Aspen Discovery
Aspen Discovery Releases 24.10.00
by Kalleen Marquise on Oct 16, 2024
Aspen Discovery announced this week that the 24.10.00 release is now available.
24.10.00 Release Notes
This release includes code contributions from
ByWater Solutions
- Katherine Perdue (KP)
- Kirstien Kroeger (KK)
- Kodi Lein (KL)
- Liz Rea (LR)
- Morgan Daigneault (MKD)
CLAMS
- Brendan Lawlor (BL)
Grove For Libraries
- Mark Noble (MDN)
Howell Carnegie District Library
- Jeremy Eden (JE)
Independent
- Myranda Fuentes (MAF)
Nashville Public Library
- James Staub (JStaub)
PTFS-Europe
- Alexander Blanchard (AB)
- Chloe Zermatten (CZ)
Theke Solutions
- Lucas Montoya (LM)
Special Testing thanks to
- Brendan Lawlor (CLAMS)
- Bryan Jones (Nashville Public Library)
- Janeal Walker (Metropolitan Public Library)
- Jason Boyer (Equinox Open Library Initiative)
- Kate Lozyk (ByWater Solutions)
- Kirstien Kroeger (ByWater Solutions)
- Myranda Fuentes (Grove and Independent)
- Sierra Chastain-Rittue (CW MARS)
- Tara Wood (SWAN Library Consortium)
This release includes sponsored developments from
- Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC)
- San Luis Obispo County Library
Administration Updates
- Add the ability to assign a user multiple locations to administer. (DIS-10) (MDN)
- When assigning or editing permissions for a user, the administrator will be able to choose additional locations for the user to administer.
- For all pages where a user does not have the permission to administer all settings (i.e., Administer Library Format Sorting vs. Administer All Format Sorting), the list of available settings will include relevant settings for the user's home library/location as well as any selected additional locations.
- Prevent read-only fields from being batch updated within the object editor. (DIS-23) (MDN)
- Allow Account Profile URLs for Vendor OPAC Url and Webservice/Patron API Url to contain ports. (Issue 1965) (MDN)
- Allow properties lists to have additional panels within the form. (MDN)
- Separate additional list actions from standard actions like Export and Delete (MDN)
API Updates
- Added deleteAspenUser endpoint in User API to delete the provided Aspen user and related data. (KK)
- Added catalogRegistrationCapabilities to library config output for the getLibraryInfo endpoint in System API. (KK)
- Added getSelfRegistrationForm to Registration API to return field details for the library's self-registration form. (KK)
- Added getSelfRegistrationTerms to Registration API to return terms of service provided for the library's self-registration form. (KK)
- Added processSelfRegistration to Registration API for processing the request to create a new user via self-registration. (KK)
API Documentation
- Add Swagger documentation for login method within UserAPI. (MDN)
- Migrate Swagger 2.0 documentation to OpenAPI v3.1.0 (MAF)
- Add API documentation to Aspen interface (MAF)
Aspen LiDA General Settings
- Added new option Enable self-registration for whether self-registration should be available in Aspen LiDA. (KK)
New Settings
- Aspen LiDA > General Settings > Enable self-registration
Aspen Materials Request Updates
- Add new options to Materials Request Statuses to define which should be checked to see if the requests are eligible for holds, which should be set after a hold is placed successfully, and which should be used if a hold fails to be placed. (DIS-18) (MDN)
- Create a new default statuses for "Hold Placed Successfully", "Hold Not Needed", and "Hold Failed", existing sites are not updated with the new statuses.
- Update the default status of "Item purchased" to be an open status.
- Add the ability to map formats between formats in the catalog and formats defined for materials requests using the new menu option Materials Requests > Format Mapping (DIS-18) (MDN)
- All Aspen formats will be shown by default, and the administrator can choose the Materials Request Format that applies.
- Active formats can be easily updated by the administrator.
- Create a new cron task to generate available hold candidates for each request that has a status with "Check for holds?" set. (DIS-18) (MDN)
- If the request has an ISBN, UPC, or ISSN set for it, Aspen will search based on those numbers.
- If the request does not have an ISBN, UPC, or ISSN set, Aspen will search based on the title and author of the request.
- When title(s) are found that match the criteria, they will be added as hold candidates for the request.
- Aspen will use the hold mapping defined above to ensure that the format within the catalog matches the format requested by the patron.
