LX Starter Release Notes

Release Notes for LX Starter

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2024-12-18

Bug Fixes

Showcase Styling Issues

Showcases are now centered in the block in your email design and the "View All" button displays as expected.
* Please note: there are still rendering issues in the Outlook client causing items in showcases to display vertically. The fix to this particular issuse is still being worked on and is not part of this release.  

Logos Uploading in Brand Settings

A bug is fixed that was preventing logo images uploading in brand settings. This has been resolved and logos can continue to be uploaded and used as expected. 

2024-12-04

Accessibility Enhancements 

These enhancements aim to create a more inclusive and user-friendly experience for all library admin.

1. Target Size Minimum (WCAG 2.5.8): Metrics shown on the Sequences page has increased to 24x24 pixels
   
   
2. Bypass Blocks (WCAG 2.4.1): A "skip to main content" link was added before the content on every page in the LX Admin application. This allows users to easily skip over navigation and other page elements with a screen reader or keyboard navigation.
   
   
3. Status Messages (WCAG 4.1.3): Status messages that appear throughout the app (ie: error messages) will automatically be announced by screen readers. This includes:
   1. Error messages that appear on fields
   2. Empty state messages that show if  results are empty or page results are empty
   3. Loading icons
4. Headings and Labels (WCAG 2.4.6): More descript aria-labels were added throughout the app so users with screen readers know the specific purpose of each control. Aria-labels were specifically adjusted for the following:
   1. More actions button that shows on uploaded logos in "Brand" settings
   2. More actions button on each user listed on the users table in "Users" settings
   3. Information icon on the users table next to the "SYSTEM USERS" header in "Users" settings
   4. "More Details" button that shows next to each activity on a patron record.
   5. "Edit" button on patron records.
   6. "X" button on selected filters in the activity log
      
      
5. Non-text Contrast Ratios (WCAG 1.4.11): Focus indicators throughout the app now have at least a 3 to 1 color contrast ratio with the background and adjacent colors within the element. 
   
   
6. Resize Text (WCAG 1.4.4): Content on pages throughout the app are readable and functional when the browser zoom is set to 200% it's initial size. 
   
   
7. Contrast Minimum (WCAG 1.4.3): Buttons, actions, and validation messages throughout the app meet the sufficient color contrast ratio threshold of 4.5:1
   
   
8. Focus Order (WCAG 2.4.3): Reading and navigation order is logical and intuitive when using a keyboard or screen reader to navigate the app. Specifically adjusted was the focus order on the Notice Activity Log. 
   
   
9. Content on Hover or Focus (WCAG 1.4.13): When additional content appears on pointer hover or on keyboard focus, that content can be dismissed via keyboard without moving the mouse or keyboard focus. The content will also stay visible until mouse hover or keyboard focus is moved or dismissed by user. This was applied throughout the app. 
   
   

More Language Templates for All Notice Types

Now you can have up to 5 templates (including the default template) per notice type, allowing you to offer email notices in more languages. 

Pickup Area Merge Tag 
Polaris libraries on versions 7.5+ will now have a "Pickup Area Description" merge tag to add to their Hold and Final Hold notice types (NOT include in the cancellation request notice type). This merge tag will display the chosen pickup area for the item so patrons know exactly where to go when they pick it up from the library. 

 

2024-11-06

Bug Fixes

Aspen Catalog URL Fix
LX Starter notices will properly link to items in the Aspen catalog. If you are an Aspen catalog user, please make sure you use the Aspen specific option when setting up your catalog URL for LX Starter notices.

2024-10-09

Bug Fixes:

Showcases appearing in notice emails
Showcases will now display in LX Starter emails.

We are addressing an issue causing showcases to appear in a verticle list in Outlook. This does not affect Gmail or other clients. We will update you once a resolution can be expected. 

Patron Deletion is back
The patron deletion feature is re-enabled. Deleted patron records in the ILS (both Sierra and Polaris) will now sync to LX Admin.
Sierra 6.2 customers can continue using the 2-way sync between Sierra and LX Admin. 

2024-09-26

Alert - Patron Deletion Temporarily Turned Off

Issue:
Our development teams have identified an issue in the LX Admin delete patron workflow. Although this issues has not yet caused any problems, it had the potential to do so for both LX Starter and Discover customers. To mitigate any possible impact, we have proactively disabled the delete patron feature in LX Admin.

