Vega Discover Release Notes - 2024

Release Notes for Vega Discover - 2024

NOTE:  Sign up for Vega release notes and announcements in your email Inbox here

 TIP:  Submit and vote on Vega enhancements through Idea Exchange

 

2024-10-23

Accessibility Updates for WCAG 2.2

1. Edition information aria labels were updated with additional contextual information to differentiate between information in the bibliographic record and item record level. 
2. Patron Infor popup information for Home Location, Expiration Date, and the Sign Out button were updated to be viewable/accessible at 200% zoom. 
3. The Patron Info popup was adjusted to be viewable/accessible at 320px width for devices. 
4. The request popup was adjusted to be viewable/accessible at 200% zoom. 
5. The Language drop-down in the Vega Discover header was adjusted to be viewable/accessible at 320px width for devices. 
6. The Header logo information is now available through aria-label for screenreaders. 

 

Volunteer for Collection Site Sydetic Widget Controls

Volunteer to be an early adopter! This change will allow libraries to show or hide Syndetic widgets at the Collection site level. This will provide libraries more control while we continue to work on mapping a scoped collection to Syndetics. Contact Angela at Angela.Nolet@Clarivate.com to have this functionality enabled. 

Bug Fixes

Home Page Scheduling Improvements

To allow for easier scheduling of home page components: 

1. Opening the calendar defaults to the current day. 
2. The arrows to move between months are fixed regardless of how long the month name is. 
3. The date can be deleted so the showcase doesn't expire. 

 

Advanced Search on a Kids Catalog 

A problem was fixed to keep the theme layout consistent after applying an Advanced Search or using the View All link for a saved search from the home page. 

 

Guest Users Can Click Through to the Saved Search Used for Showcases

Guest Users can use the View Search button from a showcase based on a saved search. This link takes the user to the search results with the saved search refinements applied. The user can then add and remove refinements as desired to further filter or expand the search. 

 

Grid View Availability Hover text translation 

A bug was fixed where the hover text availability of an item wasn't translatable in the grid view. For language translations, the grid view uses the tab strings since the availability would be the same. 

• Line 2023: "tabsAvailable":"available",
• Line 2024: "tabsCheckAvailability": "check availability",
• Line 2025: "tabsCheckedOut": "checked out",
• Line 2026: "tabsOnOrder": "on order",
• Line 2027: "tabsUnavailable": "unavailable",

Search by Language in a Showcase Created from a Bookmark List 

Users can search by full language names in the "View All" view of a bookmark list showcase. When searching on a translated site, the exact languages configured by that language are searchable. 

These can be updated in the translation strings for each language. For example, when searching on a French site for titles in Japanese: 

• Japonais returned correct results, this is the French spelling of Japanese. 
• Japanese had no results, this is the English spelling of Japanese. 
• Search the translation strings for "lang|jpn" or any other language code to make changes. 

 

2024-10-09

Grid View Icons

Based on feedback from Strategic Partner Meetings, the following list of icons has been added to the Material Type Settings. To make it easier to find the icon you are looking for, the name of the icon has been added to the dropdown list, and the eAudiobook icon has been renamed to Audiobook. 

The new icons are at the bottom of the list, a future release will pull them into the alphabetized list, rename the Vox icon to Book + Audio, and add an icon for Atlas. 

1. Museum
2. Toy
3. Non Musical Recording
4. Videorecording
5. Baking Equipment
6. Equipment Kit
7. Medical
8. Microfilm
9. Microform

Search in Showcase

More fields are searchable from the Search in Showcase search box. When searching by location, you will see results across the format types. When searching by Language, use the 3 letter language code. For example Spa instead of Spanish, we will allow for searching by full language names in an upcoming release. 

1. Format
2. Location
3. Language

Hero Accessibility Improvements

Several improvements have been made to the home page hero component. 

1. A background layer of white provides a higher contrast ratio.
2. The active/inactive colors have been updated to provide a higher contrast ratio.
3. The active state has a secondary circle to visually convey it is the active state.

Special Handling of Polaris Internal Block Messages for Patrons

Polaris does not differentiate Internal Patron Block messaging from system generated patron account blocks in the API response. As a result, custom text from patron blocks was previously displayed to patrons when attempting to perform blocked circulation transactions such as renewals in Vega Discover. 

In order to gracefully handle internal block messaging that should not be displayed to patrons, Vega now displays one of the following messages instead: 

1. If the block response is PAPIErrorType1 but contains additional information in a PAPIErrorType2 such as, "Patron has a free text block, now allowed to renew", Vega will display the PAPIErrorType2 text instead of the custom block message text. 
2. If the block response is PAPIErrorType1 and contains no additional block messaging to display, Vega will instead display, "Cannot complete this transaction due to a block. Contact the library for more information."

Multiple OverDrive Advantage Accounts Support

Important: If your library...

1. Already has OverDrive configured with an Advantage ID
2. AND is ingesting records directly into Vega using the checkbox in the OverDrive configuration. 

Then you must request that support remove and add back your OverDrive configuration. They will move/add your Advantage ID(s) to the NEW Advantage IDs fields. This process will remove and reingest your OverDrive eContent, so there will be an hour or so of missing eContent in your Discover catalog during this process. We will remove the main OverDrive Account level Advantage ID field in the future. This update is REQUIRED to support accurate availability statuses for Advantage Materials. 

Libraries are now able to configure Multiple OverDrive Advantage IDs when they have been shared by other participating libraries and organizations. A new section for 'Advantage account ID' fields has been added at the bottom of the OverDrive configuration at both the Main Library and Sites Levels. Enter a single ID into the field. Use the +Add Another button to add more IDs. For each entered ID, Vega will ingest the vendor records for the corresponding title holdings associated with the given ID from OverDrive directly into Vega Discover. 

Advantage ID collections entered at the Main Library level are ingested to all Sites that share the main level configuration. Advantage ID collections entered at the Site Level only ingest records to that particular site. 

All Advantage titles that were not already part of your subscription will be added by Vega. Until our next release these new titles will display with a status of 'Check Availability' and patrons will be able to navigate to the OverDrive site to circulate these materials if able (based on subscription permissions). In our next release, code will be added to display the correct availability status to authenticated patrons based on their ability to access the configured Advantage Account titles. (Existing titles that have additional Advantage copies will also allow circulation of Advantage copies when other copies are unavailable after this work is complete.)

Non-Integrated eContent Management

What is Non-Integrated eContent?

Non-Integrated eContent is any MARC record based content that you catalog in your ILS that is accessible only through URLs but cannot be controlled by existing API eContent connections like Hoopla, CloudLibrary, OverDrive, etc. Examples are: LinkedIn Learning courses, Kanopy, Project Gutenberg titles, and other database records. 

How does the feature work?

Vega Discover can now help you manage your Non-Integrated eContent titles. Libraries that do not have Collection Sites can use this function to display an icon for non-integrated eContent collections in the catalog. Libraries with Collection Sites can additionally use this feature to control which Collection Sites display these titles AND which link is used for patrons to access that content in each site. Using this feature you can streamline the patron experience when accessing this type of content by forcing only the URL associated with your library patrons to be used in your Vega site(s). 

To configure Non-Integrated eContent: In the Staff UI Settings use the Non-Integrated eContent button to view the configuration page. Use the +New Configuration button to add a new configuration. Clicking the button allows the library ot configure how specific non-integrated eContent will display based on entering a BASE URL that will be present in the 856 $u of all econtent that should match the given configuration.  You can use the * character as a wild card in BASE URL configuration.  Wildcards can be used in multiple locations within the same BASE URL if needed. 

