Online borrower card registration has become increasingly important in bringing library resources to users who may have difficulty in getting to their library or are in immediate need of access to the library’s electronic resources. Evergreen’s native online registration form requires staff intervention to issue a provisional card and lacks any capability for address verification. The MBLC in their interest in facilitating the issuance of library cards has provided partial funding for the ecard service.
NOBLE has launched online ecards using a service from The Quipu Group. The ecard service provides a form to collect relevant registration information, verifies eligibility, checks Evergreen for duplicates, and immediately creates an active patron record upon successful validation. No staff intervention is required.
Ecard Frequently Asked Questions for Libraries
What is the URL that can be placed on a website?
https://evergreen.noblenet.org/eg/opac/ecard/form
Who can get an Ecard?
Any patron regardless of age can sign up for an ecard as long as they live in Massachusetts and don’t already have a card in Evergreen.
How long is an Ecard good for?
Ecards will receive a profile of Online which has an expiration date of 3 years. If patrons cannot be validated, a profile of Provisional will be assigned which has an expiration date of 2 weeks.
How are patrons validated?
The Quipu Ecard service utilizes public databases including the U.S. Post Office to match a last name with a street address. It does not look at first name. Addresses must be within Massachusetts and not associated with a business address. If the address is within Massachusetts and not associated with a business but the validation cannot associate the last name with the address, a Provisional card will be issued.
What privileges will Ecards have?
Ecards are intended to help patrons access electronic resources. The barcode number will match the home library’s unique prefix and start with a ‘5’. NOBLE will ensure that Overdrive and EBSCO will work with these barcodes. Ezproxy looks at home library and will not have a problem with these barcodes. The Ecard can also place holds in the Evergreen public catalog. Checkouts will not be permitted until the patron shows ID at a library and has their card upgraded to a full access card.
How do I upgrade an Ecard to a full access card?
There are four things you need to do to upgrade an Ecard to a full access card:
- Check the patron’s photo ID
- Change the profile to Public Patron
- Update the expiration date to 3 years if the Ecard is a provisional card.
- Replace the barcode with the one from the card being issued
Can patrons sign up for multiple Ecards?
No. Evergreen will check for duplicates when the Ecard process attempts to create the patron record. Duplicates are defined as patrons with the same first name, last name, and birthdate. If a match is found, a check for street address is then made. Expired patron records in Evergreen will be seen by the matching process.
Can college students get an Ecard?
Yes. Students can get an Ecard from their public library to access electronic resources as long as they don’t have one already.
How do patrons get their Ecard?
Patrons provide their email address when they register and if validated will immediately receive an email with their barcode number. They will also be provided with the expiration date of the card with instructions on how to upgrade to a fully functional card for checking out physical materials.
What will happen to Evergreen’s patron registration process?
Evergreen’s online patron registration process places patron information in a pending file and requires that a staff member complete the registration process. This method will be discontinued. Libraries can utilize the new form within the library as a shortcut to data entry if they wish. We will provide an in-house form with a different welcome message that will direct patrons to the Circulation desk to complete their registration.
What is the URL I can use in the library?
You can use the same URL in the library: https://evergreen.noblenet.org/eg/opac/ecard/form. If you want an alternate confirmation message, please let us know and we can configure an alternate confirmation screen that will appear when users are on the library network.
If a patron logged into Overdrive with their ecard then upgrades to a permanent card, will Overdrive recognize them?
A few years ago Overdrive changed their patron matchpoint from barcode to database ID. Any barcode attached to the patron ID gets the patron logged into their account in Overdrive. When the patron gets their new barcode, they use that in Overdrive and it will find their original account, holds, checkouts etc.