The Aspen 23.03 release adds searchable facets, support for Koha 22.11 and 75+ total partner requested updates!

by Jordan Fields on Mar 15, 2023

Patrons typically don’t use advanced search, that’s really more of a librarian tool. However, patrons do have advanced search needs. With searchable facets, Aspen gives patrons a precise tool to narrow down their search from a familiar place in a user-friendly way."

- Jordan Fields, Aspen Product Librarian

This month’s Aspen release is chockablock full of partner requested updates starting with the ability for patrons to search within facets. Needing to know both that advanced search exists and how to use it is a big barrier to your average public library patron. Now that Aspen has searching within facets, it’s a lot easier for patrons to pinpoint exactly what they’re looking for using the facets they’re already familiar with.

We’ve also added more email support for the Aspen Materials Request (purchase suggestions) functionality. Libraries now have the option to receive an email as soon as a request has been submitted. Aspen can also send emails to individual staff members when a materials request is assigned to them for review, and that setting is configurable by each staff member.

We’ve also added support for new Koha 22.11 features including the ability to cancel holds that are already waiting for pickup as well as changing the pickup location for a hold that is not waiting. Aspen will also support the new Koha patron pronoun field.

Of course we haven’t forgotten LiDA! Libraries with especially long barcodes will now have better options to ensure patron library cards are easily scanned plus a dozen other partner-requested LiDA updates.

Check out the Aspen 23.03 Release Notes to see the complete updates we made this month!

This release includes code contributions from:

• ByWater Solutions

• PTFS Europe

• Theke Solutions

Thanks to all of our contributors and our community for another successful release!

Read the Full Release Notes

You can find the full release notes here.

Watch a Preview of the Release

About Aspen Discovery

Aspen is a full-featured Discovery System that integrates with eContent and other third-party providers, giving your patrons comprehensive access to all of your materials in one place. Aspen combines your library catalog with e-content, digital archives, and enrichment from all major third-party providers. It also improves relevancy and ease of use, provides native reading recommendations, displays all formats of titles within one result (record grouping), and much more. With included features like web builder and mobile app (Aspen LiDA), Aspen was created to give users an improved experience over other Discovery systems, with less impact on library budgets.

For More Information

Jessica Zairo
Director of Library Sales and Outreach
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944