Facets
In this section, learn about:
- What are facets?
- Customizing and adding search facets
- Facet definitions
- How Aspen determines literary form
- How Aspen determines audience
- Setting up audience mapping
- AR Interest Level: Renaissance Learning based off ISBN- we get a weekly download- automatically taken care of in Aspen
- AR Point Value: Renaissance Learning based off ISBN- we get a weekly download- automatically taken care of in Aspen
- AR Reading Level: Renaissance Learning based off ISBN- we get a weekly download- automatically taken care of in Aspen
- Added in the Last: See Below
- Audience Facet: See Below
- Author: 100 a,b,c,d,q or 110ab
- Available At: Shows physical and eContent items available now at the selected location See Below
- Awards: The Awards facet is pulled from the 586$a and any dates will be taken out
- Bisac Subject: 650 field. Aspen will treat 650 fields where subfield 2 holds ""bisacsh"" OR ""bisacmt"" OR ""bisacrt"" as BISAC Subjects.
- Branch: Shows copies owned by the selected library. This facet is geared more towards staff with specific use cases. For the best patron experience, ByWater does not recommend the general use of this facet. If libraries want to show branches, we suggest using the Available At facet. See Below
- Collection: This facet is pulled from different places depending on the ILS and your ILS indexing profile. You will define where the collection lives in your marc records by going into the Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles. Click into your profile and scroll down to the 'Item Information'. Whatever subfield you choose to put into the 'Collection' field is where Aspen Discovery grabs the information for the Collection facet. You can fine tune or change the way those collections display by going into ILS Integration -> Translation Maps. You should have a map called 'collection'. The first column should hold the database codes that live in whatever item subfield you specified as the collection. The translation column is what Aspen will show in the facet list. If you want one of the collections to not display in the facet list, you will leave the translation blank for that code."
- Corporate Name: 610 a,b,d
- Custom Facet 1, Custom Facet 2, Custom Facet 3: These can be defined in the ILS Indexing Profiles from subfields in your MARC records. See Below
- Detailed Location Branch: (owning branch) + Shelf Location (best used for special collections and when combining facets) * Will not display location name if "Include Location Name in Detailed Location" is unchecked in the ILS Indexing Profile * Only use if you are in a consortium or multi-branch system.
- E-Content Collection: Any integrated econtent vendors including side loads
- Earliest Publication Year: Earliest publication year is the first year that any record in a grouped work was published (helpful for classics or replacements)
- Era: The values for the era facet come from the following places in your bibliographic records:
- 600$d
- 610$y
- 611$y
- 630$y
- 648$a
- 648$y
- 650$y
- 651$y
- 655$y
- Form (Fiction/Non-Fiction): See Below
- 0 = Non Fiction
- 1 = Fiction
- D = Fiction
- E = Non Fiction
- F = Fiction
- H = Non Fiction
- I = Non Fiction
- J = Fiction
- M = Fiction
- P = Fiction
- S = Non Fiction
- U = Unknown
- Unknown = Unknown
- {*} = Not Coded (anything that doesn't match the above values)
- Format: These are defined in ILS Indexing Profiles > Format Information > the Format column of the Format chart.
- Format Category: These are defined in ILS Indexing Profiles > Format Information > the Format Category column of the Format chart. This is how Aspen knows how to sort like formats into format categories/format icons. We recommend this stays checked or format icons will disappear from top of search results.
- Fountas & Pinnell: Alternative to AR; 521a if the 521a starts with Guided Reading Level: {space}
- Genre:
- For ILS records, side loads, and cloudLibrary: 655 subfields a and v
- For Boundless/Axis360: "Genre" field in the metadata
- For hoopla: "Genres" field in the metadata
- OverDrive/Libby: Aspen will look at the Subject field(s) and only pull the subjects Fiction and Nonfiction for the genre facet (if found)
- Palace Project: Anything identified in the metadata by [scheme] => http://librarysimplified.org/terms/genres/Simplified/
- Item Type: This facet is pulled from different places depending on the ILS and your ILS indexing profile. You will define where the item type lives in your marc records by going into the Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles. Click into your profile and scroll down to the 'Item Information'. Whatever subfield you choose to put into the 'iType' field is where Aspen Discovery grabs the information for the Item Type facet. You can fine tune or change the way those item types display by going into ILS Integration -> Translation Maps. You should have a map called 'itype'. The first column should hold the database codes that live in whatever item subfield you specified as the item type. The translation column is what Aspen will show in the facet list. If you want one of the item types to not display in the facet list, you will leave the translation blank for that code.
- LC Call Number: DISREGARD- We Will Delete
- LC Subject: Aspen Discovery pulls LC subject facets from the 650 field and subfields: Within the 650 field: Aspen will treat 650 fields with a 2nd indicator of '0' OR '1' as an LC Subject (if a subject is BISAC, it cannot also be an LC Subject)
- Language: The language facet is pulled from the 008 in position 35-37. You can find the language codes here: https://www.loc.gov/marc/languages/language_code.html. Aspen displays the English versions of these languages (i.e. French, German, Spanish, etc.)
- Lexile Code: 521 subfield a and subfield b but only if subfield b contains the word lexile in it
- Lexile Measure: 521 subfield a and subfield b but only if subfield b contains the word lexile in it
- Library System: Library systems; typically on a server for a consortium
- Literary Form Facet: See Below
- Movie Rating: 521a compare a bunch of different patterns to pull MPAA ratings out of the data into the options of G Rated, NC-17 Rated, Not Rated, NR Rated, PG-13 Rated, PG Rated, R Rated.
