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.

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.

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.

opacAdmin: Can manage all administrative settings within Aspen Discovery. This includes user administration and masquerade permissions. If a user has this role, they don't need any other roles, because they can do everything. Important: Do not delete this role! With each new Aspen release, this role is automatically assigned new permissions based on new settings and functionality. If you delete this role, you will have to manually update your equivalent role as new permissions are needed.

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 

As of the 23.09 release, it is possible for certain admin users to lock settings in Aspen administration. Locking settings will prevent other users from editing specific settings they might otherwise have access to due to their assigned permissions.

For example, if you are managing a consortium and want member libraries to edit their theme colors and logo, but you do not want them to edit or remove the consortium's logo in the footer, you could lock the Footer fields in Theme settings.

Click here to learn more about locking settings.