Examples

1. For each title in the given subscription there is no specific link to individual titles, but each library uses a different URL to access the database where the content is stored.
   1. EXAMPLE BASE URL: http://evanced.mylibrary.org:8888/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?profile=mainbranch&groupid=main&authtype=ip
   2. This URL is specific to the Main Branch of the library.  A patron would normally click 'Check Availability' for this title and be presented with a list of URLs, one for each branch that has access to this database.  Configuring for this branches link and then sharing only to the Main Branch library site will cause content with this link in the Main Branch site to link patrons directly to the correct URL, instead of displaying a list of confusing URLs. 
   3. YOU MUST configure for each link separaterly and share to the correct sites for all URLs to work properly at the site level.
2. Each library with access to this LinkedIn Learning course users the u=XXXXXX parameter in the URL to direct the patron to the correct LinkedIn Learning access for the participating library. 
   1. EXAMPLE TITLE: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/the-power-of-introverts?u=12345678?auth=true
   2. EXAMPLE BASE URL: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/*u=12345678?auth=true
   3. The Admin should share this configuration to the Site(s) that match the u=12345678 subscription to LinkedIn Learning.
3. All Libraries use the same, single link to access the content, but you would like to configure a specific icon to identify all materials. 
   1. EXAMPLE: Project Gutenberg - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23077
   2. EXAMPLE BASE URL: https://www.gutenberg.org OR https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/
   3. Upload the desired icon and share this configuration to ALL SITES.

Important: After configuring all desired Non-Integrated eContent configurations, you must run a full MARC extraction from the Record Extraction page in the Vega Admin. Choose, "Create MARC Extraction Request" button. Select, "All Records" and Submit. If you configure more non-integrated eContent in the future, a subsequent all records extraction will be required to update Vega displays and button links. 

BUG FIXES

Apply Date Localization to Home Page Events

If "Override date format display" and "Display day first" are selected from the Configuration > Localization settings configuration page, events on the home page show as DAY MONTH instead of MONTH DAY.

Search Bar Overlaps Custom Links

A bug was fixed where libraries with advanced search enabled saw the custom link content partically blocked on the mobile view. 

Search Within a Saved Search

A bug was fixed where a user that was not logged in saw the button to view the search, but they couldn't see the results. The button is now hidden until the user logs in. This is an intermediary fix, an upcoming release will allow a user that not logged in to search within a saved search showcase. 

Custom Passthrough Reordering of aCollection Site

A bug was fixed that prevented INN-Reach from being set to a different position on a collection site than the main site.

Favicon Preview

A bug was fixed that prevent the favicon icon from displaying on the preview page. 

2024-09-26

Note: Discover environments on NA and Engage environments on NA2 will be released the week of September 30. 

Bulk Holds Enhancements

Place a Bulk Hold from Showcase View All views

Bulk Holds can now be used from Showcase View All views allowing users to select all or specific titles from this view and place a bulk hold on all selected titles. 

Guest User access to Bulk Holds with Login prompt

Guest users will now see select boxes in Search Results and the Showcase View All views allowing them to begin to select items for a Bulk Hold. When a guest tries to initiate a bulk hold they will be prompted to login and will return to complete the hold. 

Support for Not Needed After and Not Needed Before in Bulk Hold

Not Needed After (Sierra Libraries) and Not Needed Before (Polaris Libraries) functions are now supported for Bulk Holds. Selected dates will apply to all materials in the Bulk Hold.

 

Bulk Bookmarking

To further support patrons in Bulk HOld workflows, a bulk bookmarking feature has been added to both the search results and showcase view all views. Selected items can be bulk bookmarked to one or more bookmark lists by making selections and using the Add to Lists button. After building a list, patrons can use the Place Holds button in the list view on selected materials to place a bulk hold. 

 

Serial Date Display Updates

After our recent bug fix for Serial display dates that displayed dates as ranges we have made additional changes based on customer feedback as follows: For each serial date we will display the exact dates from the Date 1 and Date 2 (if applicable) by replacing any unknown 'u' with an X and treating 'uuuu' and '9999' year values as continuing publications. For example: 

1. 19uu9999 displays as 19XX-
2. 199uuuu displays as 199X-
3. 19902021 displays as 1990-2021

Schedule Showcases for the Home Page 

Requires a post-deployment step, please check on Friday or Saturday depending on your time zone. 

You can schedule home page content to appear on your home page in advance. 

Vega Discover customers can configure 5 additional rows of scheduled content. 

Vega Premium customers can configure 20 additional rows of scheduled content. 

Please keep in mind that: 

1. Scheduled content is prioritized over unscheduled content. 
2. Scheduled content is displayed by looking at the scheduled start date first, and the time second. 
3. When there is more scheduled content than the published limit of 5 or 20 rows, the additional content is not shown. 
4. When you hit the maximum of 10 or 40 rows of content, you will see a message that your home page can't schedule any additional content. 
5. Scheduled content can be arranged in the draft view in the order it displays on the page. 

Scheduling is attached to the entire component block. For example, if you have a hero that is published, but you would like it to change at a specific date and time, you would create two versions. 

1. Scheduled version with the changes and a start date/time
2. Published version with an end date/time that's before the scheduled start time

On the Preview page, the scheduled content is: 

1. On a gray background
2. Has the applicable start/end date information 

Schedule your content from the Block Settings. 

 

Schedule Showcases for Discover 

Requires a post-deployment step, please check on Friday or Saturday depending on your time zone. 

When creating a showcase, staff has the option to: 

1. Set a start date. 
   1. Only set a start date (never expires)
   2. Set a start and end date (expires)
   3. No start is published immediately 
2. Check-box to opt into deleting the showcase when the end date is reached. 

Why does scheduling work differently for Home Page and Discover? 

Home Page is a pull process, when a patron loads the home page it pulls the components that are in the right date/time range in real time. 

Discover is a push process, where Vega is pushing content to display on the full resource card. This is a scheduled process that runs every 6 hours. Scheduled components may take up to 6 hours to appear when scheduling for the same or next day. 

 

Search in a Showcase 

Requires a post-deployment step, please check on Friday or Saturday depending on your time zone. 

Showcases created from a Bookmark List are searchable by: 

1. Title
2. Author 
3. Publication Date
4. Series

Showcases created from a Saved Search, select 'View Search Results' to adjust the filters. 

1. As the creator of the showcase, changes to filters are saved for other users. 
2. As a patron, I can make changes to the saved search, but the changes are not saved for other users. 
3. As a Library Admin, I can make changes to the saved search, but the changes are not saved for other users. 
4. Please note, users need to be logged in to see the 'View Search Results' option, and staff need to be using a promoted patron account. This will be resolved in a future release. 

 

Favicon

Requires a post-deployment step, please check on Friday or Saturday depending on your time zone. 

Favicons can be added to your main site or collection sites and is uploaded next to the library logo on the Header and Footer customization page, Favisons are very small, so choose a simple image or logo that will look clear when resized. Your image should be square, with a minimum image size of 32 x 32 and a maximum image size of 192 x 192. When a Vega link is saved as a desktop link, this is the icon saved. 

1. When the Main site has a favicon, but the other languages do not, all languages show the Main site favicon. 
2. A different favicon can be uploaded to each language. 
3. When a new favicon is uploaded to the main site, any language that hasn't set a specific favicon will see the updated favicon. 
4. New languages can be configured with a logo and favicon without changing any other languages. 
5. Adding a new language without uploading a favicon will default to the Favicon set in 'English (US)'. 

 

Passthrough Configuration for Collection Sites

After selecting and editing a collection site, a new menu option for Passthrough sources has been added. This allows you to create a custom passthrough unique to that site. Passthroughs from the main site can be hidden using the switch. 

 

Inn-Reach and Custom Passthrough Improvements

Requires a post-deployment step, please check on Friday or Saturday depending on your time zone. 

1. Inn-Reach can be rearranged and interfiled with Custom Passthrough.
2. The Full Resource Card options for a Custom Passthrough have been added to Inn-Reach. 
   1. Show for all titles
   2. Show only for unavailable titles 
3. To help with results, when saving a Custom Passthrough keyword URL, KEYWORD must be in all uppercase to save. This matches the example text on the page. 

