Aspen Discovery 22.01.00 Release Notes

by Mark Noble on Jan 12, 2022

Aspen Discovery announced this week that the 22.01.00 release is now available. See the Release Summary here.

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

The first release of 2022 brings a ton of new features and improvements including 2 factor authentication, native forgotten pin functionality, improvements to search functionality and much more. We're excited to continue our work with the Aspen Community driving Aspen forward!"

Administration Updates

• If a theme has been extended, the "Use Default" checkbox will instead look at the parent theme colors instead of the default Aspen Discovery colors.
• On prior release notes, Action Items and Testing Suggestions will display, if provided.
• Multiple barcodes can be given administration privileges at once by entering a list of barcode on separate lines.
• Two-factor authentication is now available for libraries to set up for their staff and patrons as an enhanced security measure. The only authentication method available at this time is by email.
• Libraries can set if they want the "Remember Me" checkbox when logging in is checked by default for patrons outside the library.

  New Settings

  • Primary Configuration > Two-Factor Authentication
  • Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Login > Check "Remember Me" by default when outside the library
  • (for Patrons) My Account > Account Settings > Security Settings > 2-Factor Authentication

Aspen LiDA App Updates

• Search terms are no longer double-encoded and will once again display results as expected.
• Fixed an issue that could result in an app crash while trying to load Open Archive records in Browse Categories by temporarily disabling them from loading in Aspen LiDA.

CARL.X Updates

• Prevent login when additional digits are added to the end of a barcode.

CloudLibrary Updates

• Ensure that the subtitle is not displayed twice on full record pages.

Course Reserves Updates

• Add a new Library Facet to Course Reserves that can be used if there is more than one library within a system. Libraries can be translated from the original value in the export.

  New Settings

  • Course Reserves > Settings > Library Mappings.
    The Value is the value in the export, and the Translation is the value that you wish to display in the facet.

Evergreen Updates

• Setup for extracting Evergreen records.

Forgotten PIN Reset Updates

• PIN Resets can now be done entirely within Aspen to support ILSs that do not allow forgotten PIN functionality to be customized (currently Polaris and CARL.X). The process is as follows:
  • Patron selects the Forgot PIN Link.
  • They are taken to a page where they enter their barcode.
  • An email is then sent to them based on the email address on file. If no email is found, they are given an appropriate message.
  • When the patron clicks on the link in the email or enters the token into the resulting page, the token is validated and they are given the opportunity to set a new PIN.
  • When the patron submits the new PIN, the PIN is reset in the ILS and the patron will be logged in.

    New Settings

    • There are not specific new settings for this, but it will allow Enable Forgot Password Link within Library Settings > User Profile to work for additional ILSs.

Indexing and Grouping Updates

• Added a Format Fallback Field to Indexing profiles that is used when determining the format by inspecting metadata for the Bib record. The value of the field is used if no formats are found prior to checking the 007 and leader for format. If the value of the field is found in the format map, that value is used. This is intended to allow notes etc to be used to determine format based off very specific cataloging.

  New Settings

  • ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Format Information > Fallback Format Field
• When determining which title to use for a grouped work, prefer records with a format category of Books, then eBooks, then all other format categories. (Was using formats to determine the order).
• When setting a title for a grouped work, ensure the subtitle is from the title that was used.
• When indexing barcodes, do not index zero length barcodes.
• Update Literary Forms of H - Humor to map to Non Fiction rather than fiction.

Interface Updates / Usability

• Libraries can choose to now up the minimum contrast to 7.0 for themes in Layout Settings. By default, it is set to the current default minimum value of 4.5.
• Editions are now wrapped in a responsive container to let it scroll horizontally instead of scrunching.

  New Settings

  • Theme & Layout > Layout Settings > Minimum contrast required for themes
• Adjusted title details templates so that on smaller devices the column text won't overlap in some cases.
• The label for the main search bar should now be handled better by screen reader devices.
• On the Recommended For You page after pressing "Don't Recommend", the grouped work will be hidden immediately instead of after refresh.
• When "Hide Covers" is turned on the "Don't Recommend" button will display in the result toolbar instead on Recommended For You.
• If trying to access the Add to List button while not logged in, the user will be prompted to log in.
• Minor UI adjustments to Account templates.

