SALINA — Anyone that has visited her public library in recent years realizes that libraries have become more than just a place to check out books. From providing Internet access to hosting events such as career workshops, libraries continue to serve a vital role in their communities.

These days, a relatively new product from Salina–based Polaris Library Systems, a provider of library automation software, allows libraries and their patrons to identify the various elements of their communities and link them together via the library’s catalog system.

Launched in the spring of 2012, Polaris’ Community Profiles technology, available as an add-on feature for libraries that use the Polaris Integrated Library System (ILS), provides nonprofit organizations and businesses the opportunity to create a profile, upload information, and share a calendar of events. All of those become searchable within the online catalog to library patrons.

The result, says Robert Schrier, product analyst at Polaris, is that searches yield a wide array of results that goes beyond books to include nonprofits, businesses, and events relevant to the search topic. For example, he says, someone searching for a book on how to write a résumé may also learn the local library is hosting an upcoming workshop on just that topic.

“It’s a tool that supports something that’s already happening in libraries,” he says. A recent Pew Research Center study showed that the majority of library patrons ages 16-29 visit the library for more than just borrowing books and browsing the shelves. Those patrons also view technology as an important part of their library, with 38 percent of them using computers and the Internet at the library in the past year. Nearly half of those patrons (48 percent) have visited a library website, and about 18 percent use their mobile device to access the library’s website or resources.

Merging the community and its resources into the library’s catalog just makes sense, Schrier says. It brings more of the community to the fingertips of library patrons and helps libraries connect their patrons with the services they need. It all ties in with Polaris’ mission of helping libraries serve their communities, he says.

The reaction to Community Profiles has been positive, Schrier says, with more than 30 libraries across the country adding it to their system.

“It’s definitely raised our [company] profile,” Schrier says. Many potential new customers have already heard about it by the time they meet with Polaris, he says, with existing customers recommending the product as well as Polaris. “They’re really intrigued by the idea of being able to connect to their community in this way,” he adds.

Schrier declined to discuss specific sales figures, but says Polaris has become an “unstoppable force” in its industry right now, where it competes with just a handful of other companies including The Library Corporation (or TLC), based in Inwood, W.Va.

Polaris is actively bidding on library projects in nearly every major metropolitan area around the country — and winning many of those bids, he says. “We’ve picked up some very important customers in recent years,” he notes. That includes the Boston Public Library system. Local customers include the Fayetteville Free Library and Liverpool Public Library.

Schrier believes Polaris is successful at landing new clients for a variety of reasons. First is that Polaris’ products are very user friendly, not only for library staff but also for their patrons. The second is that Polaris offers products that are customizable to meet the needs of different libraries, he contends. Finally, Schrier stipulates, Polaris doesn’t end its connection to the libraries with the sale, but continues to offer top-quality customer service.

Those factors help keep Polaris growing, but the company isn’t just resting on its laurels, Schrier says. New products are already on the horizon including a mobile app for Polaris customers, more cloud-based offerings, and a new interface with library members called Polaris Social that offers social networking within the library catalog. Schrier says Polaris hopes to roll that out over the next year.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered at 103 Commerce Blvd. in the town of Salina, Polaris Library Systems employs nearly 100 people and is hiring. Open positions include web-app developer, senior UX designer, sales account manager (director of library development), support engineer, and site manager, according to its website (www.polarislibrary.com).

Polaris Library Systems generates annual revenue of about $18 million, according to the 2013 Business Journal 500 publication.

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