 

Accessibility Improvements

1. The 'View All' links use the Showcase block title even with the Showcase block title is hidden. 
2. When using the X button to clear a search, the focus indicator has been corrected to highlight the button. 
3. The text overlay over image pills has been updated to include a white background that provides a contrast to the text. 
4. Added alt text to Custom Pills to use the pill name for screen readers and added WCAG 2.1 AA image accessibility guidelines to the Configure home page documentation. 
5. Users can tab from the Edition information through the search field and continue to the first Syndetics widget on the page. 
6. Updated the green and red grid view icons for better contrast ratios. 

 

Bug Fixes 

No Preference Selected now Translabale in all Languages

In the Patron Profile the 'No Preference Slected' string that displays when no Notification Preference has been selected by the patron was previously unavailable for translation and has now been added to the language strings for all languages with a default translation. To add the correct translation for your non-English languages see this string and modify "No preference selected" to the desired translation for each given language: 

Line 1706: "noPreferenceSelected": "No preference selected",

Logo Can be Saved for Additional Language Headers

A problem was fixed where libraries were unable to save a logo for Global Header pages in additional languages to US English. Logos can now be loaded and saved for additional languages and should appear immediately as configured when switching the view to the desired language in Vega Discover. 

"For later" Translation When Logged Out of a Patron Account 

A bug was fixed where a logged in patron saw the translation in the My Bookshelf text, but a logged out patron did not. 

2024-09-04

StackMaps (Premium and Consortia)

Vega Discover Premium and Consortia versions support an integration with StackMap, an indoor mapping web application that helps patrons easily locate library resources. Vega Discover Premium and Consortia libraries can reach out to support@stackmap.com to request the required script to embed into their custom header code.

Please reach out to your Account Manager if you would like to know more about Discover Premium or Discover Consortia.

BUG FIXES

Inn-Reach

A bug was fixed where Inn-Reach was not showing for unavailable titles. A future release will allow you to set Inn-Reach to also show when titles are available. This will match the design of the Custom Passthrough display options.

 

Custom Passthrough

Premium and Consortia libraries can to link to other Vega collections sites using a Custom Passthrough search.

• For works, the author and title are not required to save the URL. You'll have better success with a title search, we are continuing to work on saving author and title passthrough.
• A bug was fix where editing a Custom Passthrough changed the order after saving.
• Special characters have been enabled for Custom Passthrough searches. 

Reading History Improvements

The performance of reading history loading was improved. 

 

Home Page Scheduling

The schedule counts at the top of the page will be hidden until the feature is fully released. 

 

Home Page Accessibility Fixes

• The text alternative includes the item title for cover images in the Author showcase. 
• Aria roles have been added to the grid view icons. 
• Events are focusable using a keyboard.  

Kids Themed Home Page

A bug was fixed where covers were elongated and the proportions broken for the Comic, Steampunk, and Vega themes.

2024-08-14

Bulk Holds Workflow in Bookmark Lists View

A Bulk Holds workflow has been added to Bookmark Lists. When viewing the details of an individual Bookmark list, users are able to select materials and place a hold on all selected materials in one bulk hold workflow. The same Bulk Hold features found in search results can be used in Bookmark Lists.

Custom Passthrough Ordering

In addition to creating a custom passthrough, Admins can configure the order they appear in the patron facing drop down by rearranging the list using the up and down icons.   

Translation File

The "View All" link from the home page has been added to the Translation File. To make a change, search for "showCaseViewAll".

Home Page Scheduling

Currently in Early Adopter Testing

 

In preparation for home page scheduling, you'll see counts at the top of the Draft view for how many components can be scheduled.

Social Media Sharing

Volunteer to be an early adopter by emailing angela.nolet@clarivate.com. Sharing can be configured granularly in five locations, as well as configured at the collection site level.

• Share search results
• Share a single item from search results 
• Share the full resource card 
• Share a bookmark
• Share a saved search 

Improvements for Suppressed and Hidden Home Page Components

Home Page components may contain suppressed or empty parts. We hide these parts from the home page so patrons aren't confused. The following improvements have been made on the staff side so you are aware when content is being hidden.

• If a component consists solely of suppressed parts, it will be completely hidden. This will be indicated by a Hidden Block label.
• If a component consists solely of empty parts, it will be completely hidden. This will be indicated by a Hidden Block label.
• If a component consists solely of suppressed and empty parts, it will be completely hidden. This will be indicated by a Hidden Block label.
• If a component consists of a mix of suppressed, empty, and regular parts, only the suppressed and empty parts will be hidden. This will be indicated by a Hidden Parts label.

BUG FIXES

Syndetics URLS

Vega Premium and Vega Consortia

A bug was fixed where clicking on Syndetics content on a collection site took the patron to the main site URL. 

• More in the Series covers
• More in the Series availability link 
• Reading Level covers 
• Reading Level availability link
• You May Also Like covers
• You May Also Like availability link 
• About the Author page
• About the Author covers
• About the Author availability link

 

Accessibility Fixes

Home page text that should not have been marked as a heading, or the heading levels were out of order have been fixed. 

Home page showcases that were missing a role have been corrected to display the role. 

 

eContent Records in Bookshelf

Two bugs were fixed with eContent that is currently circulating. The first bug appeared as some checked out eContent not displaying the title information correctly in the bookshelf, instead displaying a recordID not found error. The second bug appeared as a card-less full resource display when following a title link from circulating eContent in the bookshelf. 

2024-07-31

Staff User Info Popup

When a Staff User is logged into the Vega Staff UI the staff Username is now displayed at the top right of the Staff Settings site. Staff User Accounts now display a special Vega icon for quick reference that you are logged in as a staff user, which is especially useful when working with Showcase in the Discover catalog. Clicking your Staff Username will open the popup which will include user name, email if available, user permissions, and a logout button and a link to Discover. If you are working with the main settings for Vega the Discover link will take you to the main site. If you are working in site specific configuration screens, the Discover link will take you to that site.

User Permissions listed in the Staff User popup are linked to the User Management Beta features. If you are a not a Beta library this section will indicate that you have no permissions regardless of your current admin role but will not affect admin functions. If you are Beta testing User Management you will see the permissions that have been assigned to your user in the site you are managing or in the main Vega settings. 

Sites List Page Links to Sites

The Site Configuration page (Cog Menu > Library Defaults > Site Configuration) has been enhanced with clickable URLs for each site. Clicking a URL for a given site in the list will open the Vega Discover Home page for that site in a new tab in the current browser.

User Management Beta Only: Search and Filter Updates

Note: This feature requires User Management BETA features.

 

The User Management Page (Available only for Vega Discover Sites who have the Beta Feature) has been enhanced with additional searching functions. For the Selected Site, choose a Source for the User (Vega User, Patron, or Active Directory). Search boxes will appear for available search indexes that can be used to further filter the users list. Multiple search indexes may be used at the same time to locate a specific user and combines with Access Level Filters and the 'Assigned Only' checkbox that filters the list to only users that have been assigned a permission.

1. Vega User & Active Directory User Available Searches
   1. User name
   2. First name
   3. Last name
   4. Email
2. Patron User Searches
   1. Barcode

Volunteer for Home Page Scheduling

We are looking for volunteers interested in early access to home page scheduling functionality. This group will help finalize the documentation before it is released. Email angela.nolet@clarivate.com to participate.

BUG FIXES

Publication Date Display Fixes

When publication dates included placeholder values in the metadata, the date displayed on the search results and record views was not as expected. Now Vega interprets placeholder values and translates the date display as follows:

• Single Publication Dates
• 199x
• Publication Date on Card: 1990-1999
• Editions Table: 199X
• 19xx
• Publication Date on Card: 1900-1999
• Editions Table: 19XX
• 1xxx 
• Publication Date on Card: 1000-1999
• Editions Table: 1XXX
• Date Ranges (continuing resources)
• 199x/9999
• Publication Date on Card: 1990-
• Editions Table: 199X/9999
• 2xxx/
• Publication Date on Card: 2000-
• Editions Table: 2XXX/...