Impact:
As a result of this preventive measure, any patrons deleted in the ILS after September 23rd at 7PM ET, will continue to appear in LX Admin. Additionally, Sierra customers on version 6.2 will no longer see the option to delete patron records from within LX Admin. 

We apologize for any inconvenience and will send an update as soon as the feature is available again. 

 

Bug Fixes

Contact Method Automatically Reset to "Email" After Hard Bounce
A fix to an issue is now released so that contact method automatically resets to "Email" after an email address is updated (in either the ILS or LX Admin) following a hard bounce. 

Polaris Consortia Bug Fix: Clicking "Refresh List" Location Synchronization

Clicking the "Refresh List" button on the "Unassigned" tab of the Location Hierarchy page will synchronize with Polaris and update library locations. 

 

* The recent release of these bug fixes have successfully been updated on all environments EXCEPT on NA2 . The release for NA2 customers is scheduled for the week of September 30th. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work to ensure a smooth roll out across all environments. We will keep you informed of any further updates regarding the release to NA2. 

2024-09-04

New Features

Enhanced Patron Record Deletion Modal
Sierra 6.2 Users: When a patron record can’t be deleted the error modal will display the reason provided by the ILS so you know exactly why and the action to take in the ILS to resolve it. 

Old Patrons Clean Up
For existing LX Starter customer, all your old deleted patron records will be removed from the people table when searching, eliminating those ghost patrons.  👻

2024-08-14

New Features
Patron Record Deletion

Polaris Users: You will continue to need to erase patron records in the ILS. Any modifications done in the ILS will be reflected in LX Admin to ensure they're synchronized during the tri-daily sync. In the future, we plan to allow staff to remove patron records directly from LX Admin.

Sierra 6.2 Users: Super Admin and Admin users are now able to remove patron records from within LX Admin. The system verifies with the ILS before deleting a patron record from LX Admin. If the ILS approves, the record is removed from both the ILS and LX Admin. If not, the record is not deleted from either. However, you can still delete patron records in the ILS which will update LX Admin to maintain synchronization.

Other Sierra Users: You will continue to need to erase patron records in the ILS. Any modifications done in the ILS will be reflected in LX Admin to ensure they're synchronized during the tri-daily sync. Please update to 6.2 to have the ability to delete patron records from within LX Admin. If a Patron Record is deleted that is a Discover staff user, 

Discover Customers: Any showcases created by deleted patrons are updated as follows:

• • For draft/unpublished showcases, they are deleted

  • For published showcases, the patron's information is removed from the showcase.   

    • These showcase can continued to be managed in the Discover Patron UI by Library Admin users, but the creator will say "Unknown Creator"

    • These showcases will continue to function in any Marketing/Notice emails that use them as well as on the Home Page for Discover.

"Set it and Forget it" Showcases

Now your emails will always feature the most recent Showcase updates automatically, whether they’re part of a marketing campaign or a notice email.

When adding Showcases from saved searches, you can truly ‘set it and forget it,’ confident that your emails will always deliver the latest and greatest Showcase content, day after day and month after month.

Even if the Showcase is created from a list, any changes you make to the Showcase will automatically carry over before the next email sends. 

How:
Before the email sends it pulls the latest titles of that showcase. 
If the showcase is broken because it was deleted or it no longer has items in it, the showcase is replaced with a fall back block so recipients don't get the empty showcase or a showcase with broken links.  

Bug Fixes

VPAT (accessibility) Fixes

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

1. Titles on Pages (2.4.2.a) standards applied through all parts of the app
2. Reading Order (1.3.2.a) standards applied through all parts of the app
3. Info and Relationships (1.3.1) standard applied through all parts of the app

2024-07-17

New Features

Fall back block

^{When a showcase is broken due to it being unpublished, deleted, or empty of items, the email editor will show a nice error message block instead of the empty placeholders, so staff know to fix it. This is the first piece to more improvements with showcases in emails. Stay tuned for more changes in upcoming releases.}

 

Bug Fixes:

Accessibility fixes:

• Improved focus indicator throughout app when navigating via keyboard
• Improved text labels and alternatives for screen readers when navigating the app

“Update Password” Link:

When clicking "Back to Application" after updating your staff password, it will take you to the right login page. 

