Germantown Community Library Rolling Out New Technology for Enhanced Patron Experience

Our Germantown Community Library team is committed to delivering a modern, personalized library experience for patrons and staff. Currently, the team is training and preparing to roll-out the Vega Discover enabling patrons to virtually browse the stacks, search for titles with filters and view titles that match their interests.

Like popular consumer technology platforms, Vega Discover goes well beyond helping a user find the item they need, immersing enrichment data into the user interface and experience, making it easy to discover more items of interest and encouraging further exploration. This enhanced discovery experience matches what patrons expect from modern search tools and offers guided exploration through additional content.

Some of the new features include:

• Modern Discovery – Modern web search tools that match how users find and explore content on popular platforms.
• Patron Self-Service – Personalized discovery experience with an always present bookshelf that’s easy to find and visually appealing. Patrons can save individual titles or searches, create custom lists, and update their preferences
• Work Roll-Ups – Eliminates endless scrolling by combining formats and editions into a single search result with one smart “hold” or “check-out” button, simplifying workflows and offering at-a-glance availability
• Accessibility – Responsive user interface works across devices, adheres to latest accessibility standards, and supports multiple languages
• Cloud-based Design – Built as software-as-a-service, on a new multi-tenant platform

A special shout-out to Lauren Pintar, the Library’s Special Projects Administrator, for her leadership in the project implementation.