Koha Updates

• Utilize Koha REST APIs rather than the ILS-DI interface when placing holds. Corrects issues with hold limits not being respected all the time as well as hold cancellation dates.
• When determining which items are In Transit, account for the date cancelled field added in Koha 21.05.
• Added integration of the Curbside Pickup plugin in Koha for patron use. The module will only display in Aspen Administration if it's been enabled in Koha.

  New Settings

  • Curbside Pickup > Settings
  • Primary Configuration > Locations > Patron instructions for curbside pickup

OverDrive Updates

• Do not show client secrets within settings for OverDrive scopes if they are different than the main secret.
• Add additional error handling when checking out titles to see if the patron is valid within OverDrive.

Polaris Updates

• Extract Public Notes for Items from Polaris for display within Aspen.

  New Settings

  • This can be configured to display by modifying ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Item Information > Note
• Self Registration for Polaris patrons can now be done within Aspen.

  New Settings

  • Enable by setting Primary Configuration > Libraries > ILS / Account Integration > Self Registration > Enable Self Registration to ILS Based Self Registration
• Updating Patron information for Polaris patrons now takes into account all Polaris fields.

Reading History Updates

• Updates for marking that a title is no longer in use to account for cases where a title has been checked out multiple times.

Reports & Statistics

• Aspen will now track the usage of web resources on the Usage Dashboard.

Search Updates

• Fixes for start of title searching to ensure multiple word terms work properly.
• Improve searching for terms that include diacritics.
• Fixes for searching for terms that include -- followed by a letter.
• Fixes for searching for emojis and other non-ascii characters.

Sierra Updates

• Extract Item Public Note from item variable field.
• Ensure that reading history can be loaded from Sierra when Sierra incorrectly reports that reading history is not active.

  New Settings

  • Indexing Profiles > Sierra Field Mappings > Item Public Note Subfield
  • You will also need to set ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Item Information > Note
• Correct issues when placing item level holds that require a multi-step process.

Symphony Updates

• Allow holds per bib to be imported from Symphony when a Holds.csv file is provided. Number of holds will be displayed within search results when a title is checked out.
• Correct error loading volume information that occasionally caused the first character of a volume to be cut off.

Web Builder Updates

• Allow Web Builder pages that would normally require a login to be accessed without one while in the library.
• Allow Web Resources to require a login before accessing the link, unless accessing in the library.

  New Settings

  • Web Builder > Basic Pages > (Page) > Allow access without logging in while in library
  • Web Builder > Custom Pages > (Page) > Allow access without logging in while in library
  • Web Builder > Web Resources > (Resource) > Requires being logged in to access, unless in library

Website Indexing Updates

• Add a new page listing all pages that have been indexed for an external site with information about if a page has been deleted and if so, why.

Other Updates

• When paying fines with PayPal, patrons will now see a message when they cancel a payment or receive an error when PayPal is processing.
• Updates for making donations using Comprise a the payment processor.
• Add the ability to disable the Log me out after placing hold checkbox.

  New Settings

  • Primary Configuration> Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Holds > Show Log Me Out After Placing Holds
  • Primary Configuration> IP Addresses > Default "Log me out" checkbox on when placing a hold
• Default number of IP Addresses shown by default to 100 when administering IP Addresses.
• Images added to TinyMCE HTML editor will now be responsive and resize to the container.
• Fix so HTML with Descriptions from Content Cafe show properly.
• Updated Hide User Comments With Bad Words to Hide User Content with Bad Words to more accurately reflect the functionality
• Browse categories for lists, user lists, and course reserves will now show the "More" button if there are more records to load.
• Fix the display of titles where the entire title is surrounded by brackets.
• Fixes for displaying descriptions on small screens.
• Add additional descriptive information to the Nightly Index Log and ILS Export Log to explain the differences.
• Solr debugging is now controlled by IP Address show debugging information rather than by the config file.
• Updates to caching of IP address information when changing the IP address settings.
• Add ILS to greenhouse.

Watch the 22.01 Aspen Updates in an Instant Recording

Watch a short highlight video of the some of the new features available in 22.01.00