Aspen: A New and Improved Catalog Experience!


Beginning Tuesday, April 26, 2022, the Bensenville Community Public Library will be transitioning over to a new catalog, Aspen.

 

Aspen has all the features of the previous catalog — plus many more — to make it easier to search for materials and manage your account. Aspen also includes all of the Bensenville Community Public Library’s resources as well as materials from 99 other libraries in the SWAN consortium.

 

Our current catalog, Enterprise, will be discontinued as of April 26. If you have created lists in our current catalog, please transfer them over to the new catalog, as they will not be accessible after April 26! Watch our video for a step-by-step tutorial. If you have opted into saving your checkout history, those will be transferring over to the new catalog.

If you have any questions about how to transfer lists over, how to set up an account, or other questions about our new catalog, please contact the Library at (630) 766-4642.

What are some of Aspen's new features?

  • Rate the materials you read, listen to, or watch. Your ratings will help the catalog recommend other titles you may be interested in.
  • Easily and conveniently add items to your lists without clicking into a title’s detail page.
  • Make purchase suggestions through your account if you cannot find what you are looking for.
  • Results are now grouped by format! Easily view what formats are available, such as: print books, audiobooks, eBooks/eAudiobooks, OverDrive, Axis360, Kindle, DVD and CD.
  • Searching in the catalog clearly shows if items are on shelf, available from another library, available online to download, or if all copies are checked out. You will see how many copies are owned and how many people are on the wait list for an item.
  • View “Explore More” features, which provide access to online resources such as newspapers, magazines, and research databases relevant to your search.

What will I be able to do in my account?

  • View materials you have checked out, including Overdrive (eMediaLibrary) and Axis360
  • View titles you have on hold. You can cancel holds, freeze holds, choose the hold pickup location, and see recommended titles based on your holds
  • View titles you have rated and recommendations based on what you have rated
  • Set pickup location preferences
  • Change contact information
  • Pay for lost books and fines your account with a debit/credit card or with PayPal
  • Opt into saving your checkout history
  • Set up text messaging to receive notices
  • Link family accounts to manage them all
  • Reset your PIN
  • Set preferences for Overdrive
  • View your search history
  • Create and manage lists of materials

Joining SWAN: What It Means For You


Our library community is growing! On May 1, 2018 we will be joining the SWAN library consortium. We will be joining a network of 97 libraries, expanding from our previous network of 12 libraries. You will have access to hundreds of thousands more materials – books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, and more – and your Bensenville Community Public Library card will work at any of the 97 other libraries in our network!

Coming up April 28 through May 1, 2018, we will be in the midst of the transition to SWAN. During these three days, please note that you will not be able to log in to My Account via the Library’s online catalog. This also means that during these three days you will be unable to place holds on materials or see your current activity in My Account. Don’t worry – you are still able to check out items here at the Library! After these three short days, we look forward to reaping all of the benefits of joining SWAN, such as:

  • More Items | A shared online public access catalog between all of our member libraries means you have access to 9,842,599 items
  • More Special Collections | A unique collection of materials from public, college, and special libraries across Illinois such as the Morton Arboretum and the Theosophical Society
  • More People Served | Population served (patrons served by the public libraries in the consortium): 1,787,279 members of the community
  • More Languages | There are at least 226 languages represented in items in the catalog
  • More Library Resources | By consolidating services and collaborating together, tax payers see their library staff able to save money and do more together
  • More Accessibility | Together we make improvements to the library catalog, more efficiently procure library materials, and set up email, text, phone, and print notifications in a variety of languages (English, Spanish, Polish, and more)

We want to make this transition as easy as possible for you, so if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Library at (630) 766-4642. For more information on SWAN, please visit www.swanlibraries.net.