- Create a new page to show and manage all requests that need holds (Materials Request > Requests Needing Holds) (DIS-18) (MDN)
- All requests that have at least one hold candidate where holds have not been created will be shown.
- From the new page, staff can select a hold candidate to place holds on if more than one hold candidate is available.
- Staff can place holds for individual requests or selected requests.
- After placing a hold, staff is informed of the result and the status is updated if the hold was placed successfully.
- From this page, staff can also move selected requests to another status if they wish to skip placing a hold or if they wish to place the hold manually.
- From this page, staff can also look for new hold candidates using the Check for New Hold Candidates button.
- Create a new page to see the results of the process for generating available hold candidates. (DIS-18) (MDN)
- Fix export of materials requests to CSV to properly handle pagination. (MDN)
- Remove deprecated method to load additional information about a request from WorldCat. (MDN)
- Remove old Import Materials Requests function that attempted to import Materials Requests from an XLS file. (MDN)
- Fix pagination for materials request management page to allow viewing/exporting larger sets of data (KL)
- Fix display of Pickup Location for holds when creating and updating requests. (MDN)
New Permissions
- Materials Request > Place Holds For Materials Requests: Allows users to place holds for users that have active Materials Requests once titles are added to the catalog.
New Settings
- Materials Request > Format Mapping
- Materials Request > Requests Needing Holds
- Materials Request > Hold Candidate Generation Log
- Materials Request > Manage Statuses > Check for holds?: If the status has this option checked, any requests with this title will be checked to see if the title is in Aspen so a hold can be placed for it.
- Materials Request > Manage Statuses > Hold Placed Successfully?: Only one status can be flagged with this option. When a hold is placed successfully, the request will be moved to this status
- Materials Request > Manage Statuses > Hold Failed?: Only one status can be flagged with this option. When a hold cannot be placed, the request will be moved to this status. (Staff can also choose to not move requests to this status and retry later)
- Materials Request > Manage Statuses > Hold Not Needed?: Only one status can be flagged with this option. When a hold is not desired for a request, the title can be moved to this status.
Aspen Usage Data
- Added usage graphs and raw data tables for the Axis360, Aspen API, and SideLoads usage dashboards, all of which include a CSV download feature. (CZ)
- Change the urls for the API Usage Dashboard and API Usage graphs from /Admin/APIUsageDashboard to /API/UsageDashboard and /Admin/APIUsageGraphs to /API/UsageGraphs respectively. (CZ)
Greenhouse Updates
- Add the ability to generate historical reading history data for a patron. Reading history can be generated for the past 1–6 years with a minimum and maximum number of reading history entries per month. Entries are generated at random from the grouped works in the database. The new tool is located at Greenhouse > Testing Tools > Generate Reading History. (MDN)
Indexing Updates
- Update query to remove deleted items from grouped_work_record_items to be less taxing on MySQL (KL, LR)
Koha Updates
- Create a user agent to handle requests to Koha. (LM)
Library Savings
- Create a new Library Savings page for patrons that shows current savings based on what is currently checked out as well as historical savings based on their reading history (if enabled). Also show graphs of historical savings by month and by year. (DIS-28) (MDN)
- Individual patrons can opt in and out of the library savings functionality both on the My Preferences page and the new Library Savings page. (DIS-28) (MDN)
- Display current costs savings at the top of the patron's checkouts if enabled. Cost savings will include linked users if the patron has linked other accounts. (DIS-28) (MDN)
- Display historical cost savings at the top of a patron's reading history if enabled. (DIS-28) (MDN)
- Add the ability to define default replacement costs per format. All formats are displayed by default with the option to update formats based on information within the catalog. Each format can have the default replacement cost set for it. From this page, administrators can also update library cost savings for patrons to use the new default costs. Administrators can update all data or only data that does not have a replacement cost applied to it. (DIS-28) (MDN)
- Add the ability to define a field within an indexing profile where the replacement cost can be found for an individual item. (DIS-28) (MDN)
- As titles are added to reading history, update cost savings for the patron based on the item's replacement cost if available or based on the default replacement cost for the format if not available. (DIS-28) (MDN)
New Permissions
- Administer Replacement Costs: Allows users to administer replacement costs for all libraries.
