Reflections on AspenCon 2025: The Aspen Discovery library software conference

Alexander Blanchard, Software Engineer

One of my highlights from AspenCon 2025 was the visit to Ingram. It was fascinating to see how technology—particularly robotics—is being used to support the work of factory teams, ensuring books get to where they need to be efficiently. The visit also offered a valuable glimpse into the complex processes involved in preparing books for libraries and the diverse requirements that different libraries have.

I also really enjoyed the updates from the Aspen Governance Task Force and hearing about the future direction of the Aspen community. I’m looking forward to following the Governance group’s work in the coming months.

And of course, Nashville did not disappoint—great coffee, great atmosphere, and the surreal experience of finally meeting in person the people who had previously existed only as virtual colleagues.

Chloé Zermatten, Junior Software Engineer

Getting the community to engage with our Aspen Discovery session contents and workshops proved worthwhile, and we came away from the conference with valuable insights. 

As a result of my involvement with planning and delivering interactive workshops, I have realised I would like to join the organising committee and take an active part in helping shape the next AspenCon to help build up on this and encourage more collaboration and communication within the community over those few days. It seems there is space for a former ESL (English as a second language) teacher to contribute, and I certainly hope to be part of next year’s adventure!

Additionally, I was excited to notice quite a bit of emphasis around testing, both in terms of the sessions that were delivered as well as in more casual conversations over coffee. This is welcome news: the more thorough the testing, the more stable the product! I am planning to build on this momentum and start contributing to the tests in the Aspen codebase.

Jacob O’Mara, Software Engineer

My personal highlight for AspenCon is the same as most of the events that I get the privilege of attending, the ability to get a load of people from all over the world together in a room to discuss a product that we’re all passionate about. 

As such, my favourite part of AspenCon (while I enjoyed the presentations) was actually the workshops in the adjacent room. They had a more casual structure and presented more as a conversation among peers that allowed us to share ideas and concerns in a way that felt more personal and constructive than over video. I think there were some valuable take-aways too for direction regarding some of the topics discussed. 

Following some of the conversations, I’ve begun work on how we can integrate OAuth tokens and authentication to Aspen to allow the use of the API’s by librarians that would like to, for example, periodically export datasets and statistics over API, without having to whitelist their requesting IP. 

On a less work-based front, I would also be remiss if I did not mention the opportunity that travelling to AspenCon gave me to explore another part of the planet that I would not have got to do otherwise. Nashville was incredible, as were New York and Toronto, which I tacked on to my travel plans at either end of the conference! Obligatory Niagara falls pic:

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive

This was my first AspenCon, in fact last month also marked my first anniversary with Open Fifth and the library sector itself – and what a fantastic way to celebrate it!

Planning  – This year I was part of the AspenCon2025 planning committee, gaining a ‘back of the tapestry’ view of how the whole conference comes together. The planning committee is a fantastic group of volunteers made up of libraries and vendors, all committed to putting on a valuable and enjoyable event! There were some hurdles this year, with a big shift when the original venue suddenly became unavailable…, but this also showed the support for the library service within Nashville as the committee and community pulled together to ensure the event would go ahead. 

Conference – The actual conference was so informative, I came home with scores of ideas and inspiration, and a whole new perspective on the power of Aspen Discovery. Rogan Hamby’s talk Tree to Forest: Cultivating Aspen Discovery at different scales was a big revelation for me, packed with insights. As was Lizzie Todd’s Leading with LiDA: The first UK roll out of the discovery app, wonderful to hear from an Open Fifth library customer about how the Aspen Discovery app promoted the library to new patrons beyond their expectations. 

Aprés Aspen – Due to the change in location, a three-day conference programme had to be compacted down to two-and-a-bit, which meant long days with very little sleep due to changing time zones. However, any suffering can be endured as long as it’s temporary and there’s fun to be had… 

On Thursday I went to the Nashville Predators (2) v. Columbus Blue Jackets (1) opening night ice hockey game, where I enjoyed an overpriced cold beer up in the Gods over some sluggish gameplay. This was followed by a trip to Friends in Low Places, Garth Brooks’ honky-tonk bar which had hosted the conference trivia evening earlier that evening, for a night cap… 

Over the weekend I took the bus across town to Ann Patchett’s bookshop Parnassus Books and picked up a signed copy of Patchett’s Commonwealth for my wife. Then back on the bus to Rhino Booksellers, a warren-like second-hand book shop, where I picked up Bailey’s A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates and Mellow’s Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein and Company. I topped off Saturday with the closest I could get to Chicago-style deep-dish pizza at 312 Pizza Company. 

On Sunday I joined the Queer Book Club, hosted by Nashville Public Library Green Hills branch, having missed my home book club whilst away. The meeting was held at sports bar Chapstick, with lots of interesting on-topic discussion of Dunn’s Hungerstone and off-topic discussion of many other books and horror films. After this was a dander over to the East Nashville Gay Farmers Market and creative independent shops. My final destination before the airport was to the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) which was fascinating, with lots of interactive features and design to bring the history and impact to life.

What a week. Thank you AspenCon 2025 and Nashville!