Customer types

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Learn about the customer types available within the Wise staff client.

In most cases when you create a new customer, you will select Regular customer from the Customer type drop-down list. Other options exist for specific situations. Depending on the customer type selected, certain fields may or may not display during registration. For example, the email address field is only required when registering Regular customers. Required fields for each customer type can be configured in Wise configuration manager.

All customer types may not apply to your library. The list of customer types is hard-programmed and cannot be changed by users. If a customer group is not in the membership type list, the customer group will not be offered in the client workstation during registration either.

Regular customer

The default selection for this field is Regular customer. It applies to standard users in the branch and can also be selected for schools and businesses.

Anonymous

Anonymous accounts can be created for customers who would like to use a computer or receive newsletters, but do not want to sign up for a full library account. This kind of account only requires a customer name. Anonymous customers cannot borrow items.

Ticket sale customer

A Ticket sale account allows customers to purchase event tickets from the library. A ticket sale account requires a first and last name, ZIP code, and street number.

A ticket sale customer can register online for their account and can re-register for a regular membership at a later time.

Special customer

Special customer accounts are intended for customers whose borrowing must be tracked, but for whom there are no due dates to return materials. Material borrowed by special customers are marked with the status F and will appear in the catalog as unavailable. No fines or fees are charged to special customers and loans. Special customers do not have a limit to the number of items they may borrow.

When lending to a special customer, the options Change date, Renew loan period, and Lend without fees are not available because there is no due date associated with the borrowed materials. Loans to special customers are included in reports with the action code 9 = For review.

While no return dates are used for special customers, the account type can be configured to display an alert that items that were checked out previously when the customer borrows additional items at a later time. Use cases for special customer might include outreach customers, administrative accounts, or for checking out items that are being relocated to a different branch.

Create a special customer account

To create an account with the Special customer account type:

From the Customers screen, go to Customer administration.
Select Customer > Add new customer.
Click on the arrow next to the Regular customer field and select Special customer from the menu. A confirmation message appears asking to confirm the customer number. Note: Special account numbers will always begin with the numbers 29999.
Click Yes.
Enter the requested information and click Ok, Continue.
Provide additional details and click Ok, Continue. The membership menu appears with the Special account as the only option.
Click OK.
Click Save. The account is created.

In the customer administration screen, you will find only one Special customer tab. Special accounts have an unspecified expiration date, which displays as 12/31/2099.

Configure options for a Special customer

Review the settings in customer administration to customize the Special customer's account. On the Special customer tab, review these settings:

Report previously borrowed title: Select Yes or No. Selecting Yes will cause Wise to notify the customer when an item is checked out that was previously borrowed on the account.
Relocation only: 'to branch': This option is used to allow Special customers to receive requested materials at a specific location and then lend them to their own customers.
For example, a school with a Special customer account could request books from the library system that will be checked out by their students. Materials loaned to the school's Special customer account are delivered to the branch/location indicated in this field. Those items must be checked in by the receiving branch before they can be checked out by students.
Customer receipts: Select Yes or No to indicate whether or not a receipt is printed for the customer upon checkout. Note: This setting does not affect self-service configuration.
Type of special customer: Select Special customer or Administrative card. Administrative cards have additional functionality that may be desired for the customer after a special card has already been created. This allows the customer to keep the same customer number but change the account type to an administrative card.
Notification preferences: Message preferences can be set for special customers. For more information see Customer notifications.

ARGOS user

This customer type is only available if your library is using ARGOS to make internet workstations available to your customers. An ARGOS user account might be created for users who are not library members, but would like to use the workstations.

Guest customer

Guest customer accounts are created for customers who have accounts at other libraries outside of your library system.

Donor

Donor accounts can be created to manage donors, friends of the library, sponsors or other individuals or organizations that support the library.

A donor account, unlike a regular customer account, are not entitled to use the library facilities. The individual must also have a regular account to use library services. However, a regular customer can also become a donor.

Storage customer

This customer account is only offered if the LEN_MAG system option is enabled. This account type is intended specifically for library systems with a large collection in storage that functions as a branch within a branch. Storage customers are registered with a system-generated account number. The items in storage are regularly borrowed by people who do not use other branches of the library.

After a specified amount of inactivity, Storage accounts are deleted from the system.

Administrative account

An administrative card is intended for internal administrative use, for example, checking out materials to be repaired or exchanged with the supplier. The administrative card has the same properties as the special customer account, but has fewer features. When items are borrowed on an administrative card, the loan is not logged or tracked in lending statistics or lending rights counts. The number of loans made to administrate cards are tracked and can be found in daily counts as cir adm.

Message preferences are not available for administrative cards.

Create an administrative account

To create an administrative account:

From the Customers screen, go to Customer administration.
Select Customer > Add new customer.
Click on the arrow next to the Regular customer field and select Administrative card from the menu. A confirmation message appears asking to confirm the customer number.
Note: Administrative customer account numbers will always begin with the numbers 29999.
Click Yes.
Enter the requested information and click Ok, Continue.
Provide additional details and click Ok, Continue. The membership menu appears with the Special customer account as the only option.
Click OK.
Click Save. The customer is now registered.

In the customer administration screen, you will find only two information tabs for this account type, Special customer and Cards. Special customer accounts have an unspecified expiration date, which displays as 12/31/2099.

Service desk scan list for administrative cards

A service desk scan list is created for administrative cards. For more information, see Service desk scan card.

A Newsletter account type allows customers to sign up only for communications from the library. The only required information for a newsletter account is an email address and branch preference.

A newsletter customer can register online for their account and can re-register for a regular membership at a later time.