Account Settings

 

Account Settings

In this section, learn about:

  • How to configure what settings are available to users in their account
  • What the user account settings control

  

Your users can control a variety of settings within their accounts. While some options are inherent, many can be enabled or disabled depending on your ILS and/or your settings within Aspen. Read on to learn about all the possible settings and how you can configure them to meet your library's needs.

  

  

Logging In

Configure Login Popup

In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Login:

  • Show Login Button - Will need to be checked to allow users to login
  • Enable "Forgot Password?" Link on Login Screen - If users are able to reset their passwords
  • Enable "Forgot Barcode?" Link on Login Screen - Can be used with the Twilio integration to text users their barcodes/usernames. Learn More.
  • Prevent Login for Patrons of this Library - This will prevent login for users from logging in
  • Check "Remember Me" by default when outside the library - When a user is accessing Aspen away from one of the Library Locations (determined by the IP Address settings), the user will have an option to remember their login and password.
  • Login Form Password - Will display for the user login with whatever is put in this box. Typically: PIN, Password, or PIN/Password
  • Login Notes - Add a custom message to the login screen. This could be a hint or reminder to help patrons login. 
  • Allow Login to Patrons of this Library Only - This will prevent users of other libraries that share your Aspen server from logging in to this library system.
  • Message for Patrons of Other Libraries - Add a custom message for patrons of other libraries that are not able to login. This may be instructions or a link to redirect users to the other site to login.

Another message that might appear in the login box is "Don't have a library card? Register for a new Library Card." This message will appear if Self Registration is enabled in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Self Registration 

 

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Set Min and Max Barcode Lengths

In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Barcode > Min and Max, libraries can set any Min and Max Barcode Lengths if you want (Exp: 0, 14 if library cards are 14 digits). 

This will allow that only that amount of characters are entered into the Library Barcode login box. 

These fields are not required and are often left blank by default.

Set a Barcode Prefix

In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Barcode > Barcode Prefix, libraries can add a library card barcode prefix to allow users to log in with either their full card number or the number that follows the prefix.

Example: This field contains ABCDE, the patron's library card is ABCDE1234, they can sign in with either ABCDE1234 or 1234)

This is not required and usually left blank by default.

Supported Types of Login Combinations

Aspen supports the following types of logins:

  • Barcode and Pin (the most common)
    • For Koha and Polaris, a Username can be used instead of a Barcode to login. For Sierra, an Alternate ID can be used instead of barcode.
  • Name and Barcode (Sierra/Millennium Only)
  • Barcode and Last Name (CARL.X Only)
    • For Last Name, Aspen supports spaces and hyphens in this field

To update these settings, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Account Profiles > click into the ILS profile > Login Configuration

 

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Single Sign On (SSO)

IMPORTANT: Since every configuration is different, your Aspen support vendor will need to evaluate your configuration to see if SSO can be supported. Note that implementing SSO requires the external SSO service to use a value that is unique to individual users. Because email is typically not unique in the ILS, services that use patron email as a unique identifier might not work for Aspen at this time. If you are interested in using SSO with Aspen supported by ByWater, please put in a support ticket and we will reach out to discuss your SSO options.

Setting Up SSO

Single Sign On (SSO) allows Aspen to use an external service other than the ILS for user authentication. 

Some of examples of SSO providers we currently integrate with are:

  • SAML with Azure/Entra, Google, Microsoft 365
  • oAuth 2.0 with Google
  • LDAP


Finding the Staff Login Link

Once you have worked with ByWater to set up your SSO configuration, a login link for staff will appear in the Aspen footer.

If you have multiple scoped instances, you can go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Single Sign-on (SSO) > click into your settings > scroll to the bottom and check Libraries that need the login in the footer.


Creating Staff Accounts

Via Both Aspen or the Koha ILS

To allow staff account creation via SSO by either Aspen OR the Koha ILS, the system preference PatronSelfRegistration must be set to Allow and the system preference PatronSelfRegistrationDefaultCategory must be set to something besides NULL. Even if you are not using Self Registration in Koha or Aspen, these will need to be turned on to allow staff account creation via Aspen or the Koha ILS.

With this configuration, staff can either log in to the footer of Aspen the first time OR log into the Koha Staff Client the first time to create their account.

or
 

Via the Koha ILS Only

If you do not have the above System Preferences turned on in Koha, then the accounts cannot be created via the Aspen Self Registration API. In this case, staff members would need to log into the Koha Staff Client first to have their staff account created.

