Users & Permissions

Viewing and Editing Roles & Permissions

1. Visit  System Administration → Permissions.
2. To view a role and its permissions, click the dropdown menu next to Role to edit.

3. Scroll through to view the selected permissions.
4. Click the checkbox next to a permission to add it to the role.
5. Deselect the checkbox next to a permission to remove it from the role.
6. If you made changes, scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes.

You can quickly locate permisisons to add/remove from a Role in System Administration > Permissions > Search for a Permission box.

Make sure you have selected the role you want to edit, search for the term you are looking to add and then you can see all permisisons related to that term.

Creating a New Role

1. Visit  System Administration → Permissions.
2. Click Create New Role.

3. Type in a name for the role and add a description.

Deleting a Role

1. Visit System Administration → Administration Users.
2. Click the dropdown menu next to Role to edit and select the role you wish to delete.
3. Click the red Delete button.
4. A pop-up will ask you to confirm. If you are sure you want to delete the role, click OK.

Assigning Roles by Patron Type

1. Visit Primary Configuration → Patron Types.
2. Locate the p-type for your staff, then click Edit.
3. Click the dropdown menu under Assigned Role and select the desired role.

4. Click Save Changes and Return.

Click Save Changes and Stay Here to remain on the current screen and continue making more changes.

Adding a New Administrator

1. Visit System Administration → Administration Users.
2. Click Add Administrator.
3. Type or paste the user's barcode/card number into the Barcode field.

4. Select the role(s) you wish to assign this user by clicking the checkbox(es).
5. When finished, click Update User.
6. Your new administration user will now appear in the list.

First name, last name, and library information are pulled in automatically from your ILS. When the Admin user logs in to Aspen, it will update their name and home library information if any changes have been made since they've been added.

Viewing and Editing an Administrator

1. Visit System Administration → Administration Users to view current administration users and their assigned roles.
2. At a glance, you can see each user's first and last name, associated libraries, barcode, and roles.

3. Click Edit to add or remove roles for a user.
4. When finished, click Save Changes and Return to go back to the list of administrators.

Deleting an Administrator

1. Visit System Administration → Administration Users.
2. Click Edit next to the user you wish to delete.
3. Uncheck all of the user's assigned roles and save. The user will no longer appear in the list of administrative users.

You can also click a user's Id number to edit their settings.

In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Patron Types, you can see and manage the patron types brought in from the ILS. 

Patron Types will load automatically from Koha and Polaris. They will need to be manually loaded via the front end of Aspen or through the server database on Symphony and Sierra ILS. 

When editing a patron type, you will find the options described below.

Max Holds

Aspen will always follow the hold rules set up in your ILS. However, matching the hold limits (Max Holds) in Aspen to your ILS rules will give users a more specific message when trying to place a hold if they’ve reached their hold limit. This message will display at the top of the "Place Holds" screen:

If the user then tries to place the hold anyway, they will see this message:

If the Max Hold value in Aspen is higher than the limit specified in your ILS (Aspen defaults this value to 300), the user will not see the "Maximum Holds Reached" warning message on the Place Hold screen. They will be able to successfully place holds until the limit set in your ILS is reached.

If the Max Hold value in Aspen is lower than the limit specified in your ILS, users will see the "Maximum Holds Reached" warrning message per the limit specified in Aspen's Max Hold value, but users will still be able to successfully place holds until the limit set in your ILS is reached.

Assigned Role

In the Assigned Role area, you can choose from the drop down one of the roles set up in Aspen Administration > System Administration > Permissions. By applying a role to a patron type, this will give everyone with that patron type that role. You can always assign additional roles by library card number but this applies a role to everyone en masse.

Example: Select "List Publisher" as the assigned role for everyone on the patron type of "STAFF" so that all staff can make public, searchable lists in Aspen

Treat as staff

Checking "Treat as staff" enables access to a Staff Settings section within the user account, within the Account Settings section. In Staff Settings, users will see:

• Roles they have been assigned (if any)

• An option to bypass automatic logouts based on any IP address settings
  

Example: I am a staff member logged into Aspen with a patron type of "STAFF." I am working on the same IP address that our public catalogs are on. We added the IP address to Aspen and marked it "treat as OPAC." However, because 'Treat as Staff' is checked for this patron type, and I have switched "Bypass automatic logout" to ON in my Staff Settings, Aspen will not automatically log me out per the timeout length in my Location's settings.

• Materials Request settings, if the user has Aspen Materials Request permissions

Restrict masquerade from accessing patrons of this type

If you have masquerade mode on but want to prevent staff from masquerading as a specific patron type, check Restrict masquerade from accessing patrons of this type. In most cases this would be a library not wanting staff to masquerade as other staff.

Enable Reading History

Whether users of this patron type should be able to access Reading History. If Reading History is disabled, the user will not see a Reading History link in their account options.

Two-factor Authentication Setting

If using two-factor authentication, this option tells Aspen which setting should be applied for users of this patron type.

Linked Accounts Settings

Account linking setting: allows you to control linked account behavior for users of this patron type. The options are:

• Allow to be linked to and link to others
• Allow only to be linked to
• Allow only to link to others
• Block all linking

Allow users to remove managing account links: Check or uncheck this setting to control whether users of this patron type can remove managing accounts who have linked to them.

Allow Users to Create Material Requests

This option allows control over whether users of this patron type are able to submit materials requests (purchase suggestions) from Aspen. This only applies for ILS request system (Koha) or the Aspen Materials Request system. If a user account belongs to the restricted patron type, they will not see the 'Materials Requests' link from within the user account. If they click the 'Didn't Find It?' link at the bottom of search results to access the materials request form, they will see a message explaining that they are unable to submit requests. (The text in this screen is translatable.)

Roles & Permissions Menu

The table below includes all permissions available within System Administration > Permissions. Use the search box to find permissions related to the function you're interested in. For example: typing in "browse categories" will show all permissions related to administering browse categories.

• Permissions Section: The section within Permissions where the individual permission can be found.
• Permission Name: Name of the permission.
• Description: Explains what the permission will allow the user to do, if assigned a role with this permission included.
• Recommended Roles: General suggestions for the types of user roles that might include the permission.

Recommended Roles

The recommended roles are generalized and do not encompass the full breadth of possibilities. You can create as many or as little roles as you like, and give the roles whatever names make sense to you, depending on your staff needs.

Full Admin: Can manage all administrative settings within Aspen Discovery. This includes user administration and masquerade permissions.

Library Admin: Can manage all administrative settings related to the home library associated with their account. This is useful for consortia of multiple libraries sharing a single Aspen server who all have their own unique catalogs. This ensures that these users can see and edit settings/content related to their own libraries, and restricts them from being able to see and edit settings for other libraries.

Marketer: Permissions related to marketing/promotional functionality such as browse categories, placards, user lists, etc.

Masquerader/Library Masquerader: Allows users to masquerade as other users, either for all unrestricted users or for users belonging to their library.

Aspen Materials Requests: Allows users to manage materials requests when using Aspen's built-in materials request system.

Archives & Genealogy: Permissions related to the Open Archives module and Genealogy functionality.

Permissions Search