“Everyone liked the fact that the Polaris ILS came with all the subsystems. Even if we don't use everything initially, we know we have it and don't have to locate additional financing a year from now.”
- Rex Helwig, Finger Lakes Library System, New York
APIs
Polaris Library Systems supports interoperation with other applications through APIs consisting of standards whenever practicable. Long a supporter of 3M SIP and SIP2, Polaris currently prefers using NCIP as the API for interoperation of self service applications of various sorts and for resource sharing/direct consortial borrowing applications. Polaris uses Z39.50 as its API for importing and exporting bibliographic, authority, and holdings information. Z39.50 is also the search API exposed to third party implementations. Built on an SQL database, Polaris can support ODBC connections for specific tasks. Polaris supports https for secure data transmission. Polaris is also involved in web services as another way to convey data. Those web services are, at present, standards-free due to the current lack of library-specific web services. Polaris uses both web services and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) for communication of acquisitions-related data between the ILS software and various book and media vendors. The choice between EDI and web services depends on both the task at hand and the capabilities of the other party involved.