Patron Self-Registration

There has been mentions that patron self-registration may be desirable among some users. This page is intended to discuss it. If you do _not_ have a wiki account, but would like to contribute, feel free to leave comments in the User Comments link (at the top of the page and open to anybody) or send an e-mail to the -dev list.

Patron self registration refers to the ability of users to sign up for new accounts through their own actions, often by using a web form.

• Instant access to online resourses that require authentication. A potential user discovers that the library offers free access to various resources online, such as Morningstar.com Library edition, Ebsco databases or Netlibrary Eaudiobooks. Instead of stopping the users momentum and requiring them to make a physical journey to their local library, they could open up a new account online and have instant access to the libraries resources.
• Instant ability to place requests. A potential user is pointed to the holdings of their local library system through services such as worldcat.org. They could immediately create a new account, and place a request on the item.
• Reduce staff data entry and staff involvement, increase accuracy. Having a self registration kiosk in the branch could reduce the amount of basic data entry that staff need to do. Instead of requiring the customer to fill out a registration form, and then having staff decipher a users handwriting and re-enter that information into the ILS, the user could do the initial data entry on their own. Staff would only need to assign a library card number and validate identity/information.

• Patron record duplication.
  • Easy if you have a unique key that you can check that validity of. SSN, Drivers License #, other. There are privacy issues with this approch, maybe doing a one way hash of the unique id, and storing that would work. Maybe we don't care about duplicate records until the first checkout attempt, at which time the staff member is given a report of patron records similar to the current one. Maybe doing a combination of name and phone number would be enough.
    • Two cents from someone who's dealt with patron self registration before: Stopping patrons from creating a second, third, and fourth account when what they really want is to retrieve their user ID/password is highly desirable, rather than asking staff to merge/delete extra accounts. I would recommend stopping the registration (and telling the patron why, and what to do about it) when the name matches someone in the database AND either the phone number or date of birth matches that same person. It's not foolproof as DOB isn't a required field and people have multiple phone numbers, not all of which are necessarily in their record, but it's a step in the right direction. Note, SSN or Driver's license isn't foolproof either as we can't guarantee someone would use the same form of ID for online registration as they used in person, and as pointed out above, there are privacy issues. - kcollier
• Barcode assignment.
  • Option 1: Give out a fake id that doesn't look like a barcode.
  • Option 2: Give out a real barcode from a range of real barcodes that are dedicated to online registrations. Assign a new barcode if a user comes in to the library. May need a special patron type/group for self registered customer.
• Data validation/verification.
  • Address Data Validation, does that ZIP code correspond with that town.
  • Email address verification, send an email with a verification link that has to be followed before email is active.
  • Make it easy to tie into 3rd party address verification software, such as what the USPS.com provides. Address Element Correction
• Reporting
  • Periodic report of new accounts for mailings. For example, mailing out a Library brochure to new users to let them know what the library has to offer. Mailings also act as another form of address verification.
  • Notification for in branch pickup, for same site usage.
• Other Potentially Useful Features
  • The option for a library to include a borrowing policy that would have to be agreed to before the form can be filled out.
  • The option for a library to require a patron to present ID and pick up their card within a specified amount of time to prevent their newly created record from being automatically deleted.
  • Instructions in the confirmation message to bring ID to pick up the card.