- Personal Name: 600 a,b,d
- Place of Publication: 264a, 260a, 008 position 15-17
- Publication Year: 264 subfield c or the 260 c or 008 position 7-10; Aspen will give you the option to sort and you can jump to a year, 5 years, 10 years
- Publisher: 264b and 260b
- Rating: Ratings from logged in users rating titles within Aspen
- Reading Level Facet: See Below
- Region: 650$z
- Search Within: Toggles up at the top of search results that include Entire Collection, Local Collection, Available and Available Online. We recommend this stays checked or toggles will disappear. These toggles can be further customized in Grouped Work Display settings. This facet was previously named Available? until the 23.11 release.
- Series: Could come from a variety of fields
- GroupedWorkSolr - addSeriesWithVolume & GroupedWorkSolr - addSeriesInfoToField
- Novelist if the data exists in our cache
- MARC 830anp 830v, 800pqt. If not found in the 830 or 800 fields, look at the 490.
- OverDrive - series
- Hoopla - series & episode
- Shelf Location Facet: This facet is pulled from different places depending on the ILS and your ILS indexing profile. You will define where the shelf location lives in your marc records by going into the Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles. Click into your profile and scroll down to the 'Item Information'. Whatever subfield you choose to put into the 'Shelving Location' field is where Aspen Discovery grabs the information for the Shelf Location facet.
- You can fine tune or change the way those shelf locations display by going into ILS Integration > Translation Maps. You should have a map called 'shelf_location'. The first column should hold the database codes that live in whatever item subfield you specified as the shelf location. The translation column is what Aspen will show in the facet list. If you want one of the shelf locations to not display in the facet list, you will leave the translation blank for that code.
- The Shelf Location facet will also include data from eContent, Holdings records and side loads.
-
Subjects: Within the 600 field: If the subfield is >= 'a' AND = 'j' AND = 'x' AND = 'a' AND = 'j' AND = 'x' AND = 'c' AND = 'k' AND = 'p' AND = 'x' AND = 'f' AND = 'k' AND = 'r' AND = 'v' OR >= 'x' AND = 'a' AND = 'v' OR >= 'x' AND = 'a' AND = 'v' OR >= 'x' AND = 'a' AND = 'v' OR >= 'x' & = 'x' AND
- Topics: The values for the topic facet come from the following places in your bibliographic records:
- 600$a
- 600$x
- 610$x
- 611$x
- 630$x
- 648$x
- 650$a
- 650$x
- 651$x
- 655$x
- With the Topics facet, if you are using the Personal Name and/or Corporate Name facet, you can choose to exclude the 600 and 610 from the Topics facet. To update this, go to Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > ILS Indexing Profiles > check/uncheck
- For OverDrive, Aspen will pull everything from the Subjects section in the metadata
- Translations: 041$b, 041$d, 041$h, and 041$j
Grouped Work Facets
Grouped Work Facets refers to the facets listed on the side of a search page. Facets enable users to select filters to narrow down their search results. Within grouped work facets settings, you can define which facets to display, in what order, and more.
By default, Aspen Discovery comes populated with several grouped work facet profiles specific for library types: academic, consortia, public, schools.
To get started, navigate to Aspen Administration > Catalog / Grouped Works > Group Work Facets.
For libraries with a single catalog, you should only need one Grouped Work Facets setting. For consortium with individually scoped catalogs for member libraries, you can all choose to share a single setting, or create new Grouped Work Facets settings for each library to customize.
To edit grouped work facets, click the ID button or the Edit button on the far right. You will also see a History button underneath, which will take you to a history of changes made to that specific setting. To compare differences between any two Grouped Work Facets settings, click the checkbox next to the settings you wish to compare, then click the Compare button.
Facet Customization
There are approximately 40 facets to choose from. Aspen comes with a default set of the most popular facets pre-loaded in, but you can switch out existing facets using the dropdown selector, or click Add New to add additional facets.
The first two facets, Format Category and Search Within, correspond to the grouped work format toggles and the availability toggles, respectively. Do not remove or modify these facets!
Here are the facet setting options explained:
- Sort - Drag and drop facets to reorder them from top to bottom.
- Facet - Choose from one of the pre-set facet options.
- Display Name - Choose how you want the facet to display.
- Plural Display Name - The plural of previous "Display Name" field.
- Show Above Results - This option is for the Format Category and Available? facets only.
- Show on Results Page - Display the facet on the search results page.
- Show on Advanced Search - Display this facet on the Advanced Search page.
- Multi Select? - Allows patrons to select two or more filters within a facet. Multi Select turns the search into an "OR" search rather than an "AND" search.
- Example: Using a Format facet that allows multi select, a user could choose the 'Book' format and the 'Audiobook' format to find results that are EITHER Book OR Audiobooks.
- Can Lock? - Allows users to lock a facet. Locking a facet allows patrons to keep their locked-in selection for any search they make until they unlock the facet. While users are logged in, Aspen will remember that a facet has been locked until they choose to unlock it.
- Example: A user who only reads Large Print may want to lock the Format facet so that they can continue searching without having to re-select "Large Print" for every new search. See Below
- Collapse by Default? - Check this if you want this facet collapsed; uncheck if you want it open.
- Use More Facet Popup - Checking this allows users to view facet options in a popup modal window when there are more than 12 options. If the facet contains 12 or less options, or if the More Facet Popup isn't selected, then clicking "...More" will vertically expand the filter to display all options. If you know a facet will have many potential options, we recommend having this checked.