OverDrive Magazine Checkouts in the Mobile View

The mobile view has been updated to allow for the selection of issues in the OverDrive Magazines Issue selector popup. 

 

VPAT Updates

The following fixes were applied to support 1.3 Adaptable criteria for WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards: 

• Fields in the Edition Details Popup that were erroneously marked as headings are no longer heading level text.
• Heading Levels were corrected for elements in the View All view of Showcases.
  

Reading History

Reading History Opt-in and Opt-out functions were restored to the Patron Reading History workflows. When a patron opts out of reading history and confirms, their reading history is now completely purged from Vega and the ILS. When a patron opts in to reading history after previously opting out, they will begin with a blank reading history that will begin populating the next time they fully circulate an item (checkout, then checkin). 

 

Inn-Reach Ready for Pickup Status Fix

Note: The fix for this Vega display issue was applied in the Sierra APIs. This fix requires the Sierra 6.2 Maintenance Release.

 When InnReach holds are received at the pickup location and become ready for pickup, Vega now displays the correct hold status of Ready for Pickup for these items in the Holds tab. 

Custom Domain + OneTrust Cookie Banner

Note: This change requires post deployment processing and is expected to be completed by Friday. 

We have been making improvements to how the cookie banner interacts with collection sites using a custom domain. With this change, patrons will only see the cookie banner initially. After making a selection, the cookie banner will not appear again as they move through collection sites. If your library configures a new custom domain, please open a support ticket with the details and a request to be added to the OneTrust custom domain list. Libraries with configured custom domains do not need to open a support ticket. 

 We are continuing to investigate a solution for kiosks. 

 

Showcase Group Items with One Pill and Custom URLs 

A bug was fixed where homepage components were hidden on a published home page. This included:

1. Showcase group componets with only one pill
2. Components with custom URLs 
   

Reserved Characters and Inn-Reach 

A bug was fixed that prevented unencoded reserves characters from passing through to Inn-Reach. Reserved characters include: : / ? # [ ] @ ! $ & ' ( ) * + , ; =  

 

Custom Passthrough

Improvements have been made for better URL validation.

 

Suppressed Items on the Home Page 

Improvements continue to be made to notify staff when home page content contains suppressed items. When looking at the Draft list of content, you'll see a "Hidden" badge.  

2024-07-18

OverDrive Magazines GA

Note: This Feature will be turned on for all customers shortly after the code deploy has been completed for your region. Please see information below about requirements for the OverDrive Magazines feature. 

This change will only appear if your OverDrive Magazines currently display Get It buttons. If you catalog your OverDrive records in your ILS, then your OverDrive Magazine MARC records must contain the required 037 vendor and titleID information required for the API circulation integration for this new workflow to appear. If your records display 'Check Availability' they are missing this info and need to be updated before this new workflow can be used. Check Availability buttons will continue to function as they did previously.

Electronic magazine materials that belong to your subscription from OverDrive will now display a Get Issue button. When a patron clicks the 'get issue' button, they will be directed to select the issue they would like to checkout for the given magazine title. Once they have selected the desired issue, that issue will be checked out to them. Guest patrons who click the Get Issue button will be directed to select an issue upon login for the previously selected electronic magazine. In the checkout tab of the Patron Bookshelf, users will see the title and issue information for any titles they currently have checked out from OverDrive and will be able to check-in any issues they no longer need. 

Author Publication Data Relevancy for Current Year Increased

Note: This change requires post deployment processing that will be run by our AppOps Team and may take several days to appear in your Vega catalog. 

When searching for an author name that has an exact match in the author index (ex: stephen king or king, stephen), Vega boosts publications released in the current year more than publications released in the previous year placing 2024 publications before 2023 publications in search results. 

User Management Beta Feature: Filter for Users

A Filters button is available in the User Management tools that allows Administrators to filter all Users by the type of user, staff access level, showcase access level, and home page access level. 

A checkbox can be used to filter the user management list to only display users that have been assigned a permission in the currently selected site.  

Format Filter Enhanced for OAI and Translated Strings Search

OAI format types are now searchable in the format filter popup. If you have translated the language string for any given format, this translated string is also searchable from the format filter. 

Padding Changes for the Search Results Page

Spacing has been condensed to show more content on the screen before scrolling. 

BUG FIXES

Accessibility Fixes

• The Bulk Holds workflow was updated with additional accessibility support features.
• Alternative text fixes were applied to the Find From Passthrough link and Header logo graphics.
• Decorative image in patron info was hidden from screen readers.
• Patron Info Popup was made accessible to keyboard only use. 

eContent Vendor Incident Mitigation Fixes

Timeout thresholds have been updated for vendor API response times and a circuit breaker feature has been added that will cause a cease in API calls when a vendor service returns too many connection refused or timeout errors in a row. These changes include metrics and reopen protocols. 

Newly Created Patrons Cannot Modify Passcode Fix

Previously a newly created patron would encounter an error if they immediately tried to update their passcode/password. This problem has been fixed. 

Home Page Author Biographies

When updating a home page component from an author with a biography to one without, you will no longer see the first author's biography under the name, photo, and cover images of the new author.

Mobile UI Scroll

A bug has been fixed that caused a small left-right scroll bar to appear on the mobile view. 

Static Vega Program Events on the Home Page

A bug has been fixed that prevented a static event from being saved and displayed on the home page.

2024-07-03

Relevancy Improvements

 NOTE: This feature requires post deployment processes that will be run by our AppOps Team. Relevancy updates to searches may take several days to apply due to holidays. An update will be sent when this feature is ready for all customers. 

Vega Relevancy has been improved in the following ways:

1. When you search for a word or phase and a title matches your query exactly, all exact match titles will be placed at the top of your search results.
2. When you search for an author name and an author name matches your query exactly, all books by the author will be placed at the top of your search results.
3. When you search for an author name and that author has published a book in the current or previous year, these books will be placed at the top of your search results followed by other older publication date books by that author.

Bulk Holds

Vega now includes a Bulk Holds function in the Search Results when a patron is logged in. Each title listed in the search results now has a checkbox that will allow you to individually select titles. A select all toggle has also been added to the top of the search results list with a Place Hold button. Selecting multiple titles individually or through select all in the search results and then using the search level Place Hold button will open the Bulk Hold workflow. Patrons will see their preferred pickup location selected and can modify this location. All holds will be placed for pickup at the same location in a bulk hold. If multiple physical formats are available for a title, the user can select the format they would like. By default the currently selected format tab from the search results will be selected in the bulk hold. If a patron has selected eContent or material that does not display a place hold button, that material will be removed from the bulk hold and a message will display notifying the patron that those materials are not available for bulk holds. When a patron confirms and submits their bulk hold Vega will begin processing holds and will display status updates for each title and a processing count at the top of the list. Patrons can cancel a bulk hold in the middle of the process by using a Stop button. If a patron has selected materials that have volumes and require additional steps those materials will display a ! Needs Action button that when clicked will allow the patron to select the volume they would like to place a hold on. If an error is returned when trying to place a hold on a particular title, an error button will display that can be clicked to view more information about the error. When the bulk hold is complete (or canceled) patrons can close the bulk hold window.

READY FOR BETA: OverDrive Magazines Support

OverDrive Magazines workflows will be made available for selected Beta Tester libraries before releasing the feature to all customers.

After we release this feature to GA, Electronic magazine materials that belong to your subscription from OverDrive will display a Get Issue button. When a patron clicks the 'get issue' button, they will be directed to select the issue they would like to checkout for the given magazine title. Once they have selected the desired issue, that issue will be checked out to them. In the checkout tab of the Patron Bookshelf, users will see the title and issue information for any titles they currently have checked out from OverDrive and will be able to check-in any issues they no longer need. 