Via Aspen Only  

Depending on the configuration needs, we can work with you to also bypass authenticating with the ILS and only authenticate with Aspen so the users only exist in the Aspen database, not ILS.

Via Bulk Import in the Koha ILS

Instead of having users manually log in to create accounts, during implementation we can bulk import accounts for SSO users into Koha. This will create accounts in bulk. 


Staff Permissions and SSO

Default permissions can be set for new staff accounts in Aspen.

First, determine the Role and Permissions that you want to give out as a blanket to all staff signing in via SSO. In the majority of cases, we see libraries giving out the Masquerade permission.

Learn more about Users & Permissions here.

Next, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Patron Types > click into the patron type you want to use for general staff > Assigned Role > select that Role from the dropdown.

In this example, all staff signing in for the first time via SSO will be given the P-Type of LIBSTAFF with the Assigned Role of Library Masquerader and the permission to masquerade as any other user if their patron type is unrestricted.

 

Note: The patron type is only assigned if the user is created in the process of signing in via SSO. It does not update an existing user. If it exists already, it will continue to use the patron type assigned in the ILS.

 

Then go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Single Sign-on (SSO) > click into your settings > Staff Users > Patron type given to staff users > select that patron type from the dropdown.

If you want to add additional permissions, beyond what the user is getting with the default staff permissions, you do that the same way you do without SSO. From the Koha ILS, you can use either the card number or the username (if set) field to add additional permissions to the user in System Administration > Administration Users > Add Administrator. This is where you would manually assign permissions for full Aspen Admin, Library Level Admin and any other roles you have created.

Learn more about Adding New Administrators.


 

Setting Up SSO for Students

For academic or special institutions that authenticate their users (example: students) via email, we have added supoprt for student users for authentication by SAML.

We added support for SAML IdP attributes for determining user type (example: Staff, Student) that come in as an array.

Instead of having the login link in the footer, students can use the regular Sign In screen in Aspen and use the following settings:

Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Single Sign-on (SSO) Settings > Bypass the Aspen Discovery patron login page to redirect users to the SSO portal instead. Make sure "Only Allow for Staff" is unchecked so the sign-in link will not just appear in the footer of the page.


 

Limiting SSO by IP Address

To restrict signing in by SSO by IP Address, first go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Single Sign-on (SSO) > click into settings > Restrict single sign-on by IP address > the default will be Allowed from all IP addresses.

In the dropdown, switch to Allowed from enabled IP addresses to set up restrictions and save. 

Next, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > IP Addresses > add an IP address or edit an existing IP address from the list > check Allow Single Sign-on (SSO).

 


Other Options

Update users ILS account information with data from the IdP when logging in using the data mapping provided: Checking this option will update the user’s account in the ILS with data from the IdP when they log into Aspen via SSO. This option does not apply if you have checked the setting for "Only authenticate users with single sign-on"

Default Patron Type > A fallback value for category ID:  This is typically the library's staff patron category. If you have multiple staff-type patron categories, you can choose which location you'd like the default to be for a fallback value if no value can be obtained from the IdP.

Library Branch > A fallback value for branch code/id: This is typically the library's main/central location. If you have a lot of locations, you can choose which location you'd like the default to be for a fallback value if no value can be obtained from the IdP.

 

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Two Factor Authentication

Permissions

In order to enable Two Factor Authentication on your Aspen catalog, the Admin user will need this permission:

Administer Two-Factor Authentication - Controls if the user can change Two-Factor Authentication settings. This has potential security and cost implications.


Find Settings

These settings are found in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Two Factor Authentication


Create New Settings

Click Add New

Give your settings a name

Is Enabled:

  • No
  • Yes, but optional
  • Yes, and mandatory

Denied access message - customize this to help users know why they are being prevented from logging in and how to help them log in

Libraries - select which library systems this applies to

Patron Types - select which patron types this applies to (Staff-only patron types are most common)

 


Apply Two Factor Authentication Settings By Patron Type

You can also directly apply Two Factor Authentication settings by patron type by going to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > click into the patron type (or batch update for several patron types) > Two-factor authentication setting > select the setting from the drop down


Configure Two Factor Authentication

Once this is set up, users will see a Security Settings link in My Account > Account Settings > Security Settings

 

When the user clicks on Security Settings, they will see a message explaining what 2-Factor Authentication is. To proceed, they will need to click on Set up.