- Translate? - Check to make the options within this facet translatable when users switch to a different language interface.
- Sort - Choose between "By number of results" and "Alphabetically".
- Note: To show rankings by the most relevant available options, you would want to check "By number of results". When you click on "More..." the results will then be listed alphabetically.
- Here is an example from the Language facet, showing the most relevant results first, and then a list of results in alphabetical order:
- Num Entries - Choose how many of the top results show in each facet.
- Example: In the photo above of the Language facet, five results show before prompting the user to see more. If you change the Num Entries to a higher number, they can see more available languages before having to click "More...".
- Example: If you have six locations in your system, but the "Available At" facet is set to display five results, users will have to click "More..." to see all six locations. Instead, change the Num Entries to "6" and all of your locations will display without users having to click to see more.
Once these settings are saved, your results will update immediately.
As of the 23.08 release, you now have the ability to add up to three custom facets!
When setting up a new custom facet, you will need to wait for the overnight reindex to see your new facet and any changes or adjustments you make to the custom facet.
Defining Custom Facets
- Head to ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > edit the profile > scroll to Custom Facets
- Enter in the Facet Source, which will be the MARC record field and subfield you want to index for searching. Example: 690a
- Enter in any values to include and to exclude. At this time, these fields require the use of Regex in order to exclude values from being indexed. Example: .* (meaning everything)
- Save your changes at the bottom.
Add the Custom Facet(s) to Grouped Work Facets
- Head to Catalog / Grouped Works > Grouped Work Facets
- Click Add New to add a new facet.
- In the Facet column, select your desired custom facet from the dropdown.
- Enter in the display name/plural display name for the facet, and configure any other options as needed.
- Save your changes.
This will show you the data that Aspen is pulling in.
If you want to make updates to the information that Aspen is pulling in within your custom facet, then....
Create a Translation Map (Optional)
If you would like to update the values that are coming in the custom facet, then you can create a Translation Map.
- Under ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Translation Maps
- Click Add New
- Enter a name for the map based on the custom facet used. The name must be either customFacet1, customFacet2, or customFacet3, depending on which custom facet the map should apply to.
- Enter in the values that are displaying currently in the facet in the Value column. You don't have to add in all values in that facet but you can enter the ones you want to adjust.
- Enter in the display text in the Translation column.
- Save your map.
- These changes will take an overnight index to fully update.
When selecting options from multiple different facets, Aspen performs AND searches for the following:
- Format
- Format Categories
- Available At
- Availability Toggle
When selecting multiple options within the same facet, then Aspen is performing an OR search. Example, I select 3 different options from the subject facet.
Due to the nature of grouped works and FRBRization, facet counts become complex when combining multiple facets, availability and format toggles. In the 22.06, we gave libraries more control over their facet display counts.
The available options are in Aspen Administration > Catalog/Grouped Works > Grouped Work Display > click into your settings > Facet Counts to Show
Show all counts (exact and approximate)
This will show exact facet counts as well as approximate counts
Show exact counts only
This will show exact counts and hide approximate counts
Show no counts
This will not show any facet counts
When you click on more... in facets, the top 30 results will show based on search result relevancy. For example: if I perform a search for "dogs," then click the Subject facet, I will only see up to the top 30 subjects related to my search. This is also why, when performing a blank search, you very likely will not see all available facet options. Facets like Subjects, Genres, and Collection Codes can have hundreds to thousands of results.
For any given search, Aspen will display the top 30 most relevant results per facet, in order from the highest (most relevant) to the lowest (least relevant).
However, you can search among all available results within facets if you don't see the result you're looking for based on relevancy.
To search a facet, expand the facet and click "more..."
Type what you're looking for in the facet search box and click Search.
After a few seconds, the search will retrieve your results among all the options for this facet.
Click the checkbox next to any filters you want, then click Apply to see the new search results.
You can have certain facets lock to that search.
Exp: A patron only searching Juvenile audience titles, a patron only searching for Large Print format, a patron only searching for Spanish language materials.
This can be enabled in Aspen Administration > Catalog/Grouped Works > Grouped Work Facets > check Can Lock?
We only recommend using the Can Lock? feature for the following default facets:
- Form
- Audience
- Format
- Language
Once these are enabled, users will see a lock at the top of the facet after selecting a value.
If users click to lock to close it then their following searches will be locked to that option. If they are logged in, they will be locked down to that facet until they manually remove the lock - even the next time they login to the catalog. If not logged in, the lock will remain on for the entire session.
Even though this library owns many titles related to harry potter, they search is returning No Results Found because the facet is locked to Large Print.
Users would have to perform a new search to get out from this page.
Once a valid search is made, a user can choose to remove the lock from that facet.
Users must first unlock the lock from the facet and then remove the Applied Filters at the top.
Updating Facets with a Translation Map
Aspen has Translation maps for data such as audience, collection, itype, literary_form, location (as in the physical branch), shelf_location, sub_location and target_audience.
The subfields connected to these fields are defined in ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > click into your settings > Item Information. For example, the shelf_location Translation Map will be looking at information stored in the item record subfield c in this screenshot.
If you are wanting to make changes to those facets and the way this information displays in records, you can do this from one of Aspen's Translation Maps.
The Translation Maps are located in ILS Integration > Translation Maps > click into the specific map.
You can also get to these from ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > click into your settings > scroll all the way to the bottom under Translation Maps and click edit on the map you want to access.
Below is an example of the shelf_location Translation Map.
Information in the Value column is the code that Aspen is reading from the ILS and cannot be edited/changed.