New Settings
- Catalog / Grouped Works > Replacement Costs
- ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Item Information > Replacement Cost
- Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Enable Cost Savings
- Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Cost Savings Enabled Explanation
- Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Cost Savings Disabled Explanation
Open Archives Updates
- Add date formatting setting for OpenArchives collections to select how to show the date metadata to allow for flexibility of EDTF date formats (JE, MDN)
New Settings
- Open Archives > Collections > Date Formatting
Palace Project Updates
- Correct deleting Palace Project Titles. (MDN)
- Remove Palace Project button for unknown cloudLibrary titles and fix button color of "Return Now" button (KL)
- Correct build location for the Palace Project Export jar file using new workspace. (MDN)
Polaris Updates
- After a hold is placed, trigger an update of the related record from Polaris so hold copy counts will update. (MDN)
Privacy Updates
- For libraries that require consent to use analytics cookies, users have the ability to opt in or out of localAnalyticsTracking. (AB)
- For libraries that do not require consent to use analytics cookies, local analytics data continues to be tracked as it is currently. For libraries that require consent to use analytics cookies, users are opted out of localAnalyticsTracking by default and can choose to opt in (AB)
- When a user opts out of localAnalyticsTracking, their stored data is cleared from the relevant user_usage statistics tables. (AB)
- When the cron runs for the first time after a library enables cookieStorageConsent, users who have not opted in to localAnalyticsTracking will have their data cleared from the user_usage statistics tables. (AB)
Reports Updates
- Fixes a bug in Show Data on all three Student Reports in Aspen Admin, where the first line of data is being dropped. (JStaub)
- Removes an errant quotation mark from the page heading
Sierra Updates
- Extract item replacement costs from Sierra if the replacement cost field is defined within the indexing profile. (MDN)
- Fix issue where overdue fines for the Sierra ILL Module causes an error (KL)
Symphony Updates
- Add notice and billing notice preferences based on Symphony User Categories to Contact Information page. (KP)
- Add new library settings for user category number and valid options to use for both notices and billing notices.
- Add support for alternate phone field names such as DAYPHONE. Symphony libraries that did not use PHONE for phone numbers could not submit the Contact Information form. (KP)
- Add new library setting for default phone field. Defaults to PHONE.
- Add support for cellphone field on patron profile page. (KP)
- Update Symphony volume export for malformatted volumes where we receive an array size of 8 instead of 7 (KL)
Security Updates
- Prevent users from using html tags when updating list titles (KL)
Other Updates
- Remove old development site configurations. (DIS-22) (MDN)
- Finish removal of PHPExcel (no longer supported in PHP 8) (MDN)
- During upgrades, automatically look for php cron update files and run them automatically. This eliminates the need to create separate upgrade scripts for each version to simply update cron. (MDN)
- Allow queries within a search object to be cleared so the object can be reused. (MDN)
- Set SMTP port when sending email using SMTP settings. (MDN)
- Fixed a mislabeled variable causing an error when trying to connect to SIP for testing self-checkouts. (KK)
- Fix PHP error (seen with debugging on) for innReach (KL)
- Increase the allowed search length to 500 characters to accommodate long titles (KL)
- Make account expiration message translatable (KL)
- Add a new backup job for Debian systems that uses Mydumper which enables threaded, table-wise backups and restores. (backupAspen-mydumper.php) (LR)
- Adjusted tooltip for the setting "Automatically Update Hours from the ILS" for clarity. (MKD)
- Fixes a bug where users with linked accounts received an error when trying to log in. (JStaub)
- Now in Author Authorities, when you add a new filter and press the 'enter' key, you will trigger the 'Apply filters' instead of delete them (LM)
- Fix typo in default password reset text (BL)
- Correct documentation for the "Restrict Library System, Branch, and Available At Facets to this library" Library Setting to state that Call Numbers are also restricted. (MDN)
- Update the properties list to handle display of array values. (MDN)
- When updating the name of a theme, also update the name used for any theme that extends it to preserve the link. (MDN)
- E-commerce: SnapPay: drop unused database field and other small fixes. (JStaub)
- Correct cron artifact within new default intellij project. (MDN)
- When batch updating enumerations, display the label for the new value rather than the internal value. (MDN)
- Remove debugging code when sending emails with SMTP (MAF, MDN)
- Fix an issue where EBSCO EDS search errors were echoed to the UI on the search page (visible to any visitor) by adding the error message to the logs instead. (CZ)
- Fix unit tests related to loading the current branch. (MDN)
Aspen LiDA Updates
- Added sorting options including by library account to Checked Out Titles. (KP)
Watch the 24.10.00 Aspen Updates in an Instant Recording
Watch a short highlight video of the some of the new features available in 24.10.00
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