 

Once they click on Set up, a pop up modal will begin a series of instructions.

The first step will be to send an email to the primary email on the user's account. 

An error message will display if the user does not have an email associated with their account or for some reason the authentication code cannot be sent.

Then click Next and get ready to retrieve the email.

 

The email arrives very quickly and will come from the email set up in the Amazon SES Settings. Learn more.

The email will contain the login code to complete set up and is only valid for 15 minutes.

 

Once the user has the code, they can return to Aspen to enter it.

Once verified, Aspen will show a list of Backup verification codes that should be stored in a safe place if for some reason the user lost access to their email.

 

Once the user safely stores their backup codes and hits Next, they will see a You're Verified! success message.

 

The user will be asked to use Two Factor Authentication the next time they log in. Users can test this by logging out and attempting to log back in.

When users log in, they will be asked for their same credentials (typically library barcode and pin/password) and then they will see a Two Factor Authentication modal. When this see this modal, they should check their email for the 6 digit code. 

 

Once the code is entered, the user will hit Verify to complete the login process.


Disable Two Factor Authentication

To disable Two Factor Authentication go to My Account > Account Settings > Security Settings > Turn Off

 

Aspen will display a message that asks for additional confirmation of turning this off. Once the user clicks Yes, turn off, this will be disabled.

 


Tips

  • You will need an outgoing email setup for your Aspen server. At ByWater, we set up all partners with a general Amazon SES if desired or you can verify your own domain. Learn more.
  • We suggest encouraging users to utilize the Remember Me functionality to avoid constantly needing to re-authenticate unless they are at public computers.

  • If you require the use of two factor authentication for patrons, all patrons will need an email address which may not be practical in your community. If you choose to use two factor authentication, consider making it optional for the general public or limit it to only staff patron types.

  • If your ILS supports more complex PINs and Passwords, encourage patrons and staff to use stronger passwords for improved security without two factor authentication.

  • If you need to use the account recovery functionality, make sure that you properly verify the patron is who they say they are.

  • Before enabling two factor authentication for staff, consider how this will interact with masquerade mode.

 

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Where Aspen Takes You When You Log In

Depending on where users are when they are navigating Aspen, users will be taken to either Your Account or remain on the page they are on when logging in.

Users will be Routed to Your Account from:

  • Browse Category view
  • Pin Reset
  • Web Builder Pages (Basic and Custom)

Users will stay where they are in:

  • Articles & Databases
  • Combined Results
  • Detailed Records
  • Library Catalog
  • Library Website
  • Lists
  • Web Resources

Your Account

Accessing Your Account

Logged in users can access the Your Account page by clicking on the hamburger menu and selecting Your Account.

 

If users click under their name once logged in, they can also see shortcuts to a number of options available within Your Account.

Account Settings

 

My Account shows a menu of options in the left hand panel and a summary of the account status in the main panel. The options here will vary depending on the settings (mostly found) in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems.

 

 

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Configure How Patron Name Displays

Libraries can choose how they would like their patron names to display within Aspen when they log in.

To update the way names display, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > Edit your system setting > Click 'ILS/Account Integration' > User Profile > Patron Display Name Style 

From the dropdown, libraries can select:

  • First Initial. Last Name.  Example: A. Name
  • First Name. Last Initial.  Example: Aspen N.

These pull from the First Name and Last Name fields in your ILS.

Preferred Names

Evergreen

If the Preferred Name field is in the patron account, then Aspen will display that in the account header. 

 

Koha

While there isn't a current setting in Aspen to automatically use the Preferred Name field in Koha, some libraries have found some ways to make this happen. Here are a couple workarounds for this:

  • Allow users to update their name in Aspen. 
    • In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile > Allow Patrons to Update Their Name. This will allow patrons to update their First Name and Last Name fields in Your Account > Contact Information. Once they save this, the next time they sign in, they will see their name automatically updated in the user display. This does also push these updates to the Koha ILS and update their patron record so double check your patron registration requirements before enabling this feature.
  • Flip the first name storage fields in Koha.
    • Libraries can put in a support ticket to flip the Legal Name and Preferred Name fields in Koha. This can be done by relabeling these fields or potentially flipping the data that is in these fields (it may depend on your configuration). Then, anything put in the Legal Name/relabeled Preferred Name field in Koha will display in Aspen.

