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Desk PINs and devices

Let several volunteers share one desk device safely, with nobody sharing a password.

Who can do this: admins set and reset PINs. Coordinators and admins set up desk devices and turn them off.

At a session, nobody signs in to the shared desk device with a password. A coordinator sets the device up once for the desk (see Set up a shared desk device). It can be a laptop, Chromebook, tablet or phone. After that, each volunteer taps their name and types their own 6-digit desk PIN. Everything they do at the desk is recorded under their name.

Coordinators and admins can also run the desk on their own phone or laptop, signed in as themselves. That needs no PIN, because their own sign-in (with its second step) already protects it. See Run the desk on your own phone.

Steps: set or reset someone's desk PIN​

  1. Press Settings in the sidebar, then Team and devices.
  2. In the Team list, the Desk PIN column shows Set or Not set for each person. Press the person's row. A panel opens.
  3. Under Desk PIN, type six digits in New PIN.
  4. Press Reset PIN.
  5. Tell the volunteer their new PIN in person, not by email.
What you'll see

A message says PIN reset, and that the person can use it at the desk now. Their name appears on Who's on the desk? on the library's desk devices.

Gizzago refuses PINs that are easy to guess, such as 111111 or 123456, with "Choose a PIN that is harder to guess."

Wrong PINs​

After 5 wrong tries on a desk device, that volunteer is locked out for 15 minutes. Their name shows Locked for a few minutes, and the desk says when they can try again. If they have forgotten the PIN, an admin can set a new one (steps above), which also lifts the lock straight away.

The desk locks itself​

If nobody touches the desk for 2 minutes, it locks and goes back to Who's on the desk? It says "The desk locked after 2 minutes without use." Any visit that was in progress is kept: the volunteer taps their name, types their PIN, and carries on where they left off. This stops the next person in the queue seeing someone else's details. See When the desk locks.

If a desk device goes missing​

  1. Press Settings in the sidebar, then Team and devices.
  2. Under Desk devices, find it. The list shows its Site, when it was Last seen and when it Signs in again by.
  3. Press Turn off, then Turn it off.

A message says Desk device turned off. The device can no longer open the desk, and it would need to be set up again. Desk devices also stop working by themselves after 90 days unless a coordinator sets them up again.

Not yet

Coordinators who are not admins see a note saying they can reset desk PINs, but the team list is only shown to admins. Ask an admin to reset a PIN for now.