Information in the Translation column is what Aspen displays in the catalog and is what can be changed.
For example, your shelf location value is 'HALL' but you want this to display to patrons as 'Long Hall'.
If you want to download this table, you can click Download as INI at the top.
You can also click View as INI.
If a table is blank or a new, full data set needs to be uploaded, you can click Load From CSV/INI. Typically, this is either done automatically via your ILS connection (Koha, Polaris) or uploaded manually by your Implementation Specialist during implementation.
Changes made in your ILS to these value translations do not automatically change how they display in Aspen. Changes will also need to be made in the Translation Maps in Aspen for these changes to go into effect.
Changes to the Translation column take an overnight index. You can click into an example record you are trying to change, go to the Staff View > click Force Reindex to see display changes within a 15 minute window.
Translation values are limited to 255 characters.
Regular expressions can be used by clicking on Use Regular Expressions to map a number of different Value codes to the same Translations. Exp. All of your values that begin with J should map to Juvenile Fiction.
Making changes to this table has the potential to break any exisitng browse categories that are using these values as a facet. See more information here on how to fix this.
Translate Facets that Don't have a Translation Map or Results Within Facets
The most common use for this is the eContent facet to translate OverDrive to Libby or OverDrive/Libby.
Some libraries will also create an Audience translation map but then want to adjust the values like changing "Young Adult" to "Teen".
Translating the results within the facets are OFF by default in translation mode. For facets, such as Subject, there are thousdands of words that may never need to be translated so we keep this off for speed and performance.
To turn translation on for specific facet results (example: Changing OverDrive to Libby), go to Catalog/Grouped Works > Grouped Work Facets > edit the facet setting. Navigate to the facet that you want to translate within and check the box for "Translate?"
Once you return to the search results, open up the search facet and click Start Translation Mode in the top-right corner of the screen. You will now be able to translate the options within the facet(s).
Note: If you have multiple Grouped Work Facets settings attached to different catalogs, and you'd like the same facets translatable for all of them, you must repeat this process for all applicable Grouped Work Facets settings.
Added in the Last
Added in the Last looks at the first date that the grouped work is added to the catalog.
Added in the Last is divided into time periods like:
- Day (1)
- Week (7 days)
- On Order
- Month (30 days)
- 2 Months (60 days)
- Quarter (90 days)
- Six Months (180 days)
- Year (365 days)
The time frames are cummulative of one another, so a year would include the titles in six months, quarter, 2 months, etc. 2 Months would include the titles in month, week, day, etc.
A Nightly Index (run automatically once a week), changes to settings that are labeled "Updating this setting causes a nightly reindex", changes in status (On Order or Suppressed to an available status), checking in/out of the records all have the ability to force changes to these Added in the Last dates. These dates might be +/- a few day due to this.
Evergreen
For Evergreen, Aspen is using the barcode_active_dates.csv export to determine the Added in the Last Date
Koha
For Koha, Aspen is using item subfield d - date acquired in Koha to determine the Added in the Last Date
On order is pulling from status 952, subfield 7
Polaris
For Polaris, Aspen is usually using item subfield e - Date Created
Aspen is looking at a status of On Order to determine On Order records
Sierra
For Sierra, Aspen is usually using item subfield z - Date Created
For Sierra, Aspen can determine On Order records by specific statuses. You can find more information in Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Sierra Settings
Other
You can check and see which subfield Aspen is using in Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Date Created.
Aspen can also use the 264c 260c, or 008 position 7-10 (in that order) in the MARC records. If something has a publication date in the future (i.e. it is 2024 and the publication date in the 264c is 2025) it can show up as On Order.
Added in the last should exlude re-ordered copies of items already owned.
Generally, Aspen is looking at date created to determine this information.
Re-orders might still appear if they are the only item on a bib.
OverDrive
Aspen uses publishDate (found in Staff View) to determine On Order and Added in the Last Status. If the title is loaded in the collection but the publication date is in the future, the record will be On Order.
If Aspen registers the econtent available in the catalog first, the grouped work will start the Added in the Last count, so when the physical item(s) are added, it does not start over (and vice versa).
Hoopla
Coming soon
Sideloaded eContent
Coming soon
Audience Facet & Determining Audience
In Aspen Discovery, you can configure the audience data to pull from either bib level data, collection, shelf location or a specified subfield.
In order to do this you will need to configure that in ILS Integration > Indexing Profile -> 'Determine Audience By'.
The default is By Bib Record Data.
If you choose another option beside the default, you will need to create an Audience translation map called 'audience'. Then, Aspen will reference the mapping first and if it does not exist, is blank, or if it is econtent, Aspen will default to the bib record data.
Determine Audience By Bib Record Data
The determination coming from the bib record for the 'Audience' facet is based first on leader to determine the record type. Then based off of the Library of Congress recommendations, we grab the audience from the 008 and the 006. You can see those recommendations in their entirety here:
https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd008.html
https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd006.html
If position 6 of the leader is 'A' or 'T' and position 7 is 'A','C','D' or 'M' then the record type is 'Books'. If position 6 of the leader is 'M' then the record type is 'Computer Files'. If position 6 of the leader is 'C', 'D', 'I' or 'J' then the record type is 'Music'. If position 6 of the leader is 'G', 'K', 'O', 'R' then the record type is 'Projected Medium.' In all of these instances, we then go to the 006 or 008 to determine the audience.
If position 6 of the leader or does not exist, then the record type does not have an audience determiner and Aspen will classify the audience as 'Unknown'.
