Ebooks Minnesota and MackinVIA temporarily down July 26-28 for update

Text courtesy of Mackin.

This release features MackinVIA enhancements, including an updated user interface with streamlined navigation, enhanced searching capabilities, and the ability for users to select an avatar, as well as various optimizations and technology upgrades to improve performance.

Please note: An app update is required to take advantage of the new and improved MackinVIA.  Users that open the previous version of the app will be prompted to upgrade.

Highlights of the user interface update include:

• Navigation has moved to the upper left corner and encompasses the Home page, a new Explore menu, Groups, Categories, and the Backpack menu.  The Explore menu includes all resources and applicable source formats.  Read-alongs are now present for easy access to eBooks with this feature.
• The Backpack has been refreshed with a new landing page.  Simply click on any of the options (Favorites, Checkouts, Requests, etc.) to navigate between them.
• Notes and highlights are now displayed per resource in the Notebook.
• The Backpack also includes a new History page to view past checkouts.  Online reads will be included as checkouts.

Staff features, including access to the Administrator site and the ability to change the MackinVIA location, have been moved to the Profile page.  The Change Site feature is also available from the school's (or collection) name in the upper left corner.

Highlights of improved searching include:

• The new Easy Search allows students and staff to search by keywords, title, author, series, subject, or topic/genre.  The search box now autocompletes with suggestions based on resources in the MackinVIA account.
• The Advanced Search has been streamlined.  Results will dynamically filter as parameters are selected.  Each filter is collapsible, and the order has been adjusted to move the most popular ones to the top of the page.  
• Users can now select more than one feature at a time such as Fiction and Reflowable Content (text and images automatically adjust to fit the screen size and orientation of the device being used for viewing).

Users will now have the ability to select an avatar image.  This can be done by selecting Edit from the Profile.  The MackinVIA Reader has been optimized for better performance.  The Reader now opens in the same tab as the platform, allowing for a more consistent experience between desktop and mobile views.