with both. The proposed product included the ability to take credit cards at the circ desk, including PCI-DSS. Polaris has since stopped supporting that functionality to the dismay of many of its customers. There are several other pieces of functionality that did not meet our expectations. We have been trying to work with Polaris on these but the process has been very slow. We have been disappointed in the customer service from Polaris. We attribute that to the buy out by Innovative, which had the opposite reputation for customer service. As a result of the buy out, contacts have changed, many laid off. As management and responsibilities have shifted within the company, we've seen a degradation of internal communication and thus, service. The staff that trained us often did not seem to know the software well. And we've been told things that contradict the documentation. Despite that, our implementation went well and we count it as a success. Inside the product itself, we have noted configuration settings at the admin level that are misleading, sometimes non-functional. Often these appear to be place-holders for future development. We do like being a Microsoft operation and like the database structure for the most part, though transaction logging is a bit unusual. (Type: Consortium)

Polaris was recently bought by III and we still have not information to form an opinion on this new vendor. (Type: Public)

Polaris was recently merged with Innovative and we were slightly concerned but we have had to contact customer service since then and had the same amazing support we have always had in the past. (Type: Public)

Polaris has been able to handle merging four local library automation consortia to form one very large consortium in [...]. Polaris staff have been able to keep up with the demands generated by the [...] libraries in this growing consortium. They work effectively with the local library automation consortium staff to resolve problems, initiate new processes, and implement new functionality. (Type: Consortium)

The Automation Department of library consortium deals directly with Polaris and determines upgrades, etc, so our direct experience with customer service is minimal. (Type: Public)

Polaris would be a more compelling product if more of its add-on features were included in the cost of its base configuration. Add-ons require annual maintenance charges in addition to the initial licensing fee. (Type: Public)

We've had Polaris since I was hired. We are a cooperative, so we don't handle any issues locally. We do have the only Polaris self-check in the system. It works pretty well. (Type: Public)

Many of these questions can only be answered accurately by the consortium, are at best, a guess but we tried. (Type: Public)

Since Innovative bought out POLARIS, I have seen changes in customer support that I am not happy with. I do not like the Innovative culture compared to POLARIS (Type: Public)

Concerned over the purchase of Polaris by Innovative Interfaces. Some aspects of customer support have suffered over the last several months. (Type: Consortium)

I've left responses blank because we don't deal with Polaris directly but through our consortium. We are very satisfied with Polaris and particularly with the job our consortium does in making it available and workable for us. (Type: Public)

[...] a joint community college/public library. (Type: Public)

We just went live in mid November (2014), so we have been on the system for less than a month. Consequently, the ratings are very preliminary. We are sharing our system via a consortium with the [...] (who has been using Polaris for around 10 years). (Type: Public)

We have seen a stark decline in services and product support since Innovative purchased Polaris. Many critical developers were pink-slipped or encouraged to leave, fostering large holes in product support and development. The last version 5.0 was put out without extensive SIP testing, resulting in massive numbers of failures - very unlike the typical release that Polaris does. At the May 2014 IUG, although Kim M. reassured Polaris libraries that Polaris would be fully supported, other signs were contradictory. For instance, III was proud to announce that they had in place a migration path from Polaris to III but there was no mention of the reverse. We hesitate to rely that Polaris will be available 5 years from now but budget constraints prohibit us from jumping ship at this point. We would love to be proved wrong. Also, Polaris has decided not to keep up with PCI compliance which, in this day and age, we consider to be a core element of a major ILS. Instead, they have shunted all compliance to 3rd party companies. (Type: Public)

We have seen a downturn in customer service response since Polaris has been purchased by iii. (Type: Public)

We are in the process of barcoding to become automated. As of 12/2014 our collection is not online. (Type: Public)

We recently migrated from III Sierra to Polaris. During after our contract was signed, Polaris was purchased by III. There have been gaps in support due to the restructuring but we are hopeful these will be short-lived. Only time will tell... (Type: Public)

Basically, I think the system does what it's suppose to do. Nothing is perfect, but it is for the most part, adequate for our needs. (Type: Public)

As of April 1, 2014, Polaris was acquired by another ILS vendor. Future product development and support for the Polaris product is unknown at this time. (Type: Public)

Like many other Polaris customers, we are waiting to see how customer service and overall costs will be impacted by their acquisition by Innovative Interfaces. At this point we have not seen much change - but every so often we get hints of perhaps not-so-good things to come. (Type: Public)

While product support has remained about the same following Polaris' acquisition, there is real concern about the future direction of the products from the company. While there was initially talk of a new cloud based product within 3 years, that has now been pushed back to 7 years. During that time we're unsure how the Polaris product with continue to be developed. (Type: Consortium)

Polaris has been a stable and reliable ILS, and our experience with it influenced by the limitations of our participation in a consortium. We don't get to interact with the vendor directly and have been specifically prevented from doing so by both our consortium automation staff and the vendor. Holds functionality is underdeveloped and the list of Enhancement requests goes unattended. No one seems to be focusing on developing and providing a system that serves patron interests and needs. (Type: Public)

We feel that customer service has gone down over the past few years. We've been through several site managers and I think the company has grown too fast to provide the level of customer service it once did. (Type: Public)

Find Polaris outdated Not user friendly (Type: Public)

Polaris was recently purchased by III. Unsure of the ongoing support. We are part of a consortium. That does make our communication more difficult. (Type: Public)

have had trouble with many different web pages form other Clifton Forge Links have not be able to use all items on web (Type: Public)

Polaris Library Systems has recently been acquired by Innovative Interfaces. it is too soon yet to decide if this is a good or bad thing. So far III has not made substantive changes to the company and has retained most of the trusted staff members. I've been through this several times in my library career and I am concerned about how this will play out in the future. With the narrowing of the field, there are not a whole lot of choices out there anymore. I've never thought of the library market as a place for a company to make an enormous profit but the companies buying up ILSs are purely profit driven and that does not bode well for libraries! We shall see. (Type: Public)

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Library Technology Guides is a service provided by Marshall Breeding, independent consultant, author, and speaker.