Using ASpeN

On the ASPeN home page there is a series of clickable sections to help you search for information. 

Part 1 - Organizations

We already went over events in the last module, but you can also search Organizations, Services, Positions and People, or Committees. We will use this section to go through these, starting with Organizations. 

Clicking Organizations will pull up an alphabetized list of organizations and break down where they are and what kind of organization it is. 

Click the headings in the top bar to change the alphabetical order from Z to A, Organize by City, or Organization type. 

Use the drop down menu and arrows at the bottom of the screen to decide how many results should appear and to page through them. 

Looking for libraries in a certain area? Want to keep your search results? You can sort by city and then export your results to Excel by clicking the button near the top of the page.

Each of the organization names are linked and you can click on that link to find out more. Some organizations may have more information than others. it completely depends on what their directors add to ASPeN. 

AS an example I clicked on the link to open Montana State Library on the list of organizations and I had immediate access to this information:

The links at the top of the page will take you to this information further down the page, but from this same page you will also find more in depth information such as:

• Hours 
• County
• School level (if applicable) 
• Federation
• OCLC code
• MARC code 
• Cataloging classification
• Special resources
• Staff
• Board members
• Specialties
• Professional organizations

Anything that has more information will be linked such as staff members, board members, service participations or links to websites, catalogs or maps to the location. 

If at any point you would like to get back to the main ASPeN Menu, simply find and click Search ASPeN on the side bar. 

Finding Federations

If you want to work within the Federation data, use the legacy search at the bottom of the Organizations page. 

• Scroll to the bottom dropdown menu to select the Federation you want to search
  • Click the Search button at the bottom of the page. 

On the page that follows, with your search results, there is the option to export your results to a CSV. This makes them easy to work with if you need to do so. 

Part 2 - Positions and people 

(Keep it up! You are at the half way mark!)

Positions and People

• Positions and people is probably one of our most utilized search areas. 
• This took the place of the old library directory. 
• This area opens to a dataset including people, positions, organizations and position types. 

Positions can be sorted by clicking the headings, just as you saw in the previous sections. This is also the search that can take longer than others due to the size that the database must sort through before the search will open. 

With this in mind I find that the fastest way to find people in this section is to scroll to the bottom of the page and set the drop down to All. 

Then use the scroll bar on the right side of the screen to locate the people you are trying to find in alphabetical order. 

If you are trying to find someone but you don't know the name, you can also sort by library. Keep the drop down set to All, and sort organizations alphabetically by clicking on Organization in the header bar. Now, when you scroll to the library you want, all of the staff and committee members will be grouped together.

In this example I clicked my own name. Clicking the linked name brings up contact information for the person you are trying to reach. 

Please remember, this is why it is so important to ensure that you are keeping your library information current. 

Much like we saw in previous sections, the results can be sent to Excel. There is also an advanced search capability that allows you to filter those with and without an MLS. 

The very last thing I want to share on this page is the legacy search page at the very bottom. 

This can be useful because it allows you to search for a few more things such as city, or position type, and it allows for combinations. 

For example, if someone takes a message that I am supposed to contact someone named Tracy who works for MSL, but they didn't take down the last name or phone number I can still track down the essential information from this area. 

I can add what I know to the boxes and click search to narrow down my choices. Clicking the link to her name will give me everything else I need to return the call. 

The advanced search in this section lets you look for people hired at a specific date, people who were elected vs. appointed, and people with certain responsibilities. 

• If this information has been entered accurately as employees come and go it will be reflected here 

With this in mind there are some very simple reporting features that can come out of this section. 

If I am seeking the number of directors who have access to input Courier Statistics, I can select Director for Position Type, and Courier Statistics for Responsibility Type.  

This gave me 755 results and the option to export those results to Excel. 

Part 3 - Committees

   

Committees simply opens a page of Committees with linked information about each. 

These links will take you to the webpage with information about each committee and a sidebar to help navigate to key information. 

• Some committees have more details linked on their pages than others. 
• This comes down to the length of time the committee has been in place as well as the types of duties performed by a committee.