WYLD Support - Wyoming State Library

Aspen Discovery is an Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), similar to Enterprise, that will connect your materials in the ILS (Workflows) to your patrons. Aspen is specifically built for consortiums and is open-sourced so much of Aspen can be customizable to suit you and your patron's needs, and can also provide enhancement updates sooner. Below are some key features and examples that we feel make Aspen a great catalog for the WYLD library network and address the concern many libraries had about Enterprise. 

WYLDcat on Aspen will not be available until the late fall of 2022 but please check out the Aspen Discovery Examples article here, which includes links to libraries that are currently using Aspen.

eContent Integration

eContent Integration is the content integration that Aspen will provide between a library catalog, eContent (such as Overdrive), and other third-party organizations. Hoopla, Libby (Overdrive), and more can be placed in the library online catalog and will appear in the search results. Additionally, Aspen can integrate with other third-party organizations/companies such as Goodreads and Novelist to provide more information on the item itself with the record. 

Placards

Placards are a way for libraries to showcase specific events, databases, special collections, and other resources inside the search results. It can be used to introduce items in the collection that may be of special interest to the community or show them something they were not aware that the library had or events that were available.  They appear as a small box above the catalog search results. 

This feature includes an 'Explore More' option with the search results:

Aspen also offers integration with calendars and events for libraries. Currently, Aspen can work with Springshare's LibCal and Library Market. These can appear in the search results as well as be customized to allow patrons to search for events or within events. 

Browse Categories

Browse Categories are lists that can be delivered, such as the NYT bestsellers, or created by library staff to give an easy way for patrons to explore the library collection online as they might do in person. It can also be used to introduce items in the collection that may be of special interest to the community or show them something they didn't know the library had available. 

Grouped Work Display

Grouped Work Display also known as FRBR (pronounced FUR-BURR) is a way for the catalog to take the metadata information and create a record for the patron that includes all the different formats for a single title. So a book, like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, that has multiple formats for the same title can be shown in a single record rather than multiple listings. This is part of Aspen that allows customization of how the catalog search and item records display to the patron 

Grouped Work Facets

Grouped work facets are a setting that allows libraries to customize the filters on the search results displays. Depending on what library staff believes will be most beneficial to their patrons these filters can be reduced to only a basic few or include all the possibilities.