Innovative, from Clarivate, is pleased to announce that West Des Moines Public Library (WDMPL), Iowa, has successfully migrated from Sierra to Polaris ILS and implemented the following Vega LX modules: Vega Discover, Vega Promote and Vega Mobile, with Vega Program to follow soon. By moving to Polaris and adopting Vega LX, the library is enhancing both staff workflows and the patron experience, creating a more seamless, intuitive, and connected environment for accessing resources and services.
The library serves a population of nearly 70,000 residents and maintains a collection of over 190,000 items, circulating hundreds of thousands of materials annually, and offers extensive digital resources, public technology, and community programming.
This transition marks more than a system upgrade – it represents a transformation in how the library connects with its community, making sure that the product was exactly what the library needed. Polaris ILS, paired with Vega LX modules, creates a seamless, engaging ecosystem with high customizability and a user-friendly interface. For WDMPL, this means not only continuing its legacy of innovation but building the ground most effectively, ensuring that both longtime patrons and new generations experience the library as a welcoming, forward-thinking destination for discovery, learning, and community connection. What makes this launch unique is that it was a single branch with a small-but-mighty team that launched it internally.
“Polaris is designed around how public libraries actually work. It reflects what staff need and what patrons expect, and that’s built into the system. With Polaris, staff don’t feel stuck or dependent on a few ‘super users’ – they’re empowered to do their work independently and feel confident doing it. If your goal is to empower your staff and help them feel confident in what they’re doing, I would absolutely recommend moving from Sierra to Polaris.” – Traci Glass, Director at West Des Moines Public Library.
Polaris offers libraries a modern, flexible web-native platform designed to support evolving staff workflows and operational needs. For Sierra libraries that are exploring ways to improve usability, streamline navigation, and manage records more efficiently, Polaris represents a natural next step. With Vega Discover, patrons benefit from intuitive, modern search capabilities that make it easier to find and explore library resources. Together, Polaris and Vega LX enable libraries to deliver highly personalized, accessible, and engaging services that meet patrons where they are.
Maggie Herr, who works in the Marketing Department at West Des Moines Public Library, shared with us that “transitioning to Vega Discover has helped our library highlight items that were previously difficult for our patrons to navigate. Our Library of Things and Learning Kits are now easy to find in our catalog and have increased our patron’s independence in putting those items on hold.”
Interested in seeing any of these products in action? Book a demo today.