by Addie Van Salisbury on Jun 18, 2020
Now that you have gone through Administrative training and setup, along with staff training for Aspen Discovery it is time to confirm you are ready to go live with Aspen Discovery! You will want to ensure you have thoroughly tested and have walked through our Aspen Discovery Testing Plan. Along with lots of testing, it is important to make sure the following tasks have been properly configured and set up when applicable to your library!
- Make sure your theme (colors and logos) are fully customized as you want them to be for go live
- Ensure the catalog results are displaying the marc information you would like, as well as in the full record. (Grouped Work Display Settings)
- Ensure your facets are customized. (Grouped Work Facets)
- Create browse categories that engage patrons.
- Create collection spotlights for your library website and embed, if wanted
- Embed a search box in your library website, if wanted
- Create placards to return in search results for services or resources for your patrons.
- Ensure Library Systems settings are entirely set up. Go through all of the settings here in your system to verify contact links are filled out, ILS/Account integration settings are accurate, and PayPal is enabled if necessary. There are many settings within Library System, so feel free to clarify with your support company if you have questions on what these settings enable.
- Update contact information for your library in location settings.
- In your location settings in Primary Configuration, make sure the locations are set as valid hold pickup locations if they are, and set to not be valid hold pickup locations if they are invalid. Additionally, in the location settings you would need to define if the branch is valid for all patrons or only their own patrons.
- Enable PIN/password reset and ensure this has been tested (if using)
- Enable self registration and ensure this has been tested (if using)
- Ensure all enrichment sources that you want for go live are enabled. Questions to ask here:
- Are you generating covers?
- If you utilize Novelist or Content Cafe, is it integrated?
- Within your ILS integration, make sure your maps are accurate and display what you think will benefit the patron the most. You will want to confirm the format map, status mapping, and all translation maps are finalized.
- Set up your custom menu links over your search box and in the hamburger menu.
- Ensure your API connections are enabled – OverDrive, Cloud Library, Hoopla, Axis360, EBSCO EDS. You can do this making sure these resources are findable in your catalog and usable.
- Ensure side loaded eContent has been loaded – i.e. Kanopy, Flipster, etc.
- If you use Open Archives, make sure this is integrated
- If using the genealogy functionality, make sure this is enabled
- If you want patrons to see information on your website within their searches, enable website indexing
- Go through the Aspen Testing Plan, which is found here: https://bywatersolutions.com/education/aspen-discovery-testing-plan
At this point you are ready to inform patrons of your new Aspen Discovery layer and you can go live!
If you have any questions about the above tasks, please reach out to your local support company for more information.
Read more by Addie Van Salisbury