Innovative, Part of Clarivate, announced today that Sierra 6.2 is now generally available for all customers and includes new features requested by Sierra users through Idea Exchange as well as user experience enhancements, API developments, and foundational work for future releases.
Sierra is used by many of the largest libraries in the world including New York Public Library (New York), Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library (Ohio), Tulsa City-County Library System (Oklahoma), San Francisco Public Library (California), Montreal Public Library (Canada), Auckland Libraries (New Zealand), and Malmo Stadsbibliotek (Sweden).
Innovative works closely with Sierra libraries on a regular basis to solicit their input on roadmap development. Users are encouraged to be involved in Idea Exchange to share suggested enhancements and features for the software. Every Sierra release includes multiple features from Idea Exchange and other library-influenced processes. In addition, 13 libraries have been beta testing this Sierra release.
“I travel on a regular basis to meet with our libraries and I continually hear from library staff who use and love Sierra. We have dedicated development teams committed to Sierra because of this large, robust and growing Sierra user community,” said Yariv Kursh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Innovative. “When I stood on stage at the Innovative Users Group conference in April, I emphasized the importance of Sierra to our community and we stand by our on-going commitment to enhance the product based on user needs and requirements.”
This Sierra release includes a number of updates, including:
- Ability to Batch Cancel Order records – The new permission 147, Batch cancel orders, enables a Batch Cancel Orders function from a review file of orders in the acquisitions workflow.
- Place holds on multiple item or volume records – Library staff members can select multiple item or volume records on a single bibliographic record and place holds on all of them at once.
- New Scoping Rules function – The new Scoping Rules function in the Sierra client lets staff administer location-based scopes.
- Manage macros in the Admin App – There are now separate fields in the Admin App to define macros for the Sierra Desktop App and Sierra Web.
- Verify heading for Item records – “Verify Heading” functionality, accessible via the Tools menu or CTRL+G, has been re-enabled for use with item records, allowing library staff to use non-headings fields to verify the uniqueness of fields like call numbers.
- Logout button on Web Management Reports – For users who log in to Web Management Reports using SAML credentials, there is now a logout button/link to log out at the end of a session.
- MARC option in authorities APIs – In the Sierra API for authority records, an API user can specify “marc” in the fields to return, and the response will include all MARC data for the record. This feature works with the GET /v6/authorities/ and GET /v6/authorities/{id} API endpoints.
- Patron validation lockout message in Sierra API– A new patron validation message indicates when a patron has been locked out after five unsuccessful attempts to login. The lockout expires after one minute.
- MacOS Sonoma support – The Sierra desktop application has been certified to be compatible with MacOS Sonoma.
“We have many channels of communication with our customers because it’s important for us to stay connected with our libraries – whether through user groups, emails, training, social media, online platforms, or via our Account Managers and Customer Relationship Center,” said Lester Owencroft, VP of Marketing. “We know there are many independent outlets reporting on the industry but it’s important to remember that if you want information on our business, our product roadmap and our future development plans, it’s best to get the facts directly from us.”
For a complete feature list, read the full Sierra 6.2 release notes (login required) on Supportal. If you are a hosted Sierra system ready to upgrade, please complete the Sierra Upgrade Request form on the Supportal. Please note that beginning with Sierra 6.1, Sierra releases are certified to run on Oracle Linux 8 and you may need to upgrade your operating system. Read the full Sierra supported technology matrix on the Supportal. There will be a webinar detailing the changes in Sierra 6.2 on Thursday, July 18; register here.
The Sierra library services platform supports multiple workflows — Circulation, Cataloging, Acquisitions, eResource Management, and more — within one interface to easily manage all of your library’s day-to-day activities and special initiatives, saving time for attending to the human side of library work.
Sierra includes integrations with LX Starter for patron email notices, Innovative Phone Alerts, Innovative Mobile, Vega Discover, Summon, Vega Promote, Vega Promote Web, Vega Program, and LibraryIQ. Sierra APIs offer access to data in your Sierra system to patron self-service functions and third-party solutions, including real-time status information. Sierra is open and ready to connect.
To learn more about Sierra, visit https://www.iii.com/products/sierra-ils/