USER ADMINISTRATION
Chapter 2. MANAGING USERS
About Users
The system can be accessed by three types of users: guests, patrons, and library staff.
Guest users are unauthenticated users who access your library’s system via the Internet from outside the library. Guests are generally offered a “limited” set of search resources (see the PAC Administration User Guide for more information), cannot submit Interlibrary Loan requests, and are not granted access to the “Your Account” feature (see the Search User Guide for more information).
Patron users can be either unauthenticated or authenticated. Unauthenticated patrons are users who access your library’s system from an IP-authenticated workstation inside the library without providing login credentials (Username or Barcode and Password or PIN). Authenticated patrons are users who access your library’s system (from either inside or outside the library) and provide valid login credentials. Patrons are generally offered an “expanded” set of search resources (see the PAC Administration User Guide for more information), and may be authorized to participate in Interlibrary Loan. Additionally, authenticated patrons are granted access to the “Your Account” and “Your Preferences” features (see the Search User Guide for more information).
NOTE: Each library is provided with a “generic” patron account. Library staff may log into the system using the “generic” patron account to access the “Your Account” and “Your Preferences” features to configure several system defaults for unauthenticated users (see the Search User Guide for more information). Additionally, the “generic” patron account is used to enable or disable Interlibrary Loan permissions for unauthenticated patrons and to set the default Interlibrary Loan permissions for authenticated patrons (see Configuring ILL Permissions for Patrons for details).
Staff users are library staff members who access the system (from either inside or outside the library) and provide valid login credentials (Username or Barcode and Password or PIN). Staff users are granted access to the search interface, and to one or more staff modules (ILL Administration, CAT Administration, etc.). Staff users are also granted access to the “Your Account” and “Your Preferences” features (see the Search User Guide for more information).