 

Symphony

If using the Preferred Name field in Symphony, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile > Set "Use Preferred Name" in the ILS when updating preferred name. This will display the Preferred Name in Aspen when users log in.

Account Expiration

If your library has enabled messages in Aspen for accounts that are expired or expiring soon, they will display above the menu of account options on the left-hand side of the page.

Below is an example of the default message for a card expiring soon:

 

These warning messages can be enabled or disabled from Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Show Expiration Warnings.

In addition, you can customize the messages that display in the Expiration Near Message and Expired Message fields. 

The Expiration Near Message will show 30 days prior to the account expiration date. This cannot be changed.

 

These fields will accept basic HTML tags, so you can link to a contact page or other page with more information about account renewal.

 

Your Library Card

What is Your Library Card

Your Library Card will take patrons to a 2D scannable barcode of their library card. Since Aspen is mobile responsive, library patrons can easily scan their library barcode directly from their mobile device. 

If a patron has linked any other accounts, they will also see the barcodes and names corresponding to the linked cards. 

 

Configure the Type of Library Barcode Being Used

To set the type of library card your library uses, see settings in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Barcode

There are a number of commonly used Library Barcode Styles to choose from in the dropdown menu:

Not Sure What Barcode Type to Select?

Try a site for barcode identification like: https://www.barcodefaq.com/barcode-match

There is also a free app you can download and scan a library card to identify: https://www.idautomation.com/apps/barcode-decoder-verifier

(We have no association with these platforms but libraries have found these useful in the past)

Show the Library Card Expiration Date

If you want the patron's library card expiration date to show, you can set this in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Show Card Expiration Date

Account Settings

This is a section of Your Account that is collapsed by default and contains more patron account information.

Your Preferences

Your Prefrences/My Preferences will look different for the user depending on the ILS and depending on the configuration settings the library has selected. These settings can be found in Your Account > Your Preferences. See below for the various options. 

Username

If you are using the Koha, Polaris or Sierra ILS with Aspen, you can give users the option to update their username.

This is helpful for users who do not want to login and remember their long library barcode number and want to set an easier to use username for themselves.

Patrons with a username have no effect on their registered library card and can still sign in with that.

To enable this for your users in Aspen Discovery, go into Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > User Profile > Click Allow Patrons to Update Their Username.

You would also want to make sure any necessary settings are turned on in your ILS to accept usernames.

 

Koha

If you are a library using Koha, users will be able to see/change their Username in Your Account > Contact Information > Username

 

Polaris

If you are using the Polaris or Sierra ILS, users will see a Reset Username setting under Account Settings:

 

Sierra

If you are using the Sierra ILS, users will see a Reset Username setting under Account Settings:

 

In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > User Profile > Username Field > Sierra libraries can define the Username field.


 

Translating the Default Username Messages

 

Koha

With the Koha ILS, there is a default message under Username in My Preferences "What is this?". The message says: "A username is an optional feature. If you set one, your username will be your alias on hold slips and can also be used to log into your account in place of your card number. A username can be set, reset or removed from the “My Preferences” section of your online account. Usernames must be between 6 and 25 characters (letters and number only, no special characters)."

A staff member with translation permissions can translate this message to fit your library's specifications by either entering Translation Mode or finding the message in Aspen Administration > Languages and Translations > Translations

 

Polaris and Sierra

There is a default message that shows on the Reset Username page. The information comes from the ILS.

A staff member with translation permissions can translate this message to fit your library's specifications by either entering Translation Mode or finding the message in Aspen Administration > Languages and Translations > Translations

 


 

Hiding the Reset Username menu options

To hide the Reset Username menu options in My Account and the account dropdown, go to Aspen Administration > Javascript Snippets > Add New and paste in:

<script>
/*** Hide Reset Username link in account menus ***/
$( "#account-menu.dropdown-menu.dropdownMenu a[href='/MyAccount/ResetUsername']" ).hide();
$( ".myAccountLink a[href='/MyAccount/ResetUsername']" ).hide();
</script>

 

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Language to Display Catalog In

If you have multiple language translations available in your Aspen catalog, then users can choose which language to display the catalog in. Once they select a language and save, the user will see an additional menu of options pop up - "Do you want to prefer materials in English?". The options for users are:

  • No, show interfiled with other languages
  • Yes, show above other languages
  • Yes, only show my preferred language

Note: The menu options in the dropdown menu do not automatically translate to the selected language. You can translate these options by either entering translatation mode or going into the Translations section of Aspen.

