Aspen Discovery

Browse categories literally decorate your catalog's homepage. It's important to have the right ones in the right number for your patrons.

Did you make a list that would make a nice feature? Is Minnesota history literally all your patrons have been talking about? Or, is less more and you'd rather have fewer categories? All of these are possible.

What you'll need to tell us:

• What browse category you want added/edited/deleted

• Any criteria that make up a new browse category--Anything with the word Minnesota in the record? Award winning picture books about animals? Something else?

• (Optional) A description to go with the browse category

• Are there start and end dates to show this browse category?

Menu Links are the links just above the search bar in the catalog. Sometimes they need refreshing and revamping.

What you'll need:

The text you want for your menu link

The URL for the link

(Optional) FontAwesome icon name

We'll also need to know:

Should this link display to everyone, or just to logged in users?

Should this link also appear in the mobile app?

Would it be nice for you to have your library events Google Calendar embedded on its own page? Well, you can have that!

Maybe you'd rather have your borrower guidelines written out on its own page for easy reference? Super doable.

What about a mysterious third thing? If it's relatively static (i.e. it's not going to change every month or whenever the weather does a thing), we can probably publish it in Aspen.

Want to show your patrons all the great stuff you have on other platforms, like Hoopla or Kanopy? We'll need to know a few things, like the name of the integration. We'll also need the records you want to display in .marc or .mrc format. 

There's a number of other options depending on the platform. Once we've ironed out the details, we'll be able to scope the content just to your library's catalog and get the records integrated.

Note: When your content provider updates their offerings, you will need to provide us the new data, along with any records which have been deleted. This helps keep your information current and prevents links leading to nowhere.

Need to tell your patrons something important? Request a System Message, Aspen's form of a banner on the catalog. 

These are commonly used to announce library closings, inform about changes, or promote special events.

What you'll bring:

• The exact text you would like for the message. The more clear and concise, the better.

You'll also need answers to the following questions:

• Would you like it displayed in the mobile app, or just on the catalog website?

• Would you like to show it on all pages (visible to everyone) or all account pages (visible only to those who sign in and go to their account)?

• When would you like the message to start appearing?

• When would you like the message to stop appearing?

• Can the message be dismissed? (Note: Messages are only dismissable if a patron is signed in.)

Librarians tend to be list people. If a survey would put you in that statistic, you'll enjoy the List Publisher permission.

Aspen List Publishers can make searchable and shareable lists. You can use lists for reader’s advisory, summer reading, collection promotion, and research guides. Request this permission anytime by contacting the Help Desk.

Things to know about the permission include:

• Lists created by List Publisher accounts will only be viewable on your library catalog.

• You can add cover images to lists to reflect the list topic or your library branding.

• You can transfer ownership of lists to other staff.

• Lists can be turned into browse categories on your catalog’s home page. Contact the Help Desk or your Aspen Local Admin if you want to display your list this way

Note: Aspen Local Admins already have these permissions. Aspen List Publisher is just a narrowing of scope to allow for more libraries to try Aspen’s features without committing to full administration.

Sometimes, your hours, location, and contact information will get changed in other places, but get missed in the catalog. Request these changes whenever something is wrong. 

We can also add holiday hours and dates.