2024-06-05

BUX FIXES

Omit Sent Notices from Scheduled Notices Count

A change was made to hide sent notices stuck in scheduled status from the scheduled notice metric count. In some cases, notices are remaining in scheduled status after they have been sent because a delivery status cannot be determined. Scheduled notices that have been sent will continue to appear in the Notice Activity log. 

This is a partial fix for this problem and we are planning on further addressing the issue in a future release.

 

Polaris Cancelled Requests not Clearing from Polaris Notification Queue

A bug was fixed where Polaris was not sending a request ID necessary to clear sent Cancelled Requests. This issue caused Cancelled Requests sent by LX Starter to continue to queue in Polaris for re-sending. 

This fix requires Polaris 7.6+ and a Polaris ILS patch to be installed for Polaris 7.6 customers (patch availability TBD - Please check with your Polaris Site Manager). 

 

2024-05-21

BUG FIX

Patron Activity Not Loading In Some Cases
A bug was fixed where patron activity did not load in some cases without toggling activity filters.

2024-05-08

BUG FIXES

Performance Improvements for Notices Activity Loading
Additional performance improvements have been made to reduce the amount of time required for notice activity to load.

Duplicate Notices for Polaris Customers
Fixes have been deployed to correct the duplicate notices issue that some Polaris customers have reported.

2024-04-24

BUG FIXES

Design Block Permissions

Changes were made to remove access to create, edit, and delete Design Blocks for the Manager and Reviewer roles.
 
Full View of Users List

Changes were made to allow all users the ability to view the full list of users in LX Admin.
 
Activity List in Patron Activity Log Sometimes Not Loading

A fix was made to correct an issue with the Patron Activity Log where sometimes the activity list would not load.

2024-04-10

BUG FIX

Security Fix for Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Updated HTML block code in email templates to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS)

2024-03-27

Improved Sequences Performance

Performance improvements have been made when accessing the Sequences tab.

Page loading speed has been improved to minimize waiting time in this area of LX Admin.

2024-03-13

BUG FIXES

Some Catalog URLs Not Supported With "Other" Option in URL for Notice Items Setting

A bug was fixed where some catalog URLs were not working with the "Other" option in the URL for Notice Items setting.
 
Home Library Displaying as Numeric Value in Patron Activity Log

A bug was fixed where the home library value was displaying as a numeric value rather than the Home Library description in the Patron Activity log for Polaris customers.

2024-02-28

BUG FIXES

Scheduled Notices Not Adjusting With Daylight Savings Time

A bug was fixed where scheduled notices would not adjust for Daylight Savings Time automatically.

Scheduled notices will now automatically adjust notice sending times to reflect changes in Daylight Savings Time for time zones that utilize Daylight Savings Time.

2024-02-14

Improved Performance Handling New Patron Records

LX Starter has been enhanced to better support newly created patron records if notices for those patrons are queued before the next scheduled patron extraction.

BUG FIXES

Cover Art Not Displaying When ISBN Field Contains Special Characters

A bug was fixed where cover art was unable to be retrieved from Syndetics when the ISBN data provided by the ILS contained characters other than the ISBN number.

2024-01-18

Update Polaris receipt to use "none" when a hard bounce is recorded

A change was made to update the Polaris eReceipt option setting in the patron record from "Email Address" to "None" when an LX Starter notice hard bounces and the eReceipt option is set to use "Email Address."

Manager Role Added to User Roles

The Manager role has been added to the available user roles in LX Admin.

For a list of permissions with LX Starter user roles, please visit our LX Starter Roles documentation.

2024-01-11

BUG FIXES

Some Sierra notices not containing an item record number failed to send

An issue was resolved where some Sierra notices that do not include item record number failed to send.

2023-12-06

Performance Updates

Additional database improvements were made to LX Starter this week to improve user experience.

2023-11-29

Performance Updates

Improved LX Starter database performance for a smoother experience throughout the app. 

2023-11-22

Manager Role

A new user role, Manager, is available to use with LX Starter.

Manager was designed to allow users management of LX Admin settings, while leaving notice design and publishing to other roles.

We will be releasing additional roles for LX Starter in the future to provide support for users who should be able to design and publish notices, but should not have access to LX Admin settings.

BUG FIXES

Special Character Support in Email Subject
A bug was fixed where some special characters within the Email Subject caused issues with notices being stuck in scheduled status.
 
