Re: Urggg! A patron review of the III patron authentication screen...

[Martha Driscoll <driscoll@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jon, 
We have had similar complaints from patrons.  The system can do email
hold and overdue notices.  It's a great time/postage saver.  That should
take care of complaint #1.  User's don't have to authenticate over and
over again if you turn on the wwwoption NO_REVERIFY.  Once the user logs
in, they don't have to authenticate again for requests.  We had the help 
desk remove the requirement for the name.  We also found this to be 
redundant when you require barcode and password.

--
Martha Driscoll, Systems Manager
North of Boston Library Exchange (NOBLE)
driscoll@xxxxxxxxxx
Ph: 978-777-8844  Fax: 978-750-8472

On Fri, 19 Sep 2003, Jonathan Jiras wrote:

> Hello Innopacers:
> 
> Here's an email I thought I would share with all of you that we received
> from an Information Technology professor informing us that he has placed
> our catalog's hold/renew books feature in his "hall of shame".  Some of
> what he says here is just misinformed, but what is really annoying about
> all this is that it shows that people assume the patron
> authentication/request features we designed and programmed and are
> things over which we have total control.
> 
> It's so frustrating!
> 
> Jon Jiras
> Library Software Specialist
> Wallace Library
> Rochester Institute of Technology
> Rochester, NY 14623
> 585-475-7737
> jjjwml@xxxxxxxxxx
> 
> [snip]
> I'm teaching Human Factors this semester in IT, so I'm very attuned to
> web design issues right now.  But these would get my attention in any
> case.  I hope you find these suggestions helpful.
>  
> 1)  The request/hold system has all the information it needs to email
> users when a requested book comes in.  Daily checks are a great job for
> a system and a crummy job for a machine.
>  
> The system requires users to login again (and again) for each inquiry
> even within a session.  Furthermore the login is more complicated than
> most (name, AND ID, and password) even though little if any extra
> security is gained by asking for last name.
>  
> I actually wrote this up for a classroom "Hall of Shame" entry, so I
> share it with you here.
>  
> Wally is a powerful system and I appreciate it.  These things are hard.
> If you'd be interested in having my students perform a general
> evaluation and make reccomendations, I'd be happy to discuss this.
>  
> Best wishes,
> [snip] (name withheld)
> 
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