We are changing the name of a branch next month but keeping the same location codes for that branch. The first dozen characters of 200+ location names will have to change. Here’s the catch: We are a Sierra library and our access to the Postgres database with SQL is limited to read-only views.
I asked Innovative if they could run a brief SQL Update script to save me the trouble of editing all those location names in the Sierra Desktop App, and their answer is “Unfortunately, we will not be able to do this as Support and Services cannot directly make changes to the Postgres database nor do we have tools that would allow us to make a ‘bulk’ change like this to the location names/descriptions.”
Now correct me if I’m mistaken, but Polaris libraries can run their own UPDATE statements against their SQL Server database, correct?
I have no idea about your actual question. While Support & Services won’t help you, I’ll bet if you asked your account manager they would likely be glad to provide you with a quote for services
To answer your question, yes - Polaris libraries that host their own servers have full access to the database. I’m not sure they’d design it that way now (!) although I’ve never heard of anyone screwing things up badly. It is incredibly convenient for situations like this – making updates that won’t work easily with Polaris’s built-in bulk change features.
We just don’t want to admit it when we have Or the mess up was so bad, it ended up being a resume generating event.
We had at least one instance where we were removing the last patron the item record as a method to help protect patron privacy. When we did that, we messed up the ability for any lost items to be checked back in! Thankfully, this is now just an Sys Admin setting you can turn on.
We were able to recover the information on our own, but the usual troupe of “With great power, comes great responsibility” applies here for sure. Especially, when there are 1,500 Polaris tables and they don’t always follow Normal Form databases rules nor do they use triggers to update things, but instead do some of that work via hardcoded client methods instead.
I’m not sure how I missed this @bgaydos! I do confess to not being completely up on all the department names. What I was getting at is that often Support is set up to respond to standard requests with regards to Services, but sometimes if you are willing to pay and go through another channel they have the ability to get a bit more creative with possible solutions.
Or the mess up was so bad, it ended up being a