About Aspen LiDA

Aspen LiDA is the companion app to Aspen Discovery that gives your patrons an intuitive, user-friendly way to manage their own library experience. Aspen Discovery is at the core of the app, allowing for a consistent user experience that’s easy to manage for libraries without separate configuration (though, some customization is available).

So, why should you use Aspen LiDA over the mobile-friendly browser experience of Aspen Discovery? Because of native device features that are only accessible by using an app! One of the biggest perks of Aspen LiDA is being able to have the potential to use features like geolocation, notifications, and calendar. We’re excited about all of the current and future possibilities.

Download Aspen LiDA

Ready to Download Aspen LiDA? Aspen LiDA is ready to download on the Google Play and Apple App Store. Click or scan below.

Devices using operating software that has reached or is approaching end of life cannot be supported. We recommend Aspen LiDA users have at least iOS 16 or Android 12 prior to download.

Using Aspen but not seeing your library? Put in a support ticket to get your library set up on Aspen LiDA today!

 

 

 

Accessibility - Aspen Discovery and Aspen LiDA

Aspen Discovery and Aspen LiDA's goal is to comply with level 2.1 AA standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). While accessibility guidelines are meant to ensure equal access to online content, these standards actually benefit all users regardless of ability. Here are some of the ways Aspen Discovery has included accessibility in its design and features, along with some things to consider when trying to make your catalog more accessible to users.

  • Aspen has accessibility baked into much of its code, meaning with the default settings users are simply unable to make choices that could impact accessibility.
  • Aspen uses ARIA attribute tags in its HTML code. ARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Applications, and the tags are used to help bridge the gap between standard HTML and browsers, AT (Assistive Technology – screen readers, magnifiers, text-to-speech, etc), JavaScript toolkits, and other applications.
  • Our developers are also part of groups such as International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and the User Experience Professional Association (UXPA) to stay up-to-date about trends in accessibility.
  • Aspen Discovery is currently compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA.
  • Aspen Discovery is releasing new features on a regular basis, and should a feature be found not to be in compliance, Aspen Discovery will consider a fix to be a critical issue to resolve.
  • Since the majority of Aspen’s interface colors are customizable in these settings, we have included a Contrast Ratio column that serves as a tool to ensure high-contrast combinations for background colors and text. The higher the number in this column, the higher the contrast, and the more readable the text will be. If you select a low-contrast combination – for example, black text on a dark blue background – the contrast ratio will show a low number. If you try to save the theme settings with these color selections, Aspen will display an error message and will revert back to the previous color selections, so it’s not even possible to create an inaccessible color scheme by accident! Libraries can control the minimum contrast level allowed in Layout settings.The default minimum ratio is 4.5.
  • Wherever staff can upload images into Aspen, we try to provide places to enter in alt-text. Alt text is the text that appears instead of the image if the image fails to load on a user’s screen, but this is also used by screen-reading tools to describe images to users.
  • Another way Aspen strives to achieve greater accessibility is through keyboard navigation. This allows users to hit the Tab key to move through interactive elements of the interface in a logical order, typically from left to right and top to bottom. To test this out, try hitting the Tab key on any page within Aspen to see the tab order. Once an element is selected, usually hitting the Enter key is the equivalent of a mouse click.