 

Display Mode

If libraries have multiple themes enabled, users will see the Display Mode option. See information on adding multiple themes.

From this dropdown, users will be able to select from options such as dark mode and high contrast that the library has set up.

 

Once they make a selection and click save, the catalog will automatically change for them.

 

Do not prompt me for reviews after rating titles

"Do not prompt me for reviews after rating titles" will show if a library has reviews and ratings turned on in Aspen. These settings are configured in Aspen Administration > Catalog/Grouped Works > Group Work Display > Catalog Enrichment. If this setting is toggled "ON" then the user will not be prompted to leave reviews after applying a star rating to a title.

Hide Research Starters

Hide Research Starters will show as an option if you have EBSCO EDS enabled and results are being indexed. Users can toggle this ON to hide all Research Starters. 

Research starters show up in Articles & Databases search results like this:

Home Library

The home library is the location the user is registered at. Libraries with multiple locations can choose to allow users to change their Home Library location in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile > Allow Patrons to Update Their Home Library

 

The user can set their home library from a choice of all library locations on the system. To be a location in the Home Library dropdown, it requires the location to be configured as a pick-up location in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Locations > ILS/Account Integration settings. 

 

For CarlX, Koha and Polaris, if a user is able to change their Home Library (this functionality is enabled) and they change their Home Library, then it will also update their Preferred Pickup Location to the new Home Library. If the ability to Allow Patrons to Remember Their Preferred Pickup Location was enabled and previously checked by the patron, this will undo this selection and the Bypass the pickup location prompt when placing holds, so they can make a new, seperate choice in the future if they wish.

Preferred Pickup Location

Users can also set their Preferred Pickup Location if this differs from their Home Library. An example of this would be if you have a Home Library where you registered your card but you pick up your holds at the library nearest to your work.

Like the other location options in My Preferences, locations will only show if they are enabled as a valid pickup location in the Locations settings.

For this setting to show, libraries can configure this in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Holds > Allow Patrons to Update Their Pickup Location

This field is unique to Aspen and doesn't connect to any Preferred Pickup Location field in most ILSes.

Note: For the Evergreen ILS, the Preferred Pickup Location will update the first time the patron signs in.

 

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Alternate Pickup Location 1, Alternate Pickup Location 2

Users can set their Alternate Pickup Locations if libraries turn this on in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile > Allow Patrons to Update their Alternate Libraries.

When users place a hold, the preferred pickup location will be selected by default, followed by any alternate pickup locations specified, followed by the rest of the locations. This setting can be helpful for library systems or consortia with a lot of locations, so patrons don't have to search through a long list if they decide to change pickup locations.

Bypass pickup location prompt when placing holds

For libraries with multiple locations: if a user only picks up at one hold location, they can choose to bypass the pickup location prompt when placing holds. If this is not enabled, users will have a choice when placing a hold to select their pickup location.

Allow Auto Renewal

If auto renewals are enabled within your ILS, this functionality is turned on automatically. Users can choose to manage their checkouts manually within Aspen by toggling Allow Auto Renewal to OFF. 

For the Koha ILS, this is controlled by the AllowPatronToControlAutoRenewal system preference. 

Show Checkouts and Holds in Results

By default, when users check out or place holds on materials, this will be indicated in the search results.

Checked out titles will display a "Checked Out to You" label above the Place Hold button.

 

Titles that are on hold will display an "On Hold for You" label.

 

If a user wishes to hide these labels from the search results, they can toggle this setting off.

 

Contact Information

Contact Information Display

The Contact Information page will vary depending on the ILS settings.

The fields that are grayed out are not able to modified within Aspen.

Libraries can choose which fields they want to allow patrons to modify in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile

Whatever libraries decide to allow users to update in Aspen, make sure this is also allowable to update in the ILS.

 

 

CarlX typically looks similar to this:

 

Evergreen typically looks similar to this:

Koha and Polaris typically look similar to this:

For Koha, these fields are being generated from the System Preferences: PatronSelfModificationBorrowerUnwantedField and PatronSelfModificationMandatoryField.

