Patron self-signup

Allow patrons to create their own accounts without staff intervention.

Enabling it

Settings → Patrons → Allow Self-Signup. On by default.

What patrons do

• Visit yourlibrary.tryshelfwise.com/auth/login → "Don't have an account? Sign up"
• Enter first name, last name, email
• Pick a password (or use magic link)
• They're in

What you get

• A new patron row, with their email and role "Member"
• An invite to your library's email digest (optional)
• A welcome email

Approval workflow

By default, self-signups are auto-approved. If your library prefers to review each one:

• Settings → Patrons → Self-signup approval = "Manual"
• New signups appear in Patrons → Pending
• An admin reviews and approves or denies

Approved patrons get a confirmation email. Denied patrons get a polite "we'll be in touch" email.

Disabling self-signup

Some libraries prefer to add patrons manually (e.g., kids' libraries). Settings → Patrons → toggle off Allow Self-Signup. New patrons must be invited by staff.

Limiting by email domain

If only people in your organization should self-sign-up, restrict by email domain. Settings → Patrons → Allowed email domains → enter @yourorg.com. Only emails matching that domain can self-signup.