Incorrect Display of "Patron email updated" in Patron Activity Logs
A bug was fixed where patrons with hard bounced notices would show "Patron email updated" in the patron activity log despite no email update occurring. 

2023-11-08

Updates to the Librarian User Role

The Librarian user role has been renamed to Reviewer in preparation for future additional user role additions and changes.
 
The Reviewer user role remains a "read-only" user role which can view patrons and notice templates, but cannot edit in these functions.
 
 NOTE: There is a bug which will be addressed in a future release which allows users with the Reviewer role to edit patron email address and notification method values.
 
A breakdown of LX Starter user roles may be found in the LX Starter documentation here.
 
We will be releasing the Manager user role in a future LX Starter release.

BUG FIXES

Error Message When Attempting to Send Test Email
 
When staff attempt to send a test email, LX Admin displays an error message (Fill in library location settings) and does not send the test email. This issue has been resolved with this release.
 
Incorrect Warning Message When Publishing/Unpublishing Courtesy Notices in Sierra Releases Prior to Sierra 6.0
 
A small change was made to the text within the warning message when publishing and unpublishing Courtesy Notices in releases below Sierra 6.0. 

2023-10-25

Additional Notice Types

Support for additional Polaris and Sierra notice types has been added to LX Starter. 

Newly supported notice types require either Polaris 7.4 (or higher) or Sierra 6.0 (or higher).

In addition to the already supported notice types, LX Starter now supports:
 
Sierra

Additional Courtesy*
Adjustment
All Bills and Fines
Fine
Holds Cancellation
Manual Fine
Pickup and Cancellation 
Recall
Statement of Charges
Statement of Checkouts
 
*  NOTE: Additional Courtesy Notices must be published at the same time as Courtesy Notices. If libraries have a published Courtesy Notice template in LX Starter, Additional Courtesy Notices will copy that template and publish Additional Courtesy Notices at code deployment.
 
You may unpublish both Courtesy Notices and Additional Courtesy Notices if template changes are desired and publish both notices again when ready.

Polaris

Borrow-by-mail failure notice
Cancelled Request
Manual Bill
Missing part

BUG FIXES

Some Sierra libraries unable to publish Courtesy Notices

A bug was fixed where some Sierra customers reported being unable to publish Courtesy Notices.

2023-09-13

Support for Code-Based Merge Tags Removed from LX Starter

Support for the following code-based merge tags has been removed:

•    item_location_id
•    minor_patron_id
•    message_text_id
•    language_code
•    owed_location_code
•    branch_code
•    pickup_location_code
•    additional_text

BUG FIXES

Diacritics not appearing in Email Subject, Sender Name, and Email Editor
 
A bug fix was made for an issue where diacritic characters were not appearing in the email subject, sender name, or the email editor. 
 
The issue was due to the font being used within LX Admin not supporting diacritics and we have changed the font used to a similar font which does support diacritics.

X (formerly Twitter) branding added to socials in Email Editor
 
A new social option to reflect the brand change of Twitter to X has been added to the Email Editor.
 
NOTE: You will need to remove Twitter from your templates and add X if you wish to use it.

2023-08-30

Add Reply Email Address

A reply email address can now be added to LX Admin for use with LX Starter and configured by notice type to direct email notice replies to the desired email address. 

Adding, editing, and deleting a reply email address is restricted to Super Admins and Admins. Reply email addresses are added through Library Settings -> Emails -> Notices -> Reply Email Address(s).

Reply email address is an optional setting and can be set to 'None' per notice type which disables the usage of a reply email address. 

In the case of no reply email address, replies will continue to be directed to the source (from) email address.

Deletion of a reply email address currently in use with a notice type is prevented and an error message will instruct which notices have the reply email address currently assigned.

BUG FIXES

Renewal Count merge tag not appearing in Polaris Almost Due notices

A bug was fixed where the Renewal Count merge tag was not appearing in emailed Polaris Almost Due notices. Polaris Almost Due notices containing this merge tag will now be included in emailed notices.

Maximum email sending rate per second

A configuration change was made with Amazon to increase the maximum email sending rate to 400 emails per second for customers within the ca (Canada), eu (Europe), and ap (Asia-Pacific) Vega environments.

2023-08-16

Select a Catalog for Item Linking

Additional supported catalog options for item linking have been added to LX Admin. 