Sierra and Symphony typically look similar to this:

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Verify Address with USPS

Aspen now offers the ability to verify address information with the United States Postal Service API. This requires obtaining an API key from the USPS Developer Portal. Click here for their 'Getting Started' guide and follow steps 1-5 to obtain your own API key.

In order to access these settings, you will need the permission "Administer System Variables."

The settings are located in System Administration > USPS Settings.

Enter in the Client ID and Client Secret, then save. Aspen will automatically begin checking against the USPS API whenever a user updates existing address info or adds in new address info.

If a user updates their account with invalid address information, the following error will appear:

 

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Koha - Pronouns

As of the Koha 22.11 release, Aspen will now show a free text pronoun box in Your Account > Contact Information

This field shows in Aspen if PatronSelfModificationBorrowerUnwantedField in Koha does not have Pronouns checked. This field can be found in Koha in the patron account under Patron Identity > Pronouns:

Prior to this development, some Koha libraries were using a PatronAttribute to create a pronoun field in Koha Admin > Patrons and Circulation > Patron Attribute types. 

If a library was using this, you will see an Additional Information dropdown in the Contact Information area of Aspen:

In the Patron Account in Koha, it would show up in the Additional attributes and identifiers section.

 

Messaging Settings or Hold Notification Preferences

Messaging Settings or Notification Preferences Display

These screenshots might vary depending on the ILS configuration. These settings enable the patron to update their hold and messaging notification preferences.

 

CarlX

In CarlX, these settings are in Your Account > Account Settings > Contact Information

 

Evergreen

In Evergreen, these settings are in Your Account > Account Settings > Hold Notification Preferences 

 

Koha

In Koha, these settings are in Your Account > Account Settings > Messaging Settings

 

Aspen uses screen scraping to load the Message Settings screen from Koha. Because of that, if a staff member is trying to masquerade in Aspen and update this screen for a patron, they will get an error unless the user logs in first to Aspen.

Users have the option to set their Preferred Language for notices from the dropdown menu.

 

Polaris

In Polaris, these settings are in Your Account > Account Settings > Contact Information > scroll to the bottom to Preferences

 

Sierra

In Sierra, these settings are in Your Account > Account Settings > Contact Information

 

Symphony

Symphony libraries have two options.

The first option is a separate page in the user account, located in Your Account > Account Settings > Messaging Settings

 

The second option appears in Your Account > Account Settings > Contact Information



 

 

This second option requires setup in Primary Configuration > Library Systems > edit the setting > ILS/Account Integration > User Profile:



 

Show Notice Type in Profile must be checked in order for these settings to appear. Then, fill in the appropriate fields according to your settings and user categories in Symphony. For the user category notice and billing notice options, list the Name values, not the Descriptions, separated by pipes. If multiple libraries need to use the same setup, batch updating the settings from the Library Systems page can help speed up the process.

 

The notice option labels can be adjusted using interface translations

 

Note: If you need to hide specific fields from appearing as options in messaging settings, you can do so using CSS in your Theme settings.

 

 

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PIN/Password

Reset My Password Prior to Logging In

Before a user logs into Aspen, libraries can give them an option to reset their password if they have forgotten it.


To enable this, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Login > Enable "Forgot Password?" Link on Login Screen

Once enabled, a link will automatically show up on the log in screen.

 

The user must have an email associated with their account in the ILS. If you are not collecting or requiring this information, you may consider doing so to make it easier for users to reset their PINs/passwords.

 

A screen like this will pop up once the user clicks on Reset My Password:

See the PIN/Password Reset Email Notifications section below for more information

 

Reset PIN/Password from My Account

Note: This functionality is available for CarlX, Evergreen, Koha, Polaris, Sierra, and Symphony

 

Libraries can choose to allow users to reset their PIN/password once they are logged in via My Account > Reset PIN/Password

To enable this functionality, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > PIN/Password > Allow Pin Reset

In this set of settings, libraries can set a Minimum PIN Length and a Maximum PIN Length.

Libraries can also check Only digits allowed in PIN if the pin/password must be all numerical digits.

Once this setting is checked, users will see a Reset PIN/Password option in My Account, where they must enter their old PIN/password and create a new one. 

If you have specifications set in Aspen about the length of the password and/or if it can only contain numerical digits, a message will show above the PIN/password fields. 

