Aspen Discovery 21.10.00 Release Notes

by Mark Noble on Aug 20, 2021

Aspen Discovery announced this week that the 21.10.00 release is now available. See the Release Summary here.

Mark Noble, Aspen Discovery Lead Developer, recently commented on the release:

“With Aspen 21.10 libraries now have the power to dedicate sections of their website to specific patron types. We’re excited to see libraries build staff intranets, volunteer sites, and more!”

Account Integration Updates

• Allow libraries to limit how many days out a user can freeze a hold
• When placing holds on formats that allow either bib or item level holds, allow libraries to override that decision so their patrons must place either a bib or item level hold.
• Allow libraries to display barcodes for checked out items in the user account.
• Freeze All and Thaw All buttons now respect Allow Freezing Holds setting.
• When paying partial fine amounts, make sure the minimum fine amount.

Administration Updates

• When editing a theme, selecting the "Use Default" checkbox will now populate the default Aspen color into the color field and check contrast ratio as needed. Additionally, if the box is unchecked before saving, it will revert the color field back to the previous value.
• Limit visibility of library/menu links based on patron type.

eCommerce Updates

• ProPay integration to create and process payments via Hosted Payment Pages.
• Create a new eCommerce Payment report to view all completed and pending payments from Aspen.

Grouping Updates

• When grouping by Uniform Title include subfields m, o, and s in addition to n and p

Interface / Usability Updates

• Fixed 'Show Edition' button to properly word wrap for smaller screens.
• Updated social media icons in the footer to inherit the footer text color for better visibility.
• For mobile users the title rating breakdown table will no longer display.

Koha Updates

• Increase maximum allowable length of email fields when requesting PIN resets in Koha.

Open Archives Updates

• Fix the display of thumbnails when the URL provided by the OAI-PMH feed has redirects.

Polaris Updates

• Display Patron Blocks.
• Load number of holds from Polaris.
• Allow patrons to import their lists from Polaris.
• Allow patrons to change their PIN/Password.
• Enable Masquerade for systems connected to Polaris.
• Store volume identifiers as case-insensitive to ensure that records with V. 1 and v.1 volumes index properly.
• Allow patrons to update their email and phone number.

Search and Indexing Updates

• Index number of holds on a grouped work and add the ability to sort based on total holds for a title.
• Rename Date Added sort to Date Purchased Desc.
• Rename Newest First and Oldest First sorts to Publication Date Desc and Publication Date Desc respectively.

Sierra Indexing Updates

• Correct Due Date display when viewing an individual record connected to Sierra.
• Export and display item notes from Sierra. A translation map named "note" can be used to translate notes.
• Update Sierra MARC records to be stored in the database.

Symphony Updates

• Mark fines paid within Symphony during eCommerce payments.
• Update determination of current shelf location and status.
• Allow the display of barcodes for checked out titles.

Translation Updates

• Make additional strings translatable within Aspen.
• Update Language definition to make additional fields required.
• Allow translations to Pig Latin and Ubbi Dubbi to make testing translations easier.

User Lists updates

• Fixed an issue that prevented the first item on a new list from generating a title and weight for sorting.

Web Builder updates

• Limit access to web builder pages based on patron type.
• Fixed a bug that prevented custom forms on web builder pages from submitting correctly.

Other Updates

• PDFs can now be uploaded as supplemental files.
• Updated citations to modern formatting.
• Fix display of items list so all items show properly when viewing a single record from the ILS.
• Update translation of Reading History opt in message to correct quotation marks.
• Fix adding Records to Include to Locations.
• Display the maximum file size that can be uploaded when uploading Sideloads.
• Remove Account Settings submenu within the account menu to improve mobile usability.
• Remove unused Millennium Materials booking functionality.
• Replace old datepicker functionality with HTML date fields for consistency and improved functionality.

Watch the 21.10 Aspen Updates in an Instant Recording

Watch a short highlight video of the some of the new features available in 21.10.