Call Number Searching

 NOTE: This feature requires post deployment processes that will be run by our AppOps Team. The new Call Number Search functions may take several days to appear due to holidays. An update will be send when this feature is ready for all customers. 

Call Numbers will be indexed into the Everything search in Vega Discover. Patrons who are accustomed to searching by call numbers to find new books and staff who have a knowledge of specific call numbers will be able to use a call number search to find a particular title or set of titles. Please note that the call number must match EXACTLY in order to be found, much like control numbers such as ISBN, ISSN, etc.  

Swedish Language Searching

 NOTE: This feature requires post deployment processes that will be run by our AppOps Team. The new Call Number Search functions may take several days to appear due to holidays and our Services teams will send an update when this process is complete.  

Our Swedish Language libraries can now search using the terms: and, och, and & interchangeably. Also special characters in the Swedish language no longer equal the non-diacritic version of that letter. This change applies ONLY to our Swedish Language default customers. No changes have been made to our English language searching or diacritic handling.

Hold Settings in Staff UI Display

In a previous release we added settings that help libraries control Hold Activation and Hold Expiration Dates in the holds workflow. The Hold Activation Date staff setting now only displays for Polaris libraries. The Hold Expiration Date staff setting now only displays for Sierra libraries.

Home Page UX Improvements

The following UX Changes have been made to improve the customer experience.

1. The search bar is centered on the home page. 
2. The search bar padding has been increased. 
3. The search bar size has been increased. 
4. The search bar has been shortened to not run the full width of the screen. 
5. The search icon has been changed from gray to orange to make it easier to spot. 
6. UX for the Hero navigation arrows are larger and shaded to be more prominent. This is also seen in the bug fix image below for the hero background image. 

Mobile UX Improvements

The following UX Changes have been made to improve the customer experience.

1. Less padding between components to reduce scrolling on mobile devices. 
2. Less padding between the facet filters on mobile devices. 

Custom Passthrough

 NOTE: This feature requires a post deployment step and will be available by the end of next week. 

Admins and Main Admins have the option to configure Passthrough Sources. In addition to configuring InnReach, you now have the option to configure a Custom Passthrough. When configuring, you will need to choose the option to show for all titles.

In upcoming releases, you’ll be able to restrict to only show a passthrough when no titles are available, rearrange the order of passthrough sources, and configure a passthrough at the collection site level.

Larger Images on the Full Resource Card

Book covers displayed on the full record view have been increased in size to allow better viewing of the cover image for a particular work title.

Home Page Watermarks and Background Colors

 NOTE: Libraries with Premium and Consortia Licenses: This feature will require a post deployment step and will be available by the end of the week.

When configuring a collection site, a background color and watermark image may be configured without having to set the collection site to a Kids theme. You can experiment with a small, medium, or large watermark. Once your image is uploaded, it is displayed on three locations on the home page. 

Please note, if you’d like to change the background color of a collection site without any home page components, you will need to follow these steps. This has been added to Supportal as a help article, Changing the Home Page Color. 
1.  Click “Add More Content”

2. Use the “Back” button, not adding any content

3. The “Preview” button returns and you can pick and publish a new background color.

BUG FIXES

PayPal Voided Payments Fix

We have updated our PayPal silent post functionality to utilize a two-step authorization and capture flow. This change solves an issue where the payment account would be successfully charged without removing the patron's fines from the ILS when an error was encountered during payment. This type of fine error was generally occurring when a patron's account was unable to be updated to settle a fine during the fine payment transaction. For example, the patron account was open in Sierra.

 NOTE: Patrons will see no change in the PayPal library fine payment workflow as a result of this change. All changes were made to how we send and process fines with PayPal. 

Date Display Fix for Sierra Customers

 NOTE: This fix requires post deployment processes that will be fun by our AppOps Team. Due Date displays may take several days to update due to holidays. Our Services teams will send an update to affected customers when this process is complete. 

Vega was interpreting all dates coming from Sierra to be in a yyyy-mm-dd format. Libraries that used other formats such as yymmdd hh:mm or mmddyy hh:mm were experiencing a variety of issues with due date display and new books filtering and sorting functionalities. We have updated the data translation file to include a setting for each type of date data that Sierra might send in catalogDates and dueDates and have developed parsing rules to display all types of date formats correctly. Once these settings have been applied for your library and any required indexing has been done, your dates will display as expected in Vega Discover.

Suppressed Items on the Home Page

If all items within a component are suppressed, the entire showcase is hidden from the home page. 

If a home page component contains suppressed items, these suppressed items are hidden from the component and frees up space for regular items. Clicking thorugh to the full showcased does show unavailable items. 

Reading History Loading

A problem was fixed where some patron's reading history was not loading when they logged in, instead displaying a message that they have not yet logged any reading history. Now patrons who have logged reading history should be able to see it when they click the reading history tab. 

Home Page Hero Background

The hero has been fixed so the hero image is larger than the background image.

2024-06-20

Home Page Search Result Limits

Requires a post deployment step, expect to see this functionality added by the end of the week.

For home pages that have limited search results by location or collection, Vega had hidden the collections or shelf locations selected. With this new feature, patrons will be able to further refine the search results using the pre-defined facets. For example, if a home page was limited to picture books, easy readers, and J fiction, the patron could apply the J fiction facet and not see the picture books and easy readers in the search results.

Please note that when limiting by location, the locations need to be at the same display level for the facets to filter as expected. 

 

Vega Program Integration with the Home Page Builder

Requires a post deployment step, expect to see this functionality added by the end of the week.

For libraries with Vega Program, you have the option to pull event information directly from program as well as create "set-it-and-forget-it" event showcases. 

To use the new functionality, you will first need to create an API key in Vega Program and update your Third-party connection settings in the Vega Staff Admin. 

Once configured, the home page builder will have more options: 

1. A Static event is a single event that is created manually or you can change the "Use Vega Program data?" to yes and search for a specific event from Vega Program. 
2. A Dynamic event constantly updates with matching events for the filters selected. 
3. When an event in Vega Program has an image, that is automatically pulled into the home page with an overlay to ensure readability of the program information.

 

BUG FIXES

1. Covers overlapped in several places when zoomed in on some devices, this has been resolved. 

User Roles and Permissions Beta Testing Fixes

1. Showcase admin and creator permission users were unable to access Showcase permissions in collection and kiosk sites.  This problem has been fixed.
2. User Permissions assigned at the site level were applied correctly to users but not displaying in the staff user list after the user list was changed to infinite scroll instead of pagination. This has been fixed. 
3. When a user has been newly created and assigned permissions, after receiving their invite email and setting a password there was no action to navigate away from the password setting webpage. Now users will have a link to Discover after completing the password set workflow.

2024-06-05

Hold Expiration Date

Polaris Libraries Changes

The Hold Expiration Date no longer appears for selection in the holds workflow for Polaris Libraries.  Polaris sets this value automatically for all holds based on ILS settings. When Polaris patrons used this date previously it was automatically overridden by the ILS settings when the hold was placed.

Sierra Libraries Changes

A Hold Expiration Default setting for Sierra Libraries only, has been added to the Staff UI Settings under the Cog Menu > Library Defaults > Patron Settings: Number of days for default expiration time period.  This setting takes values up to 999 days. The default setting is 365 days. When patrons do not choose a custom expiration date for their hold, this default expiration date will be applied to their hold. When a patron selects the 'I do not need this item after' checkbox in the hold workflow, the default expiration date will be populated by default and the patron can change this date to any valid date in the future.