We then move onto the 006 and we look at position 5 to determine the audience. The audience is mapped in the following way:
- A = Juvenile
- B = Juvenile
- C = Juvenile
- D = Young Adult
- E = Adult
- F = Special
- G = General
- J = Juvenile
- Juvenile = Juvenile
- Adult = Adult
- Easy = Juvenile
- YA = Young Adult
- Unknown = Unknown
- | = Unknown
- * = Unknown
We then move onto the 008 and we look at position 22 to determine the audience. The audience is mapped in the following way:
- A (Preschool) = Juvenile
- B (Primary) = Juvenile
- C (Pre-adolescent) = Juvenile
- D (Adolescent) = Young Adult
- E (Adult) = Adult
- F (Specialized) = Special
- G (General) = General
- J (Juvenile) = Juvenile
- | (no attempt to code) = Unknown
- # (unknown or not specified) = Unknown
- * = Not Coded (anything that doesn't match the above values)
- Juvenile = Juvenile
- Adult = Adult
- Easy = Juvenile
- YA = Young Adult
- Unknown = Unknown
- | = Unknown
- * = Unknown
If the audience is undetermined from any of the above logic, the audience will default to "Unknown".
See below to learn more about Dealing with Unknown Audience.
Map Collection Codes to Audience
1. Visit ILS Integration > Indexing Profile > 'Determine Audience By' > Item Collection Using Audience Map.
2. Verify that the specified subfield for collection code is correct here: ILS Integration > Indexing Profile > Item Information > Collection
3. ILS Integration > Translation Maps > Click Add New. Give this map the name: audience
4. In the Value field, enter in the Translation that appears in the Collection translation map. In the Translation field, enter in the Audience that corresponds with each collection code.
Note: You must use a value that Aspen recognizes in the Translation column: Adult, General, Young Adult, or Juvenile. If you wish to change the display of one or more of these audience categories, you may do so with Aspen's translation mode. To translate Audience labels within a facet, turn translations on for that facet in Grouped Work Facets.
If a collection code doesn't map neatly to a specific audience, or if a variety of audiences are possible, leaving the Translation field blank will have Aspen default to the bib level determination. You can also input "General" as a catch-all audience.
Map Shelving Locations to Audience
1. Visit ILS Integration > Indexing Profile > 'Determine Audience By' > Item Shelf Location Using Audience Map.
2. Verify that the specified subfield for shelving location is correct here: ILS Integration > Indexing Profile > Item Information > Shelving Location
3. ILS Integration > Translation Maps > Click Add New. Give this map the name: audience
4. Save your changes and exit the settings. Aspen will automatically begin to load shelf location codes from your ILS in the "Value" column.
5. Once fully loaded, edit the audience map once again. In the Translation column, enter in the audience that corresponds to each shelf location code.
Note: You must use a value that Aspen recognizes in the Translation column: Adult, General, Young Adult, or Juvenile. If you wish to change the display of one or more of these audience categories, you may do so with Aspen's translation mode. To translate Audience labels within a facet, turn translations on for that facet in Grouped Work Facets.
If a shelf location doesn't map neatly to one specific audience, or if a variety of audiences are possible, leaving the Translation field blank will have Aspen revert to the bib level audience determination. You can also input "General" as a catch-all audience.
6. Save the settings. Audience designations will fully update for records after the overnight index.
Map a Subfield to Audience
If you specifiy audience in your record data, you can map a specific subfield to audience.
1. Visit ILS Integration > Indexing Profile -> 'Determine Audience By' > Specified Item Subfield Using Audience Map.
2. Fill in the subfield where you store audience data in ILS Integration > Indexing Profile > Item Information > Audience Subfield.
3. Visit ILS Integration > Translation Maps > Click Add New. Give this map the name: audience
4. In this audience map, add your specified subfield values in the Value column and the corresponding Audience in the Translation column. If a subfield value doesn't map to a specific audience, or if a variety of audiences are possible, leaving the Translation field blank will have Aspen default to the bib level determination. You can also input "General" as a catch-all audience.
Note: You must use a value that Aspen recognizes in the Translation column: Adult, General, Young Adult, or Juvenile. If you wish to change the display of one or more of these audience categories, you may do so with Aspen's translation mode. To translate Audience labels within a facet, turn translations on for that facet in Grouped Work Facets.
By selecting Use Regular Expressions in the Audience map, you can use regex to map large amounts of data without having to manually enter each value in the Audience map. In this example, the library is using shelf location for their audience map. With 4 fields and a lot of regex, they are telling Aspen that anything matching those shelf location codes matches the translated value they have set for audience.
Boundless
Aspen uses grade level and subject data via the API to determine audience:
- If there are indicators of Children's or Juvenile, then the audience will be Juvenile
- If there are indicators of Teen or Young Adult, then the audience will be Young Adult
- If there are indicators of General Adult or Adult, then the audience will be Adult
This data count be found within the detailed record page > Staff View.
cloudLibrary
Aspen uses information in the 650 subject data of the cloudLibrary records to determine these categories:
- If there are indicators of Juvenile, then the audience will be Juvenile and be in the Include Kids Titles option
- If there are indicators of Young Adult, then the audience will be Young Adult and be in the Include Teen Titles option
- If there are indicators of Adult, then the audience will be Adult and be in the Include Adult Titles option
Hoopla
- We check if the 'Children' flag is on, then we check the rating.
- If there is a Children's flag, then the audience will be Juvenile
- If we don't get the 'Children' flag or the rating, next we check the genres.
