"In this release we focused on addressing our partner's most common requests. In total, we addressed over 60 requests and enhancements to make Aspen easier to use for both library patrons and staff."-Mark Noble, Aspen Discovery Lead Developer

We're excited to announce the release of Aspen Discovery 21.13!

As of last week, the Aspen Discovery companion app, Aspen LiDA, is now officially available in both the Apple App Store and Google Play store for you to download! This app is just out of beta testing so there is still a lot of functionality that we are working on building in. But, we have made searching easier and more visually engaging, especially when displaying the different formats available. Users can easily sort through beautiful browse categories to discover new materials. Users can access their library account, library card, and place holds on items. Libraries will love that their catalog and app have a seamless look and feel. We will have an official launch party for the app on November 4th- so stay tuned for that!

If you want to seem a live demo of the app, we are also hosting a free Aspen LiDA Webinar tomorrow October 14 at 2pm. Register here: https://bit.ly/3iZRv7z

A little less glamorous, but still important feature of the 21.13 release, is we cleaned up Overdrive and general indexing for performance. We have made it easier for patrons to find materials available at their library and make it more clear to them which location an item is available at when accessing a library system that has multiple branches/locations. All Aspen libraries should notice faster performance and nightly indexing as well!

We love to see the creative placards that libraries create to promote their collections, databases, programs, and resources. We are increasingly working to make Aspen more accessible for all library users. In this release, the ability to add alt-text to placards was added, so that placards can be used with screen readers.

Finally, we have seen over the last couple years the demand for online self registration increasing across libraries. Library staff and users want the self registration to be simple and painless for new library users. In this release, we have made the self registration form and fields more customizable by given the library the ability to use css to tailor these fields to meet their community's needs.

We hope you enjoy the new enhancements in Aspen Discovery 21.13!

Read full release notes: https://bit.ly/2X6S9Iv
Watch demo video of release: https://youtu.be/y-2VSkzzKkM

About Aspen Discovery
Aspen is a full-featured Discovery System that integrates with e-content and other 3rd party providers, giving your patrons comprehensive access to all of your materials in one place. Aspen combines your library catalog with e-content, digital archives, and enrichment from all major third-party providers improves relevancy and ease of use, provides native reading recommendations, displays all formats of titles within one result (FRBR/record grouping) and much more. Aspen was created to give users an improved experience over other Discovery systems with less of an impact on library budgets. For more information about Aspen please visit https://bywatersolutions.com/projects/aspen-discovery.

For More Information
Jessica Zairo
Director of Library Sales and Outreach
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944

ByWater Solutions, America’s forefront provider of Open Source library technology support, announced that Marion County Library System in Florida is now live on Koha!

The catalog can be viewed here: https://librarycat.marionfl.org/

ByWater completed the transition of the library’s over 270,000 bibs from Horizon and continues to provide support services for Koha.

Donna Bachowski of ByWater's Education Team recently commented on Marion's migration, "The staff at Marion County Library System was a delight to work with during the implementation of Koha. I admire how they focused, not just on what was best for staff and streamlining their workflows, but also what was best for their patrons. It is always exciting to see a library so dedicated to their users! I am proud to have been involved in their migration to Koha."

About Marion County Library System
The Library System offers a collection of more than half-a-million volumes in eight library locations. A broad-based print and non-print collection makes the Marion County Public Library, Headquarters-Ocala the major public library resource in the Library System. The smaller collections of the community branch libraries are planned to satisfy the most general and frequent needs of the residents. Public access computers and Wi-Fi are available at each public library branch.

Learn more about the library here: https://library.marionfl.org/services/library-info/library-history

About ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high-quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in the first-rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit https://bywatersolutions.com.

About Koha
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management, and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies, HTML5, CSS, and Javascript, making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit http://koha-community.org.

For More Information
Jessica Zairo
Director of Library Sales & Outreach
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944

ByWater Solutions, America’s forefront provider of Open Source library technology support, announced that the Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative in Florida is now live on Aspen Discovery and Koha with ByWater Support.

The customized OPAC for the library can be seen here: readokaloosa.org

Morgan Daigneault of the Aspen Discovery implementation team commented on the migration, "I asked if I could do Okaloosa’s training because they were so fun to work with! I learned a lot alongside them through this whole process. It can be stressful going live on a new ILS and discovery layer at the same time and they were continually amazing! They’re using Aspen for their entire library website and I’m excited to see what they continue to build over time."

About the Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative
The Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative is a major component of Okaloosa County’s strong education system of schools, colleges and libraries. The cooperative is made up of six member libraries, with a staff of over 60 trained experts, in Crestview, Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Mary Esther, Niceville and Valparaiso.

Read more here: https://okaloosa.aspendiscovery.org/Find_a_Library

About ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high-quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in the first-rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit https://bywatersolutions.com.

About Koha
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha’s OPAC, circulation, management, and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies, HTML5, CSS, and Javascript, making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit http://koha-community.org.

