Onboarding for New Staff

Welcome! Whether you are a new library manager or a staff member, there's lots to learn about your library, PLS, and the library environment in Alberta, so hopefully this page will help you with some of the basics.

At PLS, we provide services and support for libraries in northwestern Alberta. However, each of our member public libraries is ultimately governed by your local board; our role is to provide assistance and consultation! Your library has a dedicated library consultant who can help with any questions you have - check out our staff directory here or reach out to the consulting department here. 

First, check out our Orientation Booklet for New Library Managers. This will tell you more about PLS and what we can do to help you and your library. 

Polaris is the program that we use to check books in and out and also serves as a catalogue of everything to be found in our libraries. For basic Polaris procedures, visit our Polaris training page. You’ll find help there to walk you through various processes like checking books out and signing new patrons up for cards. 

Before you can add new or donated books to Polaris, please note that you are required to take our Item Record and Volume Control quizzes.  

Since PLS is part of a larger consortium called TRAC, we are also beholden to TRAC’s guidelines for interacting with other libraries – ie, handling each other’s patrons and materials and what to do if things go missing between libraries, etc. These can be found at our TRAC page or on the TRAC Society website.

We deliver books throughout our system and also use a courier to move books throughout the province. Our delivery schedule can be found here.

You can order books through us for your library and we will purchase and catalogue them on your behalf. More on that can be found on the Collection Services page. 

If a piece of technology breaks or your computer goes down, don't worry - our IT team is here to help! Submit a request for assistance through our Help Desk form.