Hold Activation Date (Polaris Libraries Only)

A Hold Activation Date setting has been added for Polaris Libraries only.  This setting can be found in the Staff UI Settings under the Cog Menu > Library Defaults > Patron Settings: Allow hold activation date.  When this setting is on, patrons in Polaris Libraries will have an option to select a "I don't need this item before" date in the hold placing workflow.  The default activation date is today's date. When a date in the future is set by the patron when placing a hold, the hold will appear in the patron's hold list in Frozen state until the activation date has been reached.

 Note: Hold Activation Dates are not supported by the Sierra APIs at this time so this setting cannot be enabled for Sierra libraries.

Home Page UX Improvements

Improvements have been made for both desktop and mobile users.

• Showcase block titles are bolder and stand out more.
• Title and author are larger and easier to read. 
• Book covers are centered to fill the space better. 
• Book covers are larger and adjust more fluidly for different screen sizes. 
• Event spacing and breakpoints for mobile users.
• Author spacing and breakpoints for mobile users. 

BUG FIXES

OneTrust Cookie Message
Improvements have been made so patron and staff users will see an option to select Strictly Necessary Cookies after they click on Manage cookie preferences.

Home Page Collection Sites in Alphabetical Order
When a user has permission to view more than one collection site, they will see all the site names in alphabetical order from the drop down menu on the Home page settings. 

Suppressed Titles in Showcases Fixes
When a title that is included in a published showcase is suppressed, these titles now display a default Vega generated cover displaying the title and author information if available.  In views like the showcase view all view these titles will not be actionable by patrons. In the list and showcase editor views you will see the id of the record and that it is unavailable.  The title cover and title will appear grayed also indicating this title is not accessible at this time.  To remove a title that has been suppressed you can select the card in the list and remove it.  

Suppressed Titles in Home Page Components
Plain cover carousels will display a generated cover. When a showcase has a mix of suppressed and unsuppressed titles, you will see a blank space that leads to a 404 error for the suppressed titles. When a showcase is comprised of only suppressed items, the component will be empty. In the future, suppressed items will not be visible from any home page components.  

2024-05-21 

Vega Discover is 100% Compatible with Section 508

The most recent Accessibility Review for Vega Discover run by a 3rd party accessibility auditor in May of 2024 found that we have 100% compliance with Section 508 Accessibility Standards required by the United States Access Board. This year's review also included the new WCAG 2.2 standard and we continue working on the small amount of updates required to meet this new standard for accessibility. We will update when the remediation is complete and the VPAT is ready. 

Table of Contents Added to Edition Info Popup

Formatted Table of Contents data has been added to the Editions information popup when available in the source record.  This data is populated from the following fields for each edition: 

• MARC: 505 $a if present in the work edition

• BIBFRAME: tableOfContents rdfs:label if present in the work edition

To view all metadata details for data displayed in Vega Discover check out this Supportal article: Vega Metadata Display Details

Beta Testing

In preparation of a full release, we'll be testing new functionality with beta testing groups.  If we are ready for you to test one or more of the following features we'll reach out to you to help.

• Staff Managements for Sierra 

• Vega Program Integration 

• Home Page Background Colors

 

BUG FIXES

Hold Logic Correction

Our Work Level hold button logic was updated to consider Checked Out status items as unavailable. Hold logic now chooses the correct best edition when items are circulating across editions in a multi-edition work rollup. 

OverDrive Circulating Materials Display

Sometimes OverDrive materials that were checked out in Vega were not displaying the title and other details correctly in the Patron Account due to a null pointer exception error.  This has been corrected and the expected details will now display. 

Multiple Holds Issue for Sierra Libraries with Volume Records Fix

Sierra libraries that use Volume Records were experiencing an issue placing multiple holds on different volumes attached to the same edition.  When trying to place a second volume hold, the user would receive the following error, "Your request for this material was unsuccessful. Couldn't find suitable edition for the request." This problem has been fixed and holds can now be placed on more than one volume for the same edition. 

Account Already Exists Login Error Fix

Patrons would sometimes see a, "User with username XXXXXXXX already exists." error when attempting to login to Vega. We have corrected the issues that were causing this problem.

Grid View Accessibility

We've improved accessibility in the grid view by increasing the contrast when a mouse is hovering over an item. 

Various Accessibility Fixes

Several Accessibility corrections were made to meet accessibility requirements.

1. Focus Order in the patron profile settings, showcase creation workflows, refine results, and search areas.

2. Reflow fixes for drop-down functions in mobile views

3. Labeling requirements in the bookshelf and bookmarking workflows.

4. Link Purpose in Context for Holds tab in the bookshelf and location name links on work cards.

Kids Animation

A bug was fixed where covers in the grid view didn't animate when a mouse is hovering over an item. 

2024-05-09 NA2 Release

Yesterday, customers using Vega Discover on the NA2 environment were unable to receive our scheduled deploy of new features.

We have successfully redeployed the update and have verified that all Vega Discover environments have the new features.  

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue caused at your library. 

2024-05-09 Cookie Banner Released

Cookie Banner Changes  Across Products

What to expect with the new cookie banner

A cookie banner will be displayed at the beginning of each session when using Vega Discover, Vega Promote, and LX Starter. This banner will request your consent to use cookies in our products.

Once you consent, the cookie banner will no longer be displayed during subsequent sessions, offering a streamlined user experience. We believe that by allowing you to control your cookies preference we enhance transparency and enable you to make choices that align with your privacy preferences. 

Why is this change being made?

As part of Clarivate's policy, we prioritize user privacy and aim to provide a secure and transparent user experience. By implementing this change, we align our products with company-wide policies and comply with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and regional requirements. THis ensures that your personal information is handled carefully and respectfully.

How do libraries with a custom header view the Cookie Preference Page?

Admins will need to add the new cookie component to their custom header.
  <Vega-cookie-settings></Vega-cookie-settings> 

2024-05-09

Vega Maintenance Alert

Potential Service Disruption: Vega + LX Starter & Promote One Hour Maintenance Window on May 8 and 22

Vega is releasing an infrastructure update that may cause some users to experience unresponsive pages during the 1 hour maintenance windows on May 8 and 22.

• na and ca regions: Midnight PST / 3am EST
• sg and ap regions: 12 SG / 5 am NZST
• eu region: 2pm EST / 7 pm GMT

 We apologize for any inconvenience this causes at your library.   

Location Facet Experience Improvements

The Vega Location Facet functions have been expanded in the following ways: 

• The View All View popup of the Location Facet now loads all Locations as its default behavior, allowing the user to scroll through every available location. 
• The Refine Panel view now as its default behavior, floats preferred locations to the top of the facet using the following precedence. 
  • Kiosk Preferred Location
  • Patron Home Location
  • Collection Site Preferred Location(s)
  • For example: 
    • A guest user in a Kiosk will see the Kiosk preferred location at the top of the location refinement panel. 
    • An authenticated user in a Kiosk will see the Kiosk preferred location followed by their Home location (if different) at the top of the location refinement panel.
    • A guest user in a Collection Site will see the Collection Site preferred location(s) at the top of the location refinement panel.  If multiple locations are preferred in the Collection site, the preferred sites will be ordered by highest hit count. 
    • An authenticated user in a Collection Site will see their Home Location at the top of the Location Refinement panel if their Home location is included in the Collection Site.  The Collection Site preferred locations will display after the patron Home location ordered by highest hit count..  
• A setting has been added to the Vega Staff Admin settings under the Cog Menu > Library Defaults > Display Settings, called Location Sort.  This setting alters the default sort of the View All View popup of the Location Facet. The options are: 
  • Hit Count Descending with Preferred Locations at Top
    • This setting is the default and when set, opening the View All view of the Location facet lists all locations in hit count (based on current search query) order but floats the preferred locations to the top of the list despite hit counts. 
  • A-Z Sort
    •  This setting can be toggled to do the following when set; opening the View All view of the Location facet lists all locations in A-Z order for a quicker browsing experience for patrons needing to find a specific location.