About Aspen Discovery
Aspen is a full-featured Discovery System that integrates with e-content and other 3rd party providers, giving your patrons comprehensive access to all of your materials in one place. Aspen combines your library catalog with e-content, digital archives and enrichment from all major third party providers, improves relevancy and ease of use, provides native reading recommendations, displays all formats of titles within one result (FRBR) and much more. Aspen was created to give users an improved experience over other Discovery systems with less of an impact on library budgets. For more information about Aspen please visit: https://bywatersolutions.com/projects/aspen-discovery

For More Information
Jessica Zairo
Director of Library Sales & Outreach
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944

ByWater Solutions, America’s forefront provider of Open Source library technology support, announced today that they are providing support and hosting services for the Aspen Open Source Discovery system for the Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL: https://www.gmlc.org/index.php/vokal); a project of the Green Mountain Library Consortium

VOKAL has been a long time Koha partner of ours. We were very excited to work with them on adding Aspen Discovery to several of their libraries. Their first and largest round of libraries went live and more will roll out until 39 libraries will all be live on Aspen Discovery!

Bent Northrop https://bnml.kohavt.org/

Bristol https://bristol.kohavt.org/

Brownell https://brownell.kohavt.org/

Burnham https://burnham.kohavt.org/

Carpenter-Carse https://ccl.kohavt.org

Charlotte https://charlotte.kohavt.org/

Dorothy Alling https://daml.kohavt.org/

Enosburgh https://enosburgh.kohavt.org/

Essex Free https://essexfreelibrary.kohav...

Fair Haven https://fhfl.kohavt.org/

Fletcher Free https://ffl.kohavt.org/

Hartford Library https://hartford.kohavt.org/

Hartland Public https://hartland.kohavt.org/

Ilsley https://catalog.ilsleypubliclibrary.org/

Jericho Town http://jtl.kohavt.org/

Johnson https://johnson.kohavt.org/

Joslin https://joslin.kohavt.org/

Lanpher https://lanpherlibrary.kohavt....

Moretown https://moretown.kohavt.org/

New Haven https://nhcl.kohavt.org/

Norwich https://norwichpl.kohavt.org/

Pierson https://pierson.kohavt.org/

Richmond Free https://rfl.kohavt.org/

Rockingham https://rfpl.kohavt.org/

St. Albans https://stalbans.kohavt.org/

St. Johnsbury https://stjathenaeum.kohavt.org/

Stowe https://stowe.kohavt.org/

Warren https://warren.kohavt.org/

Westford https://westford.kohavt.org

Windsor https://windsor.kohavt.org/

Worthen/South Hero https://worthen.kohavt.org/

Kim Peine of the VOKAL Executive committee recently commented, "The Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL) are so excited to have the opportunity to offer Aspen to 39 of its 62 member libraries. We can’t wait to do a second round and add the rest of the libraries. The Aspen team has been wonderful to work with and has helped us in every way possible navigate the nuances of our unique public libraries. Like ByWater, they are super responsive and creative. Our patrons have nothing but positive things to say about their new browsing experience. We look forward to being more involved with the Aspen community in the future!"

About VOKAL
The Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries (VOKAL) is a project of the Green Mountain Library Consortium dedicated to creating a shared catalog and Integrated Library System.

In late 2007, three Vermont libraries joined with a representative from the Vermont Department of Libraries to explore a replacement ILS for Follett, the system currently used by the three libraries. After exploring many options, the group settled on Koha, an open-source ILS solution originally created in New Zealand.

In May of 2008, the group chose the name VOKAL - the Vermont Organization of Koha Automated Libraries - as a name for the group and the project.

Initially, VOKAL's Koha project was implemented on a stand-alone system. In October of 2010, VOKAL implemented a consortium version of the ILS and began migrating member libraries into the shared system. By January 2011, 4 libraries had been migrated.

Today VOKAL has grown to 59 libraries. Read more at https://www.gmlc.org/index.php/vokal

About ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: https://bywatersolutions.com.

About Aspen Discovery
Aspen is a full-featured Discovery System that integrates with e-content and other 3rd party providers, giving your patrons comprehensive access to all of your materials in one place. Aspen combines your library catalog with e-content, digital archives and enrichment from all major third party providers, improves relevancy and ease of use, provides native reading recommendations, displays all formats of titles within one result (FRBR) and much more. Aspen was created to give users an improved experience over other Discovery systems with less of an impact on library budgets. For more information about Aspen please visit: https://bywatersolutions.com/projects/aspen-discovery

For More Information
Jessica Zairo
Director of Library Sales & Outreach
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944

Join us for Open Source Live! A quarterly conversation about libraries and open source.

The next Open Source Live will take place on Wednesday, November 17th at 1pm ET.

This month we will be speaking with Kyle Hall, one of our ByWater Solutions Developers. Kyle's extensive work on the Libki Kiosk Management System (https://bywatersolutions.com/projects/libki) has brought about some exciting enhancements to the areas of print and payment management.

Join us as we hear from Kyle, as well as other members of the open source community, for updates on Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, FOLIO, and Coral.

Join Us Live
When? Wednesday, November 17th at 1pm ET

Where? Join us on YouTube Live (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmMBJN4wvHo). Live chat will be open to ask questions and interact with other members of the Open Source Community.

About ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high-quality Open Source support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their systems than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in the first-rate implementation and support services with library systems of all sizes for the Koha ILS, Aspen Discovery, Folio LSP, Coral ERM, and Libki PC Management.

Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions not only lowers the cost of implementation and maintenance of OSS but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit https://bywatersolutions.com.

Jessica Zairo
Director of Library Sales & Outreach
ByWater Solutions
bywatersolutions.com
Phone:(888)900-8944