Hi Everyone,
CIT has launched their Mobile ObieID Card service today. ObieID card holders can choose between a physical ID card, or a virtual ID card on their mobile device. New students, faculty and staff will only be issued one form of the ID card. Existing ObieID card holders may sign up for the mobile version, but if they do CIT will deactivate their physical card in the campus-wide Transact system. Read more about the new service at CIT’s Mobile ID webpage.
Naturally, this change has implications for the Libraries’ circulation processes. Circulation desk staff may start to see users attempting to tap their mobile devices to check out materials. Unfortunately, until a person signs in to the mobile app and activates a mobile ID card, there is no number assigned, so I cannot load those numbers into Sierra ahead of time.
Circulation staff will have to look up the patron record of the user, edit the record by adding a new barcode field, then have the user tap their device to add their mobile ID card number to the record. If the user has an existing physical ID card, tapping that card on circulation desk readers should still work to locate a patron record (and complete a checkout transaction). However, if they have opted for the new mobile ID card, it would be best to take the opportunity to update the record the first time because fewer people will be carrying the physical cards in the future.
I will be meeting with CIT staff next week to discuss what this change means for the fall and the process of getting the large number of incoming student ID card numbers in Sierra. It’s my intention to push CIT to automate patron load data as much as possible so we do not have to add these new numbers manually at the start of the year. Stay tuned for more information about that.
Thanks, Michael. What about the 29362 # they need to request items on OhioLINK? Will that appear somewhere on their mobile ID so they can access it when requesting items? And could CIT upload that number as well to our database? The announcement said physical cards will be deactivated if people choose the mobile option. Right now the number they need for OhioLINK is printed on the back of a physical ID…..
Yes! Sorry I left that out. The old barcode number will appear on the wallet version of the mobile ID card. I’ll edit the main post with that info shortly. Thanks.