Kids Help Added to Translations Strings

Premium and Consortia Libraries

When an out-of-the-box theme for children is used, there is a helper that appears on the page. This text has been added to the translation table, search for 'kids' to change the default text.

• kidsView
• kidsClickTheArrow
• kidsLookForCallNumber
• kidsNoThanks
• kidsSeeMoreBooks
• kidsShowThisBook
• kidsType TheTitle
• kidsYes

BUG FIXES

Place Hold Buttons Swedish Language Fix

Place Hold buttons now function properly when using Swedish as the display language of Vega Discover.

2024-05-08 NA2 Delayed

Today, May 8th, customers located on the NA2 environment were unable to receive our scheduled deploy of new features.  This issue impacts only customers on the NA environment and all other environments have been successfully updated and can now use all expected new features.  

In order to not impact normal business operations for our NA2 customers, we will redeploy our scheduled updates to NA2 tomorrow morning at the normally scheduled time of 4am Eastern.  Please note that the location feature updates must be turned on after the deployment so you may not see the new sorting features until midday tomorrow. 

We sincerely apologize for this delay and will send an update tomorrow when the NA2 deploy has been completed successfully and all features from yesterday's release notes are available. 

2024-04-24

System Status for Vega Hosted Systems

We are partnering with the Ex Libris cloud services team to provide improve planned and unplanned event communications on the Ex Libris Status Page for Innovative customers using the Vega platform. The Status Page will provide transparency around service availability and performance for Vega Discover, Vega Promote, and LX Starter.

To find out more information regarding this page, and to subscribe, please read our supportal article: System Status for Vega Hosted Systems.

Home Page Background Color

Premium and Consortia libraries

A background color can be added to a collection site when the Audience Theme is set to General Public. Once the setting is enabled, staff will see the option to pick a background color. After selecting a color, use the Preview button to test how the color looks with your content. 

Limiting Search Results on Polaris for a Collection Site

Premium and Consortia libraries

Polaris libraries have the option to limit by Collection and Shelf Location. When a patron searches on a collection site, the results will be limited to the collection and/or shelf locations configured.

1. Cog Menu
2. Library defaults > Site Configuration 
3. Select a site > Edit
4. Content Scoping > Limit Content 

BUG FIXES

Home Page Cover Pills

A bug was fixed where an edited cover pill took users to showcase results instead of opening a URL tab.

Swedish Language Issue with Bookshelf

A bug was fixed for Patrons using the Swedish translation of Vega Discover where they could not view their patron checkout, holds, fines/fees, or profile after viewing the bookmarks, saved searches, or reading history tabs.  All bookshelf content can now be viewed when the desired section is clicked.

2024-04-17

Potential Service Disruption

Vega Discover One Hour Maintenance Window on April 17

Vega is releasing a critical infrastructure update that may cause some users to experience unresponsive pages during the 1 hour maintenance window on April 17.
Out of an abundance of caution to have extra time for testing and warning for end users, we will delay the release for Discover only until April 17. There is no release for Discover on April 10.

This applies to Discover only (Staff and Patron UIs). It does not impact LX Starter or Promote.
•    na and ca regions: Midnight PST / 3am EST
•    sg and ap regions: 12 SG / 5 am NZST
•    eu region: 2pm EST / 7 pm GMT 

 

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes at your library.   

Generate Syndetics Covers

A new addition to the Staff Help documentation shows you how to generating covers in different sizes. Search for "Generate Syndetics covers".

 You can use the URLs below to generate small, medium, or large covers and use them for social media or a blog.

 To generate a cover, substitute the ISBN and your library code as in the following example:
https://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=<ISBN>/SC.GIF&client=<library code>&type=xw12

• Small
  https://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=978-0-387-37235-8/SC.GIF&client=bccls&type=xw12
  
  
• Medium
  https://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=978-0-387-37235-8/MC.GIF&client=bccls&type=xw12

• Large
  https://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=978-0-387-37235-8/LC.GIF&client=bccls&type=xw12

To generate Syndetics covers

1. In the URL for the cover size that you want, substitute the following values:
• ISBN for the item
• Your library code

2. Copy and paste the URL into your browser address bar.

3. Right-click on the cover and select Copy image.

Save the cover image.

BUG FIX

Small Font for Custom Header

A bug was fixed where libraries with a custom header saw a small font in the:

• Header 
• Footer 
• Advanced/Basic search
• Announcement 

Unresponsive showcase widget on full resource card - NA2 only

We have uncovered a performance issue related to the query on the full resource card, which displays the showcase widget when the resource is part of a showcase. We are temporarily hiding this widget until the query is modified so that it does not degrade performance.

Users can still create showcases, add them to the home page and websites

2024-04-10

Potential Service Disruption

Vega Discover One Hour Maintenance Window on April 17

Vega is releasing a critical infrastructure update that may cause some users to experience unresponsive pages during the 1 hour maintenance window on April 17.
Out of an abundance of caution to have extra time for testing and warning for end users, we will delay the release for Discover only until April 17. There is no release for Discover on April 10.

This applies to Discover only (Staff and Patron UIs). It does not impact LX Starter or Promote.
•    na and ca regions: Midnight PST / 3am EST
•    sg and ap regions: 12 SG / 5 am NZST
•    eu region: 2pm EST / 7 pm GMT 

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes at your library.   

2024-03-27

Suppressed Items In Circulation Support

We modified the way we retrieve item data for titles that have been suppressed from public view in Vega Discover but have been circulated to patrons (on hold, checked out, or have fines) so that the title can display in the bookshelf.  

2024-03-14

Rollup Indexing Complete for All Customers

All Environments Indexed for Rollups

We have completed reindexing for all customers to apply the rollup logic changes we released this year. 

 NA, NA2, NA3, NA4, AP, CA, EU, Partner, SG, SG-Prod

OAI-PMH Updates

Multiple OAI configurations can now be created using the same base OAI URL.  This allows libraries with collections that use different methods to generate thumbnail URLs to create separate connections for each collection(s) that use a specific thumbnail generation url template.

Video Support  

From the help documentation for staff, you'll see a new tile will take you directly to support videos and other documentation created for Vega Discover. 

Themed Home Pages 

Premium and Consortia Libraries

Thank you to our Themed home page early adopter libraries who provided feedback on the training process and created these exciting examples of what you can do with a themed home page. 

• Rochester Hills Public Library
• Phoenix Public Library
• Suffolk Cooperative Library System
• LYNX Consortium

For more details on configuring your home page, look for new Home Page documentation this week in the document portal or log in to the Supportal to read Best Practices for Implementing a Themed or Kids Vega Home Page. 

During the next two months, if you have questions or you would like some help with the configuration of your home page please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Home Page Onboarding team at Vega_Discover_Home_Page_Onboarding@clarivate.com. 

 Learn more about Themed Catalogs in Vega Discover—including an overview of the evolutions and research that informed our designs for kids—in this webinar recording: “Fall in Love with our Kids and Themed Catalogs.” 

BUG FIXES

Events

• A bug was fixed where the status of events was missing. 
• A bug was fixed where the event link wasn't working. 
• A bug was fixed where events that started or ended at noon displayed as 11 am. 

Home Page Publishing 
A bug was fixed where the publish action failed. 

Vega Code Deploy Rescheduled for March 14

Dear Vega Customers, 

This morning there was an unexpected incident related to an OverDrive outage that caused a downstream impact to Vega, creating an outage for Vega Systems using OverDrive.  

The OverDrive issues has been resolved. We have verified that all affected customers systems have all expected functionalities restored. 

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to your library by this error. We’re committed to fixing this kind of issue systematically, so it never happens again, and we appreciate all of you who helped us catch and correct the problem. 

Because of this issue occurring during the scheduled Vega deployment window, we have delayed our planned code deployment for all Vega Products to tomorrow March 14th.  This new code deployment will include a fix to minimize the impact to Vega when a partner has an outage. Changes will be applied to your Vega Systems during the normally scheduled off-hours for your libraries across the globe. 