Setting Password Requirements in Aspen

If you want to require that passwords be a certain length and/or only numerical digits, you can find these settings in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > PIN/Password

 

Before enabling this feature, check your ILS and other systems (example: self-checkout machine) for consistency to make sure you are not restricting access to any systems based on the PIN/Password settings you applied in this setting.

 

 

Once you enable this setting and set up specifications in Aspen, these would ONLY apply to any users resetting their passwords via Aspen.

Examples:

Patron 1: My current password is IloveAspen. I want to reset my password in Aspen. I go to My Account > Reset PIN/Password. In Aspen, the settings in the above picture are applied. I cannot change my PIN/Password to IloveAspen2. Even though I want my password to be IloveAspen2, to match the specifications, I change it to 33703 (between 4-6 length, all digits). 

Patron 2: My current password is IloveAspen. I want to reset my password in Aspen. I go to My Account > Reset PIN/Password. In Aspen, the settings in the above picture are applied. I see the messaging about the pin requirements. I talk to a library staff member. I asked them to change my password in the ILS to IloveAspen2. They can do this because it matches the password requirements set up in the ILS.

 

Aspen cannot override the ILS PIN/Password restrictions, and we can't make the PIN/Password less restrictive than the ILS. 

 

Some special characters in passwords/PINs may cause issues with vendors requiring SIP authentication from your ILS. One such noted example is ampersand (&), which can cause errors with OverDrive.

 

PIN/Password Reset Email Notifications

CarlX, Polaris and Sierra send PIN/Password reset notifications via Aspen's email messaging system. The text of these notices are hardcoded and cannot be configured via Aspen settings at this time.

Koha, Evergreen, and Symphony send the reset notifications via the ILS email messaging system and customization of those notices take place from the ILS.

All other ILS don't have the password reset capability *yet*.

Setting Up PIN/Password Reset Notifications in Koha

Blog Post

Now that you have enabled this functionality within Aspen Discovery, your PASSWORD_RESET notice in Koha needs a little tweaking.

In Koha go to Notices & slips within the tools module. If this notice has not been edited the default will have a portion directing the patron to the Koha reset link.

Note: You might also want to change the Message Subject from "Koha password recovery" (default) to something like "Library Password Reset"

You'll want to change the notice to:

<html>
<p>This email has been sent in response to your password recovery request for the account <strong><<user>></strong>.
</p>
<p>
You can now create your new password using the following link:

[% passwordurl = passwordreseturl %]

[% passwordurlreplace = passwordurl.replace('https://{KohaOPACURL}/cgi-bin/koha/opac-password-recovery.pl','https://{AspenOPACURL}/MyAccount/PasswordRecovery') %]
<br/><a href="[% passwordurlreplace %]">[% passwordurlreplace%]</a>

</p>
<p>This link will be valid for 2 days from this email's reception, then you must reapply if you do not change your password.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>



 

Other Account Settings

OverDrive Options

If OverDrive is enabled and configured, the user can access and update their email address for OverDrive hold notifications.

Users can also set OverDrive Default Lending Periods for eBooks and Audiobooks.

Note: These only relate to checkouts within Aspen, this will not push these choices to their Libby App/OverDrive account.

 

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Hoopla Options

If Hoopla is enabled and configured, users can toggle ON or OFF for Aspen to ask for confirmation before checking out from Hoopla. 

Staff Settings

Users who have been assigned administrative permissions in Aspen will see a menu option in their account for Staff Settings. This can be accessed by clicking your username, then clicking Staff Settings in the account menu.

 

 

This section will show any role the staff member is assigned (if applicable). Staff settings will also show for anyone logging in with a patron type which has been marked "Treat as Staff." Click here to read more about settings by Patron Type.

Within staff settings, users will also see a Bypass Automatic Logout toggle. If IP Addresses are configured for your library location in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > IP Addresses with "Treat as Public OPAC" checked, and staff use Aspen on that same IP address, then Aspen will not know the difference between the staff user vs. a patron and will attempt to refresh the session.

In order to avoid being automatically logged out according to Location settings, individuals can log into their account, navigate to Staff Settings, and toggle Bypass Automatic Logout to ON.

 

 

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Security Settings

This page requires Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and system emailing to be configured in System Administration and a profile to be in place for the patron's patron category.

On this page the patron can set up 2FA and turn 2FA on and off. The patron can also access access and refresh their Backup codes.