Aspen Discovery

Aspen Discovery 22.04.00 Release Notes

by Mark Noble on Apr 13, 2022

Aspen Discovery announced this week that the 22.04.00 release is now available.

See the Release Summary here.

"With Aspen’s 22.04 release, we’re excited to offer libraries a brand new option for events: LibCal integration! Libraries that use Springshare’s LibCal can now discover all of their events directly in Aspen. We’ve also added two additional eCommerce integrations: FIS WorldPay and XPress Pay. Of course we haven’t left out the LiDA library app. LiDA users can now create, edit, and view lists directly in LiDA. These are just the highlights - there’s something for everyone in this month’s release!" - Jordan Fields, Aspen Product Librarian

Accelerated Reader Updates

  • Allow Accelerated Reader Updates to be scheduled by day of week (Friday night or Saturday night), and allow the frequency to fetch to be set to Weekly, Bi-Weekly, or Monthly.
    New Settings
    • Third Party Enrichment > Accelerated Reader Settings > Update On
    • Third Party Enrichment > Accelerated Reader Settings > Update Frequency

Account Updates

  • Allow restricting a library system so only patrons of that library can log in to their catalog (other consortia members cannot login). Patrons that are unable to login due to this requirement are presented with a custom message.
    New Settings
    • Primary Configuration > Library Settings > ILS/Account Integration > Login > Allow Login to Patrons of this Library Only
    • Primary Configuration > Library Settings > ILS/Account Integration > Login > Message for Patrons of Other Libraries
  • Allow offline mode to be initiated via System Variables and allow a custom message to be displayed when in offline mode. In offline mode, login can be prevented or the patron can still be given access to eContent. New Settings
    • System Variables > Catalog Online/Offline
    • System Variables > Offline Message
  • Allow system messages to be shown on just the contact information page.
  • Properly show updated checkout information when using the refresh link.

Aspen LiDA Updates

  • Lists are now available in Aspen LiDA. Patrons can add or delete items, and manage their list details.
  • Updated how Aspen LiDA stores and retrieves data to increase performance and reliability. This may result in users being logged out after updating their app to 22.04 in order to get data where it needs to be.
  • If a library has provided the "Logo for Aspen LIDA" in their theme, Aspen LiDA will now properly display that instead of the favorite icon.

API Updates

  • Added method deleteList to delete a list for a user in List API.
  • Added method editList to edit a user's list title, description, and public status in List API.
  • Added method removeTitlesFromList to add titles to a list for a user in List API.
  • Updated getApiInfo for Libraries to send additional data about the Aspen Discovery configuration.

CARL.X Updates

  • Load MARC records from database rather than the file system after regrouping.

Ecommerce Updates

  • Added additional setting to FIS WorldPay configuration to prepare for testing stages of implementation.

    New Settings

    • Added Payment Site for the URL provided by FIS to process payments in Ecommerce > FIS WorldPay Settings
  • Added settings for Xpress-pay configuration to prepare for testing stages of implementation.

    New Settings

    • Ecommerce > Xpress-pay Settings

Evergreen Updates

  • Allow part/volume level holds to be placed when title level holds are not allowed.
  • Allow processing of full exports if individual records have errors within the full export.
  • Process new and deleted records based on export of all active ids.
  • Disable Masquerade Mode for Evergreen.
  • Show the correct message when successfully renewing a checkout.
  • Allow linking to Evergreen OPAC from staff view of Aspen
  • Allow extracting and updating a single record from Evergreen using the command line.
  • Process supplemental date created and part files when available.

Hoopla Updates

  • Allow excluding titles with copies from other vendors to be set per scope and allow copies to be hidden even if the copies from other vendors are not available. New Settings
    • Removed Exclude Records With Copies from other eContent Vendors from Hoopla Settings
    • Added Exclude Records With Copies from other eContent Vendors to Hoopla Scopes
  • Make response from Hoopla when checking out titles translatable.