- When determining audience for Hoopla titles by genre, anything with a genre starting with Young Adult is Young Adult.
- NRC (Not Rated - Appropriate for Children) titles have an audience of Juvenile
- NRT (Not Rated - Appropriate for Teens) titles to have an audience of Young Adult
- If a TV show has a rating of G or TVG, the audience will also be "General"
- If none of these above rules apply, the audience will be Adult
This data can be found within the detailed record page > Staff View.
Below is an example of a Hoopla title with the "Children" flag on (value = '1').
Below is an example of a Hoopla title with no value in the "Children" flag.
Next, Aspen checks the genre. The genre is "Drama" and there are no genres indicating the audience should be Young Adult, so Aspen will use the Adult audience for this title.
Libby
For Libby titles Aspen looks at subjects:
- If subjects indicate Juvenile, then the audience is Juvenile.
- If subjects indicate Young Adult or YA, then the audience is Young Adult.
- If those don't exist, it assumes Adult.
This data count be found within the detailed record page > Staff View.
Palace Project
For Palace Project, Aspen uses audience data via the API to determine these categories:
- If there are indicators of Children, then the audience will be Juvenile
- If there are indicators of Young Adult, then the audience will be Young Adult
- If there are indicators of Adult, then the audience will be Adult
This data count be found within the detailed record page > Staff View.
Side Loads
For Side Loads, Aspen determines audience using the default bib level rules found in the 006 and 008. See here.
You can locate your audience map in a variety of ways:
Edit an Existing Audience Map in ILS Integration > Translation Maps
Edit an Existing Audience Map in ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles
Scroll all the way to the bottom:
Add a New Audience Map
Not seeing an existing Audience Map in either of the above areas? Click Add New in either section above to create an Audience Map. Name it: audience
Once you save, you can start specifying values and fields.
If the audience is still undetermined from any of the Bib Record Data logic or item mapping, the audience will default to Unknown.
In Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles > Treat Unknown Audience As, you can choose for these Unknown audiences to automatically change to either:
- General
- Adult
- Unknown (stay as is)
"Available Now At" Facet
The primary option for showing availability by location is with the Available At? facet ("Available Now At").
Available At? facet = shows what is owned AND available at the library
While browsing through the facet options, you may come across the Branch facet. The Branch facet shows what the library owns, whether or not it is currently available. This facet is meant more for staff use as an Advanced Search filter rather than a patron-facing facet due to its limitations when combined with other facets. For example, selecting a location in the Branch facet and a specific format like Graphic Novels in the Format facet will show titles that the selected library owns a copy of and the title has a graphic novel format, but not necessarily both (the selected library owns a copy that IS a graphic novel).
ByWater strongly recommends libraries use the Available At? facet for the best user experience.
Here are the configuration options related to these facets.
To show all locations in the consortium in the 'Available At?' facet on the consortial interface:
Adjust the following settings:
- Aspen Administration > Library Systems > click into Library System > Searching > Search Facets > UNcheck Restrict Library System and Branch Facets to this library
- Aspen Administration > Library Systems > click into Library System > Searching > Search Facets > check Show Available At Any Location?
- Aspen Administration > Locations > click into Location > check Create Search Interface
- Aspen Administration > Catalog/Grouped Works > Grouped Work Display Settings (we recommend a seperate set of these settings for the consortial interface) > click into those settings > UNcheck Base Availability Toggle On Local Holdings Only
- In Primary Configuration > Library Systems > click into the main consorial interface > make sure the Records to Include looks like this:
To show all locations in the consortium in the 'Available At?' facet on a library catalog:
- Aspen Administration > Library Systems > click into Library System > Searching > Search Facets > UNcheck Restrict Library System and Branch Facets to this library
- Aspen Administration > Library Systems > click into Library System > Searching > Search Facets > check Show Available At Any Location?
- Aspen Administration > Locations > click into Location > check Create Search Interface
- Aspen Administration > Catalog/Grouped Works > Grouped Work Display Settings > click into those settings > UNcheck Base Availability Toggle On Local Holdings Only
To show only the locations associated with my library system in the Available At? facet:
Adjust the following settings:
- Aspen Administration > Library Systems > click into Library System > Searching > Search Facets > check Restrict Library System and Branch Facets to this library
- Aspen Administration > Library Systems > click into Library System > Searching > Search Facets > UNcheck Show Available At Any Location?
To show additional library locations to the Available At? facet:
If you have your library system locations showing in the Available At? facet (instructions above) and you want to add other locations that are nearby but not directly a part of your library system, adjust the following settings:
- Go into each of the Aspen Administration > Library Systems settings > Searching > Search Facets > Additional Locations to Include in Available At Facet > Enter in additional branch codes separated by pipes.
- Go into each of the Aspen Administration > Locations settings > Searching > Search Facets > Additional Locations to Include in Available At Facet > Enter in additional branch codes separated by pipes.
To exclude a location from showing in the Available At? facet:
- Go to Aspen Administration > Locations settings > edit the Location you wish to exclude. Scroll toward the bottom to find the Records to Include section. Delete all lines from this section and save.
Note: eContent will also be included in the "Available At?" facet.
Reminder: to apply these settings to All Library Systems in the consortia, you can use the Batch Update All or Batch Update Selected tool.
To show all locations in the Branch facet:
Go to Aspen Administration > Library Systems > click into Library System > Searching > Search Facets > UNcheck Restrict Library System, Branch, and Available At Facets to this library
To hide a specific location from appearing in the "Available Now At" facet, head to Primary Configuration > Locations > edit the desired location setting > Searching > Search Facets.
