We're pleased to announce that we just released Populi Library to all our customers.
Populi Library is simple, lightweight library software designed with small colleges in mind. It lets you manage resources for multiple libraries and lets your patrons—students, faculty, staff, and others—find those resources, place holds, make recommendations, and leave reviews.
Multiple Libraries
Many schools, in addition to their main library, let their students access faculty and other libraries. Populi Library lets you manage as many libraries as you have and gives each Library the same features and abilities as the others. By treating each library as distinct but uniting them through one central, web-based point of entry, Populi Library makes things like advanced searching and Inter-library loans simple for staff and patron alike.
Community
Every one of your library patrons—whether students, faculty, staff, or friends of the school—gets a library profile. Library profiles show a complete circulation history, so it's easy to see what resources anyone has on hold, checked out, or overdue. They also collect all of the Patron's reviews and recommendations. Reviews also feed into the Activity Feed on the Profile, so if a student is following a professor, the student will see a feed of that prof's reviews and recommendations.
Loan Policies and Fines
Populi Library tracks multiple loan policies for different libraries, resources, and patron types. If one of your patrons incurs a fine—for an overdue book or a lost resource—Library automatically keeps the tab and lets your patrons pay what they owe right at the counter.
Search
Most Library searches are slow, dreary affairs. But Populi Library is search-centric and made to help you find things quickly. Fast and forgiving, it returns relevant results even if you misspell a search term. Search tools include a basic search field, an advanced search that lets you specify particular resource data, and an alphabetical subject search.
Resources and Circulation
Add new resources to your library just by typing or scanning a barcode, ISBN, ASIN, or other accepted code. Populi Library instantly retrieves basic resource information—title, author, cover image, and more—from Amazon.com or Open Library. Resource circulation puts all active loans, transits, and holds front and center so you always know what is where.
Keeping it Simple
We approached Populi Library the way we approach everything: by focusing on simplicity and ease of use. Your patrons need a simple way to search your catalog and find resources. You need an easy way to manage your collections, communicate with your patrons, stay on top of loans, and track fines. And that's just what Populi Library does.
Getting Started with Populi Library
To get started with Populi Library, submit a help request to let us know you're interested. We'll get to work on importing your MARC records, setting up your loan policies, and training your Library staff.