Linked Accounts

If libraries want users to be able to utilize Linked Accounts, this can be turned on in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > ILS/Account Integration > Allow Linked Accounts

Once enabled Linked Accounts is enabled in your Aspen system, users will be able to see this in their Account > Account Settings > Linked Accounts.

From here, users can click on Add Account to add additional library card(s). They will be prompted to a screen that looks similar to the sign on screen where they will need to enter the other library card number and pin/password in order for the accounts to be linked.

Once the account is linked, the user name and home library will show up under "Additional accounts to manage".

If another user has linked to your account, the user that has linked to your account will show up under "Other accounts that can view this account."

If a patron account is linked to by someone else, they are notified with this message that says, "Other accounts have linked to your account. Do you want to continue allowing them to link to you?" :

Clicking “Yes” or the “x” in the top right corner will simply dismiss the message, while “Manage Linked Accounts” will bring the user to their Linked Accounts page and dismiss the message.

If a user clicks on “Learn more about linked accounts” the message will remain and they will be brought to their Linked Accounts page. By bringing the user to their Linked Accounts summary page, they will be able to see the accounts that have linked to them and remove them accordingly if needed.

If they do choose to remove an account that linked to them, that account will receive this message,

"An account you were previously linked to, {user's name}, has removed the link to your account. To learn more about linked accounts, please visit your Linked Accounts page."

Again, we direct the user to their Linked Accounts page to manage their Linked Accounts if needed. If the account that linked to them broke the link by disabling account linking and the user tries to add that account again, they will receive the following error message,

"Sorry, this user does not allow account linking"

Once a link has been set up, the linkee will see a notification in their My Account right when they log in that will say,

"You account is linked to by {user that linked to you - home library} Learn More about Linked Accounts". 

If they click on Learn more about Linked Accounts this will take them into the Linked Accounts section and settings.

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Once you have added a Linked Account, you will now start to see the user's checkouts, holds, library card barcode and fines interfiled with your information. 

Checkouts

You will now see the checked out items for accounts you linked to specified by the field "Checked Out To" in My Account > Checked Out Titles.

You can sort by Library Account to group and sort these checkouts.

Holds

You will now see the holds for accounts you linked to specified by the field "On Hold For" in My Account > Holds.

You can sort by Library Account to group and sort these holds.

eContent Checkouts and Holds

When checking out econtent or placing a hold, you can choose from a dropdown which account the hold/checkout the item should go on.

Library Card Barcode

You can view any of the barcodes for linked accounts that you have in My Account > My Library Card.

Fines

If you have one of the payment integrations set up in Aspen, you can manage the fines, fees, and payments of linked accounts. In this example, I am logged in as Kal M. but can see, manage, and make payments on my test kid's library card. 

Linked Account Reading History

For privacy purposes, Reading History will not show on linked accounts. 

Prior to the 22.12 Aspen release, we allowed removing accounts that a patron manages, but there are many scenarios where patrons may want to remove accounts that have linked to them. This used to be achieved by patrons changing their PIN/password, which would disable account linking until they accepted the message. To give patrons better control over their Linked Accounts, we have removed this functionality and added a new one.

When looking at the Linked Accounts page, if there are accounts that have linked to a patron, they will now see a “Remove” button next to their name. You will also notice the addition of a “Disable Account Linking” button.

Linked Account Removed - With Pin/Password Reset

Upon removing an account that has linked to them, patrons will receive the following message if their library allows password changes,

"Linked Account Removed - Successfully removed linked account. Removing this link does not guarantee the security of your account. If another user has your barcode and PIN/password they will still be able to access your account. Would you like to change your password?"

Linked Account Removed - Without Pin/Password Reset

If their library does not allow password changes, this is the message they will receive,

"Linked Account Removed - Successfully removed linked account. Removing this link does not guarantee the security of your account. If another user has your barcode and PIN/password they will still be able to access your account. Please contact your library if you wish to updated your PIN/Password."

Tip: Both of these messages are translatable, so if your library has different needs in terms of messaging, you may change them accordingly in Languages and Translations > Translations.

In some scenarios, you may have patrons who want to disable account linking altogether. This is possible with a simple press of a button.

When a patron clicks on this button, they will first be notified that disabling account linking severs any current account links and will prevent any new ones with the message,

"Disable Account Linking - Disabling account linking will sever any current links and prevent any new ones. Do you want to continue?"

If they accept this message, account linking will be disabled and they will receive a message regarding their account security and resetting their PIN/password.

Note: Much like removing account links, this messaging will differ if their library allows or disallows changing their PIN/password.

Once account linking is disabled, their account page will only show the following message and an “Enable Account Linking” button:

To enable account linking again, all a patron needs to do is click the button and then click “Accept” in the following message,

"Enable Account Linking - Re-enabling account linking will allow others to link to your account. Do you want to continue?"

In Aspen Adminstration > Primary Configuration > Block Patron Account Linking, Admin with permissions can input two library barcodes to prevent future links to be made with those accounts.

By checking, Check this box to prevent the blocked barcode from accessing ANY linked accounts, you can prevent that user from linking to any account in the future.

In Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Patron Types > click into a patron type > Account linking setting > you have the following options for Linked Accounts per patron type:

• Allow to be linked to and link to others (default)
• Allow only to be linked to
• Allow only to link to others
• Block all linking (no linking either way allowed with this patron type)

These settings will give you flexibility per patron type of what/who you want to link to who.

Example: Our library only wants to use Aspen's Linked Accounts to allow Adult cards to link to Juvenille cards. So, we would click into Juvenile patron type and select: Allow only to be linked to and then in our Adult patron type we would select: Allow only to link to others. 

Allow to be Linked to and Link to Others

This is the default setting for all patron types, which allows all patrons to link to others and allows them to be linked to by other patrons. Any patron with this setting won’t see much of a change in how their linked accounts work.

Any patron with this setting will see the full page, which looks like this:

Allow Only to be Linked to

This setting will only allow patrons to be linked to, and they won’t be able to link to others. If you switch to this setting from “Allow to be linked to and link to others” or “Allow only to link to others,” any linked accounts a patron with this patron type has linked to will be removed. If the patron has linked accounts where they are the ones who have been linked to by another, these links will remain.

If a patron with this setting tries to link to another patron, they will receive the following message:

 They will no longer see the option to link to another patron - here is what their linked accounts page will look like:

Allow Only to Link to Others

This setting will only allow patrons to link to others, and they won’t be able to be linked to. If you switch to this setting from “Allow to be linked to and link to others” or “Allow only to be linked to,” any linked accounts where they are the ones who have been linked to will be removed. If the patron has linked accounts where they are the ones who have linked to another patron, these links will remain.

If a patron tries to link to a patron with this setting, they will receive the following message:

Patrons with this setting will no longer see the section that would show accounts that have linked to them - here is what their linked accounts page will look like:

Block All Linking

This setting will block all linking to and from the patron. If a patron has any linked accounts, those links will be severed upon this setting being applied.

For our current release, if a patron with this setting tries to link to another patron or if another patron tries to link to them, they will receive the aforementioned error messages.

These users will no longer see any account linking options - here is what their linked accounts page will look like:

2023-01-26 km bws