Here, you can uncheck the setting "Show This Branch In Available At and Owning Location Facets." Unchecking this and saving will remove the location from the Available At and Branch facets.
Hiding a location from these facets will not prevent the location's items from appearing in search results. Instead, you would likely want to suppress by location code in ILS Integration > Indexing Profile > edit the setting > Item Information > Locations to Suppress.
Literary Form
In order to determine the literary form, Aspen determines fiction vs. nonfiction by various checks through the biblio record.
First, the code looks at the leader positions 6 and 7. If position 6 = 'A' or 'T' and position 7 = 'A', 'C', 'D' , or 'M', the code goes to the 006 field. If the 006 is more than 16 characters long, Aspen uses the literary form criteria specified by the Library of Congress standards. You can find those specifications here for the 006: https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd006.html
If Aspen is unable to determine the literary form based on the 006, it then goes to the 008. Aspen confirms the 008 contains more than 33 characters, then uses the literary form criteria specified by the Library of Congress standards. Literary form is defined in position 33 of the 008. You can find the specifications here for the 008 here: https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd008.html
Example: if the 008, position 33, is coded to "Not Fiction," then the literary form will be "Non Fiction."
At this point, the code looks at the subjects in the 650$v and 651$v. Additionally, there are some checks to look in the 655$a. The code looks for specfic subjects and determines nonfiction vs. fiction. You can see below the list of subjects per literary form.
Fiction
- Cartoons and comics
- Children's fiction
- Comedy
- Comic books, strips, etc
- Comic books,strips, etc
- Drama
- Dramas
- Fantasy
- Fictional Works
- Folklore
- Humor
- Humor, Juvenile
- Humour
- Juvenile drama
- Juvenile fiction
- Juvenile Humor
- Juvenile Poetry
- Junior fiction
- Legends
- Mystery fiction
- Novela juvenil
- Novela
- Novels
- Poetry
- Romances
- Satire
- Science fiction comics
- Short stories
- Stories
- Wit and humor
- Young adult fiction
If any of the above subjects are in the 650$v or 651$v, they will have a fiction literary form.
Non Fiction
- Autobiography
- Biography
- Biographies
- Case studies
- Catalogs
- Cookbooks
- Dictionaries
- Dictionaries, Juvenile
- Encyclopedias
- Encyclopedias, Juvenile
- Essays
- Guidebooks
- Guide-books
- Handbooks
- Handbooks, manuals, etc
- Interviews
- Juvenile non-fiction
- Letters
- Maps
- Nonfiction
- Non-fiction
- Personal narratives, American
- Personal narratives, Polish
- Personal narratives, Sudanese
- Personal narratives, Jewish
- Personal narratives
- Problems, exercises, etc
- Recipes
- Diaries
- Designs and Plans
- Reference books
- Travel guide
- Textbook
- Atlas
- Atlases
- Study guides
If any of the above subjects are in the 650$v or 651$v, they will have a Non Fiction literary form.
If the 655$a has instructional film or educational film, then the literary form will be Non Fiction.
If the 655$a starts with "fiction," Aspen will add one count of literary form 'Fiction' towards determining literary form for the grouped work.
The Form and Literary Form facets use the same logic to determine literary form but the displays within the facets are different.
If Aspen finds these:
- 0 = Non Fiction
- 1 = Fiction
- D = Fiction
- E = Non Fiction
- F = Fiction
- H = Fiction
- I = Non Fiction
- J = Fiction
- M = Fiction
- P = Fiction
- S = Non Fiction
- U = Unknown
- Unknown = Unknown
- * = Not Coded
Literary Form Facet will display as:
- 0 = Non Fiction
- 1 = Fiction
- D = Dramas
- E = Essays
- F = Novels
- H = Humor, Satires, etc.
- I = Letters
- J = Short Stories
- M = Mixed Forms
- P = Poetry
- S = Speeches
- U = Unknown
- Unknown = Unknown
- * = Not Coded
Form Facet will display as:
- Non Fiction
- Fiction
- Unknown
- Not Coded
Form is the default facet loaded on installs of Aspen. It tends to be set to display as Fiction / Non-Fiction.
Literary Form is less frequently used but could be of interest to academic or special libraries who want to have those categories display instead.
In Aspen Administration > ILS Integration > Indexing Profiles >
Then, in Literary Form Subfield, type in the subfield you want to use (exp: 8, c, z, etc.)
You'll probably want to check both Hide Unknown Literary Forms and Hide Not Coded Literary Forms for things that don't map directly to fiction or non-fiction.
Next, go to ILS Integration > Translation Maps > Add New > give the map this name: literary_form
Save your changes and exit the settings. Aspen will automatically begin to load shelf location codes from your ILS in the "Value" column.
Then, you can come back in and start filling in the translation field with either Fiction or Non Fiction.
The Literary Form facet will begin to update and results will be fully refreshed after an overnight index.
Important: The Translation column must contain the terms "Fiction" or "Non Fiction" exactly (no hyphens or other variations), or else you may have duplicate entries in the facet.
In Aspen Administration > ILS Indexing Information > Item Information, you can click the checkboxes for Hide Unknown Literary Forms and Hide Not Coded Literary Forms to eliminate literary forms that are neither Fiction nor Non-Fiction from the Literary Form facet.
