The SHARE Finance and Policy Committee has revised the Permissions Policy. SHARE members are encouraged to comment on this revised policy, which is written below. Please comment below by Jan.10, 2025 for your comment to be considered by the Committee.
PERMISSIONS
Due to privacy concerns, Polaris permissions are intended for member library staff only. We do understand that some libraries rely on volunteers or student workers, and may be issued a login, pending SHARE approval, with limited permissions.
Library board of trustee members will not be issued a login unless they are a regular volunteer. This will be reviewed by SHARE staff on a case-by-case basis.
Individual logins are tied to permissions based on individual training, and like any other login and password, should not be shared. Member library workers should not use another’s login with the intention of circumventing permission requirements. Failure to follow this policy may result in loss of permissions in Polaris. In the event of continued violations, the SHARE Director may take further action, including sending a warning letter to the Director and to the appropriate Board Representatives, Superintendent, Agency, or Corporation administrator, and suspending interlibrary loan privileges to the member library in the most serious of circumstances. Interlibrary loan permissions will be restored only when it is determined by the SHARE Director or his or her representative that the member library will remain in compliance. The member library may do so by signing a formal compliance agreement to follow all SHARE Policies and Procedures in the future.
Comments
Sounds good to me!
This is a good policy to cover a need hole.
Can you provide examples of
Can you provide examples of "circumventing permission requirements"? Honestly, I can see where if you have multiple staff members working and one staff member is logged in, leaves the area briefly without signing out and another staff members assists a patron without checking to see who's is signed in happening. i don't see that as circumventing permissions, but rather provding customer service. When is comes to volunteers or student workers, wouln't they only be allow to have ciculation permissions. If these becomes a policy, then a procedural change would also need to be in place for libraries. Defining the permission levels to ensure clarity.
Sandy, that is a great
Sandy, that is a great question! It is specific to library staff members that are giving out their username or password to others that might not have barcoding or cataloging permissions.
The libraries that are
The libraries that are abusing user IDs should be addressed, not a SHARE policy over all. We do not log off and on all day for each user. The opener logs on the main circ desk computers and stays logged in unless Polaris goes down. We all wait the desk during the day and to switch out users everytime someone different checks a patron out, is not a good use of time or providing great customer service to our patrons.
Jessica, that is a great
Jessica, that is a great suggestion, but if we don't clearly state that we have this as a rule, we do not have a lot of recourse when this happens. This is specific to instances where someone is logging in with someone else's username and password in order to do tasks, like cataloging, that they have not been trained for. The SHARE Finance & Policy Committee will review these comments and I'll also think more about the language so that is more clear. Thank you so much for responding!
Yes, please cite examples of
Yes, please cite examples of abuse. If this becomes policy, can we go back to allowing permissions for public libraries to see school libraries and vice versa? It really makes work easier. No one should be worried about patron privacy, because everyone using POLARIS should be trained. PERIOD.
permissions
While I understand that some schools may use volunteers and there are security concerns, I find it very frustrating that my personal log in has the same restrictions. No one uses it but me, and I am a 30+ year educator and 20+ librarian. It makes my job harder when I cannot get the information I need since I am not trusted with that information. When I complained about this, I got no where and now work at a disadvantage every day.
I agree Valerie
We sign a confidentiality agreement to work in the district so this should cover the privacy concerns. We do not have volunteers so we don't have this issue in our schools. I also have complained about this and got nowhere.
Permissions should be fair in Public Libraries or School
We sign a confidentiality agreement to work in the district so this should cover the privacy concerns. If not then come up with a form we can sign so we can get the same permissions as a public library. Public libraries can see my patrons but I can't see theirs. At the very least allow a couple of people in a school district (highest ranking so to speak) to have permissions to see patrons who have checked out their books. This would be very helpful with billing as well as other issues. We do not have volunteers so we do not have the problem of using other people's logins. We would just like to have the same permissions granted to a public library. Another issue we have is that branches in our district and you won't even allow us to see other patrons in a different school in OUR OWN DISTRICT. I cannot see any reason we cannot see all students in our district.
In Support
I assume examples include staff "lending" their credentials to a volunteer, or a cataloger "lending" their credentials to someone without the proper training....that sort of thing. I think this proposed policy is less about confidentiality and more about ensuring that people working in the Polaris database have the appropriate training.
Ryan, that is correct, where
Ryan, that is correct, where a library staff member would sign in with someone else's login in order to do tasks that they haven't been trained for. Thank you so much for responding!
Too strict for a good policy
For a short time, you might need to use the previous employees login to train a new person with supervision.
Some things can't wait and others with permission need to get their work done at their workstation.
If you have this as a policy, it will be difficult to train in the time frame to see if the new person be up to the job in the
probationary time allotted by the union contract.
Permissions
If the purpose of the proposed changes is to make it clear what the SHARE Director will do when abuses occur, I think it is good.