For item linking from notices, LX Starter will now support:

• Vega Discover
• WebPAC
• PowerPac
• Encore
• BiblioCore
• Aspen
• Other (for catalogs not included above)
• None (the item linking functionality is disabled)

A dropdown menu will allow for selection of the desired catalog option and a text box will request the catalog domain (e.g., https://grizzly-sierra.iii.com).

Additional inputs will be required for BiblioCore (Site Code number - S###C where ### is the BiblioCommons assigned site code number) and Other (syntax of bib record link URL).

 

Unpublish Notices

The ability to unpublish notices has been added to LX Admin.

Published notices which are subsequently unpublished will return to draft status and can be published again when ready.

Published notices which have unpublished changes at the time of unpublishing will have two options:

• Keep the unpublished changes and use that notice template as the new draft
• Discard the unpublished changes and use the currently published notice template as the new draft

 NOTE: Any scheduled LX Starter notices at the time of unpublishing will be sent via LX Starter at the next available time within the library send queued notices schedule.

Notice metrics for unpublished notices will be retained, but the metrics will appear grayed out until the notice is published again.

2023-08-02

Delete/Edit Sender Info Options

Super Admins and Admins can now edit the Sender Name via the kebob menu in Library Settings -> Emails -> General -> Sender Info Options for existing sender entries.

Super Admins and Admins can now also delete unassigned sender entries via the kebob menu using the path above in LX Admin. Sender entries that are currently assigned to Notices and/or Promote Campaigns will be blocked from deletion until they have been removed from the assigned Notices and/or Campaigns.

LX Admin will alert staff to the list of affected Notices and/or Campaigns so staff can remove the sender from the appropriate areas.

Error Message when Subject Line is Missing

An error message will now appear next to the subject line and a tool tip will appear when hovering over the save changes button if a subject line has not been entered when editing a notice which is in “Setup Required” mode or a Promote email template.

Exclude "/polaris" in URL for Notice Items

Polaris customers who are not appending /polaris to their PowerPAC catalog URLs will now be able to exclude /polaris with the URL for Notice Items option.

For Polaris customers without a Vega Discover license installed, a checkbox will now appear under Library Settings -> Emails -> Notices -> URL for Notice Items.

When checked, /polaris will not be appended to the catalog domain entered under this option.

When unchecked, LX Starter will append /polaris to the catalog domain entered under this option.

BUG FIXES

Merge Tags Incorrectly Displaying on Preview Page

A bug fix was made to correct merge tags in preview mode that were displaying when they should not be (see screenshot for example of previous behavior). We have corrected this display issue and the merge tags have been removed from the preview display on notice pages.

Improved Soft Bounce Handling

A bug fix was made to treat soft bounces as a failed notice and to notify the ILS that the notice has failed which will limit the ILS from re-sending the soft bounced notice to LX Starter. AWS will continue to retry sending the soft bounced notice up to 12 hours.

We plan on working on a subsequent fix in a future release to better address this problem while allowing for the standard 12-hour retry window that AWS has for soft bounced emails.
 
Improved Patron Scoping by Library Location

Some libraries have reported that if a patron has a library card at multiple library systems that are using LX Starter the notice activity log can include notice activity for those other library systems.

We have corrected this issue to include checks for library site code to filter notice activity log data for a specific patron.
 
Innovative LX Admin UI Logo Updated to Clarivate Version

A bug fix was made to update the Innovative logo which appears when loading LX Admin to the Clarivate version.
 
Deleting Currently Displayed Logo in LX Admin Changes Displayed Logo to Innovative Logo

A bug fix was made to resolve an issue where deleting the currently displayed logo in Library Settings -> Brand would change the display logo to the III logo even if other logos have been added.

Now, if other logos are available after the currently displayed logo is deleted, LX Admin will use the last uploaded logo as the default displayed logo.

2023-07-05

Performance Upgrades

With more customers (70+), using LX Starter, our team is even more focused on optimizing the performance of LX Starter. Here are the highlights of our most recent upgrades:

• Notice processing and sending optimization
• Enhanced logging of notice events

BUG FIXES

"0" displaying in currencies

In Bill and/or Fine notices, an amount due to the library is often shown in the email the patron recieves. Now any currencies with zeros in them, will display those zeros.