How the facet displays when boxes are checked:
How the facet displays when boxes are unchecked:
Reading Level Facet
Reading Level Facet
The determination coming from the bib record for the 'Reading Level' facet is based first on leader to determine the record type. Then based off of the Library of Congress recommendations, we grab the reading level from the 008 and the 006. You can see those recommendations in their entirety here:
https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd008.html
https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd006.html
If position 6 of the leader is 'A' or 'T' and position 7 is 'A','C','D' or 'M' then the record type is 'Books'. If position 6 of the leader is 'M' then the record type is 'Computer Files'. If position 6 of the leader is 'C', 'D', 'I' or 'J' then the record type is 'Music'. In all of these instances, we then go to the 006 or 008 to determine the reading level.
If position 6 of the leader is 'G', 'K', 'O', 'R', or does not exist then the record type does not have an reading level determiner and we classify that as 'unknown'.
We then move onto the 006 and we look at position 5 to determine the reading level. The reading level is mapped in the following way:
- A = Preschool (0-5)
- B = Primary (6-8)
- C = Pre-adolescent (9-13)
- D = Adolescent (14-17)
- E = Adult
- F = Special Interest
- G = General Interest
- J = Juvenile
- Juvenile = Juvenile
- Adult = Adult
- Easy = Easy Reader
- YA = Young Adult
- Unknown = Unknown
- | = No Attempt To Code
- '*' = Unknown
We then move onto the 008 and we look at position 22 to determine the reading level. The reading level is mapped in the following way:
- A = Preschool (0-5)
- B = Primary (6-8)
- C = Pre-adolescent (9-13)
- D = Adolescent (14-17)
- E = Adult
- F = Special Interest
- G = General Interest
- J = Juvenile
- Juvenile = Juvenile
- Adult = Adult
- Easy = Easy Reader
- YA = Young Adult
- Unknown = Unknown
- | = No Attempt To Code
- '*' = Unknown
If the reading level is undetermined from any of the above logic, the reading level will default to "Unknown".
Keep in mind many econtent vendors do not supply this data, so this may cause high counts of Unknown reading level.
Search Facets - Search Within Toggles (in Grouped Work Display Settings)
Note: These settings are split in two places:
On the Catalog/Grouped Works > Grouped Work Facets chart, these are the first two facets at the top - Format Category and Search Within. We typically recommend that you do not remove or modify. Having them in the chart controls whether they show or not.
How these toggles are labeled and what they limit to is controlled in Catalog/Grouped Works > Grouped Work Display > Search Facets.
Entire Collection Toggle Label - This would be set up if you had multiple branches or a consortium and you wanted to show total available across all shared records.
Note: If you have this filled in for a single branch, the Entire Collection Toggle and the Local Collection Toggle would be the same. You probably want to delete one for the sake of redundancy.
Local Collection Toggle Label - Total availablity for all items at a specific library location. In a consortium with scoped catalogs, this would be availability at that individual library.
Note: The default {display name} will pull from the Display Name in Primary Configuration > Library Systems
Available Toggle Label - All items available now. In a consortium with scoped catalogs, this would be availability at that individual library. If you select "Include Online Materials in Available Toggle" below, this will include available physical and econtent materials. If it is unclicked, it will not contain econtent.
Available Online Toggle Label- All online items available now. In a consortium with scoped catalogs, this would be availability of any eresources the patron could access.
Default Toggle - This is the toggle your results will default to. In most cases this would be the Entire Collection or Local Collection toggle. The toggle will be highlighted in a different color than the other toggles.
Include Online Materials in Available Toggle - Turn on to include online materials in both the Available Now and Available Online Toggles.
Include All Records in Shelving Facets - Turn on to include all records (owned and included) in shelving related facets (detailed location, collection).
Include All Records in Date Added Facets - Turn on to include all records (owned and included) in date added facets.
Facet Counts to Show - Totaling facet counts is more complex with grouped works, especially if you are a server with consortia holdings as well. Aspen offers these options in relation to the type of counts that show:
- Show all counts (exact and approximate)
- Show exact counts only - Recommended for more accurate results
- Show no counts - Will remove all numbers; more in the style of some online shopping platforms
Facet Group - This is the corresponding Grouped Work Facet chart attached to this set of Grouped Work Display settings.
Series Facet
Sometimes the series information that displays from the record data isn't especially useful to patrons. Hide series names from the Series facet and the grouped work display with these settings.
- From Aspen administration, visit Catalog / Grouped Works > Hidden Series.
- Click Add New.
- In the Hide Series Term field, enter in the series name you'd like to hide exactly as it appears.
- Save. Once the Series Term is indexed, the second field will populate with the normalized value (the series name without excess punctuation, dates, etc.)
Once reindexed, the series name will be hidden from display in Aspen.
Subject Facet
In Aspen Administration > Catalog/Grouped Works > Hidden Subjects you can choose to hide subjects from your Subjects Facet. This helps clean up the display and remove subject information that might be duplicated elsewhere that is more beneficial for a user.
For example, Audiobooks as a subject is probably already covered in Formats and might make sense to hide.
Add a New Hidden Subject
Click on Add New and start searching for your subject.
Searches will start to populate as you type based on your subjects from your MARC Records and eContent collections.
Once you select a subject, click save.
This will take an overnight indexing process to be reflected in your facets.
This will not remove the subjects from your ILS data, it will only affect the user display within Aspen.
Other Facets
Depending on the integrations and features you are using in Aspen, you might have access to customizing other facets, such as:
- Event Facets (using Attend by Communico, LibCal or Library Market)
- Open Archives Facets (using OAI-PMH archive integration)
- Website Indexing Facets (using Web Builder Pages and Website Indexing)