CLEVELAND, Ohio — CLEVNET is launching a new library catalog search engine that will provide users with a more user-friendly browsing experience for finding books, audiobooks, DVDs, magazines and more, the consortium of libraries.

The new search feature, Aspen Discovery, will launch on Monday, October 28, CLEVNET said in a press release. CLEVNET is a consortium of 47 library systems across the region.

The change should be smooth and there is no need to get a new library card, said Lyndsey Brennan, communications and marketing manager for the Shaker Heights Public Library. The library is a member of CLEVNET.

“You will enter your card number and your PIN, which is the same as the last one, and then start exploring,” she said. “The interface is much more intuitive, so navigation should be a little easier.”

It was CLEVNET consortium leaders, not member libraries, who made the decision to move to Aspen, Brennan said.

Aspen Discovery includes features such as predictive text search, curated lists, personalized recommendations and greater control over user accounts, CLEVNET said.

Aspen Discovery also allows library users to:

• Filter search results by format, language and more
• Search results displayed in groupings, making it easy to find your preferred formats
• Create personal lists and save your favorite searches
• Keep track of their borrowing history
• Get reading recommendations and find books similar to those already read
• Quickly find all the books in a series
• Explore ratings, reviews, author bios, and more

Current personalized lists of patron library materials will be copied on Sunday, October 13 so they can be added to Aspen. “Please do not add additional titles to the lists after this date, as changes made after October 13 will not be copied into the new catalog,” the library consortium said.

Custom lists can be accessed when Aspen Discovery goes live by logging into an account and clicking the Your Lists link.

Library patrons who use the Save Your Payment History feature to track items that were checked out in the previous catalog search system can still access them in Aspen Discovery by logging into their account and clicking the History link reading.

CLEVNET is a consortium of 47 library systems in 12 counties that provides patrons with access to the collections of all participating libraries.

Anyone with a library card for a participating library can use CLEVNET to borrow materials, place holds and have items delivered to any participating CLEVNET library, and return CLEVNET materials to any library in the consortium.

Member libraries include the Cleveland, Cleveland Heights-University Heights, Euclid, Rocky River and Twinsburg Public Libraries.

Julie Washington covers health care for cleveland.com. Read previous stories at this link.