Best Regards, 

Your Vega Product and Engineering Teams

Vega Alert: Potential Service Disruption on March 13

Vega One Hour Maintenance Window on March 13

Vega is releasing a critical infrastructure update that may cause some users to experience unresponsive pages during the 1 hour maintenance window on March 13. This applies to LX Starter, Promote, and Discover (Staff and Patron UIs). 

• na and ca regions: Midnight PST / 3am EST
• sg and ap regions: 12 SG / 5 am NZST
• eu region: 2pm EST / 7 pm GMT 

 

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes at your library.   

2024-02-28

Indexing Progress for Rollup Logic Updates

The following environments and customers have had indexing updates applied and update is now complete: 
AP, CA, EU

Still in progress:
NA4, NA3, NA2, NA

NOTE: We will send another update when all environments have completed indexing. 

BUG FIXES

Author Block
A bug was fixed where the author showcase block was empty if the author information was deleted. 

2024-02-14

Rollup Improvements

 

NOTE: The following feature requires indexing processes to be run by Innovative in order to apply the change to your system.  Updates will be posted on the Vega Listserv to notify you of the completion of this indexing. 

Work Level Rollup logic has been updated in the following ways

1. For mainTitle we now use the 245$abnp as the title matching point.  Uniform title fields (130/240) are no longer considered for the rollup of materials. 
2. For the primaryAgent for textual works, we now only consider agents found in 1xx fields.  7xx agents are no longer considered for primaryAgent selection.  Any role designation is now acceptable for agents found in the 1xx.  So composers, performers etc will now appropriately be used as the primaryAgent for music and other works.  When there is no role Vega assumes the agent is an 'author' role.

Moving Image materials continue to use publisher data for primaryAgents.

BUG FIXES

Truncated Author Names
A bug was resolved where hovering over a truncated author name did not show the author's full name. 

Responsive View of Cover Carousels
A bug was resolved where overlapping was seen on the Galaxy Fold.  

Swedish Language Display Update
The Language display for the Swedish language was incorrect in the Language dropdown and has now been corrected to read as 'Svenska'.  Please note that for all languages in the drop-down the code in parenthesis refers to the country code, not the language code. 

Reset Filters Button for Advanced Searches
A reset filters button is now available when using the Advanced Search to clear all applied filters.

2024-01-31

Vega One Hour Maintenance Window January 31

Vega is releasing a critical infrastructure update that may cause some users to experience unresponsive pages during the 1 hour maintenance window. Refreshing the page will reload content. This applies to LX Starter, Promote, and Discover (Staff and Patron UIs). 

• na and ca regions: Midnight PST / 3am EST
• sg and ap regions: 12 SG / 5 am NZST
• eu region: 2pm EST / 7 pm GMT 

Rearranging of Pills in a Component

When more than one showcase or URL has been added to a component type, use the up/down arrows to rearrange the order. This functionality is available for: 

• Showcase Group: Cover Pills
• Showcase Group: Image Pills 
• Showcase Group: Collage Panels 
• Showcase Group: Image Panels 
• Showcase Group: Custom Pill
• Hero Carousel 
• Events
• Authors

Default Translations Provided for Polish and Swedish Languages

We have updated the existing Polish language file by providing a professionally translated default translation.  We have also added Swedish to our supported languages with a professional translation.  You can find these new language files in the Vega Admin > Localization Settings > Configuration.  To add one of these languages to your Vega Discover language dropdown, select it in the Customize Languages Menu.  To modify any displayed language's default translation or to add translations for library defined strings such as material types and locations, use the Manage Translations settings to edit the language file in our editor.  Remember that if you click inside the editor popup that you can search for specific strings by using CTRL-F to open a search box!

BUG FIXES

Recently Returned Status Display Issue Fixed

A problem was introduced with the display of custom Recently Returned statuses when we updated our language files to include translations for Item Statuses.  This problem caused the defined Recently Return status to not display for newly available materials.  This problem has been fixed.  Please note that a string that will allow the Recently Returned Status to be translated will be coming later this quarter. 

2024-01-24

Vega Admin User Additional Permissions in Patron UI

Vega Super Admin Users have been granted all Staff Admin features when they login to the Vega Admin site and then navigate to the Patron UI interface of Vega Discover.  Admin Users will see their Admin Name and a note that they are logged in as an admin user in the Patron Info.  Admin Users have the same permissions as Library Admin type Users and can create Bookmark Lists, Save Searches, and Create, Publish and Delete Showcases in Vega Discover. 

Location Names, Material Types, Item Statuses and Hold Statuses can be Translated

Vega now synchronizes all library defined Location Names, Materials Types, and Item Statuses as customizable strings in the Translation strings file. Vega also allows for the translation of Hold Statuses.  Hold Statuses are mapped from the ILS to a set of Vega specific hold statuses.  These new strings can be found at the end of your Translation files. 

Locations strings will display as location.<location_code>.
EX: "location.adam": "Adamsville",

Material Types strings will display as material-type.<material_type_code>.
EX: "material-type.q": "Paperback", 

Item Statuses strings will display as item-status.<item_status_code>.
EX: "item-status.b": "BINDERY",

Hold Status strings are found interfiled with other Vega Strings and include: 

 

• "holdFrozen": "Frozen",
• "holdReadyForPickup": "Ready for pickup",
• "holdReadyToBorrow": "Ready to borrow",
• "holdStatusInTransit": "In Transit",
• "holdStatusPending": "Pending",
• "holdStatusSent": "Sent",
• "holdStatusWaiting": "Waiting",

Home Page Cleanup 

Text changes have been made throughout the home page builder for clarity. A few examples include: 

• Show title of showcase block? has been changed to Show block title? 
• Show title of showcases? has been changed to Show showcase title for each pane?
• Would you like to have background image? has been changed to Add a background image?
• Start Date and Time has been changed to Start date and time
• End Date and Time has been changed to End date and time 

BUG FIXES

Announcement Languages
A bug was fixed where the order of the languages changed when you clicked on the Cancel button or reloaded the page. 

Event Description
A bug was fixed where the character counter showed 160 available characters but cut the description off on the published page. The character count has been lowered to 70 so the full description is visible when published.

2024-01-04

Literary Form Facet (Fiction/Non-Fiction)
A new Literary Form facet has been added to Vega Discover.  The Literary Form facet displays the value from the 008/33 Literary form (006/16).  You can turn on this facet in the Vega Admin under the Facet Administration settings. If you would like to change the display of the Literary Form facet string, you can search for 'Literary form" in the translation strings to update this string to your preferred display string.  Note that there are a few references to 'literary form' that should be all be updated for consistency in display.  The Literary Form facet values have also been added to the translation strings. 

Vega Admin Staff Users Can Save Searches and Create Showcases
Previously we added the ability for Vega Admin Users to appear as logged in when navigating to the Vega Discover Patron Interface after logging in to the Admin Settings.  Admin Users could also create Bookmark Lists in our last update.  Now Admin Users can also create Saved Searches and turn Lists and Searches into Showcases.  Admin Users have Showcase Admin privileges. 

BUG FIXES
Language Settings Remain after adding and removing a language
Language settings are now returned to defaults if a language is added and then removed.

Type Ahead Search Doesn't Work when Replacing a Showcase
A bug has been fixed so that you can use the type-ahead search to select a replacement showcase using the home page builder.

Announcements Publish Date
A bug has been fixed so that the status date updates after saving.

Announcements Cancel Button
A bug has been fixed so that clicking the cancel button reverts back to the previous page.

Polaris Collection Scoping (available to Early Adopters)
A bug has been fixed so scoping can be applied to an individual collection site instead of all collections sites for the kids or themed home page. 

Click here for 2023 Vega Discover Release Notes