Indexing Updates

  • Add a counter for number of records with invalid MARC to the log to more clearly indicate records that need to be fixed in the ILS.
  • Add the ability to automatically load default bib level format mappings for an Indexing Profile.
  • Automatically build location, shelf location, iType, and audience translation maps if missing values are found.
  • When adding items, make the check for item identifier case-insensitive when looking for duplicates.
  • When indexing poetry, mark the literary form as non-fiction.

Koha Updates

  • Update Aspen to make appropriate fields read only if Allow Profile Updates, Allow Patrons to Update Their Address, and/or Allow Patrons to Update Their Phone Number are deselected. Also add new settings to prevent patrons from editing their name and date of birth.
    New Settings
    • Library Settings > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile > Allow Patrons to Update Their Name
    • Library Settings > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile > Allow Patrons to Update Their Date of Birth
  • When checking min length of PINS/Passwords in Koha use the highest of the value set in Koha and Aspen.
  • When validating PINs allow libraries to restrict to only allow digits.
  • Increase timeout when performing actions in Koha (placing holds, renewing titles, etc.)
  • Allow detecting and resetting PINs that have expired within Koha. (Requires patch of Koha, not available in general release yet)
  • Update to process bibs in order during an extract and also mark titles as updated during a full update even if the underlying MARC has not changed.

Materials Request Updates

  • When changing request status for selected requests, make sure that a new status is selected before sending a status change email.
  • Allow admin users not connected to a library to view and update all material requests if they have proper permissions.
  • Display a message to patrons if materials request is active, but not available to the public when creating a new request.

Polaris Updates

  • Allow setting a reactivation date when freezing holds.
  • Load Designation as part of call number when available.

Quipu Updates

Change where self registration message is displayed so the Quipu form does not override it.

Sideload Updates

  • Set correct permissions when creating a new side load to ensure that files can be uploaded properly.
  • Correct uploading zip files for MARC records
  • After merging side loaded records with other records, load MARC records from the database rather than the file system.

Sierra Updates

  • Allow frozen holds to be unfrozen even if the patron is first in line.
  • Titles that have been deleted from the catalog will no longer cause errors loading reading history.

SpringShare LibCal Integration

  • Events from LibCal can now be indexed into Aspen.
  • When searching for events, patrons can narrow events by a variety of facets including Age Group, Program Type, Branch, and more.
  • Events can be displayed on a calendar.
  • Events will show in explore more when relevant.
  • If registration for a program is required, the patron receives a link to register on LibCal.

Symphony Updates

  • Show items with a grouped status of Library Use Only as Available

User List Updates

  • Correct updating list positions when moving items within a list up or down, or moving titles between lists.
  • Display an error message if a user navigates to a list that does not exist.

Other Updates

  • Ignore default Syndetics Unbound images when loading covers.
  • Allow Administrators with Administer Bad Words permission to edit the "Bad Words List" to give more control over what words are censored.
    New Settings
    • Local Content Enrichment > Bad Words List
  • Ensure all Web Resources display properly within the list or resources.
  • In the admin interface, when filtering by date, allow administrators to filter between two dates.
  • Correct displaying facets within a library branch when the facet label is not defined.
  • When resetting PINs, display a message to the patron with the minimum/maximum lengths and if characters are allowed.
  • Properly show 856 links that use https rather than http.
  • Remove Don't Recommend buttons from Author pages.
  • Improve error message when trying to delete a materials request format that already has requests for it.
  • Increase the default size of files that can be uploaded to 75MB rather than 50MB.
  • Show Indexing Logs with horizontal scroll bars so that they fit on the page even at small screen sizes.
  • When showing resources lists, show up to 100 resources on the page.
  • Add cleanup of image permissions to cron.
  • Updates for caching of library & location data within the Greenhouse for use in Aspen LiDA.
  • Allow exporting and importing information between Aspen instances to aid migrations and setting up test servers.
  • Change numTimesShown to allow storage of numbers over 8 Million.
  • When alerting on free memory, only alert if more than 95% of memory is used if less than 2.5GB of memory is available.

Watch the 22.04 Aspen Updates in an Instant Recording

Watch a short highlight video of the some of the new features available in 22.04.00

Read more by Mark Noble

Tags release notes, Release