👋 Hello!
If you’re looking at this page, you probably attended one of my talks at the 2026 Innovative Users Group conference! Thanks for coming to the talk or, at the very least, thanks for checking out the page! You’ll find all the resources here that I mention and refer to in the various presentations. That includes the normal slide decks, but also code, reports, and other things that might be helpful. Look around and grab whatever you need!
If you have any questions, hit me up through any of the contact information below. If you’re interested in my work and other projects, I’ve got a link page that kinda lays out whatever it is I’m doing these days.
✉️ Work Email: daniel.messer [at] lsslibraries [dot] com
✉️ Personal Email: cyberpunklibrarian [at] protonmail [dot] com
🗣️ Signal: CyberpunkLibrarian.01
🐘 Mastodon: CyberpunkLibrarian on Hackers.Town
The Great ILS-Data Pre-Conference: Quick Lessons With Your Peers
Ease your way into this year’s conference with our all-star assortment of IUG experts who will present a full afternoon of activities for those looking to expand their library data toolbox. Through a series of mini-talks, some speed geeking and lively conversations, attendees will have opportunities to learn about a wide range of techniques for working with both Sierra and Polaris data.
This set of talks has a Github repository where you can find all of the materials from my talks, and from others as well. Or you can download the collections below.
Out Here in the Fields: Lessons Learned from a Different Database
You may not believe this, but there is an entire world of library management systems outside professional librarianship, each with their own databases and schemas that bring their own pros and cons. And get this: None of them use MARC. I mean, can you imagine?! Let’s take a quick walk through a project that manages bibliographic data in a completely different way, and what we can take away from that.
Download all the materials for this talk
Thousands of Tables and Four Farthings: Hacking Your Way to a Better Report
In the midst of building a centralized data server, we ran into an issue with a report that the Finance Department had been running for years. Nothing was wrong with the report, the problem came about from the way they were running it. This new data server is going to need that report, but they’re not going to be able to run it the same way. Okay, so we’ll rebuild it. But first things first… where does the data come from, how is it pulled from the database, where is the report file, and how does it work?
Time for a little old school tracking and hacking.
Download all the materials for this talk
Databrae: Inexpensive, direct, high speed item access without RFID
One of the dreams of the Circulation Librarian is the ability to access and evaluate the items on the shelves without touching every single item. If you’re running an inventory, or checking last circ dates for a weeding project, or checking for errant item statuses, the process is the same: Scan the item into your ILS and move on from there. RFID promised a solution for this, with handheld wands that are supposed to read the tags and you never have to touch the items. Except for two problems: One, everything about RFID is expensive and two, wands don’t always work. Sooner or later, you’ll run into an issue where you cannot scan an RFID tag and need to pull the item off the shelf. And for some libraries, the expensive nature of RFID, from the price of tags to the price of equipment, hampers their ability to improve their workflows and make their jobs easier. I have an idea. I admit, it’s a crazy idea, but it’s everything RFID isn’t. It’s inexpensive, the software is free and open source, your library won’t need to buy a lot of special equipment, the price of conversion is pennies on the dollar compared to RFID, it doesn’t matter what ILS you’re running, and there’s a good chance you already have everything you need. Let me tell you about Databrae.
Download all the materials for this talk
Dan… In Print
- Hearing Voices: Librarian Produced Podcasts. (American Libraries, January 4, 2016)
- 13 Must-Hear Librarian Podcasts. (Book Riot, January 6, 2020)
- Seeing is Believing: Power Digital Signage in the Palm of Your Hand. (Computers in Libraries, December 2017)
Resources
Sproc Talk
The entirety of Polaris operates on sprocs, which is short for stored procedures. Almost anything you do in Leap or the Staff Client will trigger one or more stored procedures to update the database and present data in some way. But the thing is, those sprocs aren’t just for Polaris, they’re there for you too! If you’ve ever been curious about what’s really going on in the Polaris database and how it functions, we’ll pop the hood and (safely) take a look at some of the thousands of stored procedures you’ll find there. We’ll take a look at what they do and how they’re built. But more importantly, we’ll look at how to build your own stored procedures and how that can help make your library life that much easier! This is an intermediate level talk and all are welcome to attend. However, it will be helpful if you have a familiarity with T-SQL and the basic structure of the Polaris database.
Download all the materials for this talk
Bricks Without Clay – A book about the PolarisTransactions database
A while back, I wrote a book about how the PolarisTransactions database works along with basic ways to pull data from it without losing your sanity.* This book is not for sale anywhere and if you ever do see it for sale, let me know, will you please? Because there’s no reason anyone should have to buy this book. It’s free, open source, copyrighted under Creative Commons, and can be passed around like a beach ball at a Phish concert… or like other things at a Phish concert.
Download Bricks Without Clay: Demystifying PolarisTransactions
*Sanity savings not guaranteed, all interactions with the PolarisTransactions database carry a risk of mnemonic upset. Do not use while operating heavy machinery. Check with your doctor to determine if the PolarisTransactions database is right for you.