This may be the trickiest part of helping patrons.
The creation of accounts and discovering "blind" passwords is not a completely
transparent process. Luckily most patrons will not be interested in using their account.
They just want to ask questions and get answers.
A password is required.
Passwords are sent to the patrons email address the first, and only the first, time
they ask a question. They must find the email message acknowledging the sent question
to get their initial randomly generated password. This message has complete directions
for the patron to log on. The process consists of copy and pasting their random password,
and clicking on the link to log on.
This is where they get to paste the password from the email message.
Then they are immediately prompted to change that password to something that works
better for them. Hopefully easier to remember.
A successfully changed password results in a simple message. Patrons then need to
click on one of the options in the menu bar to check their questions.
The link to log on to their account is located in all their transcripts and web responses
to questions. Here's the general patron logon screen.
If patrons are having problems they can click on the "Forgot your Password?"
link and have the password emailed to them, as below. You can NOT get their password
for them.
When they get to their account, they can click on a question to review the results.
Questions stay in their account for 90 days after being answered.
They can also respond to an answered question to ask for more information.
A good way to make sure patron questions are really and fully answered.
