Researchers and Proxies

A proxy relationship lets one person act on behalf of another in Aeon — submitting and managing requests in someone else's name. The classic case is a research assistant who places requests for a faculty member, or an administrative aide who handles requests for several researchers. The person being acted for is the researcher; the person doing the acting is the proxy.

Most of the time these links are created when a patron registers a proxy through the web interface, and staff never have to touch them. You manage proxies from the staff client when you need to set one up manually, fix one that was created wrong, or remove one that no longer applies. Everything happens on the Proxies tab of a user record, which shows both sides of the relationship for whichever user you're looking at.

When you'll use this

• A researcher calls and asks you to let their assistant place requests for them — add the assistant as a proxy.
• You're looking at an assistant's record and want to grant them proxy rights for a researcher — add the researcher from the assistant's side.
• A proxy arrangement has ended (someone left, graduated, changed roles) — remove the link from either user's record.
• You just want to see who can act for a researcher, or who a person is allowed to act for — open the Proxies tab and read the two lists.

Proxies are fully managed in the web client

Earlier Aeon documentation noted that proxy relationships could only be configured in the desktop client. That is no longer the case — the Proxies tab in the Aeon 7 web staff client lets you add, view, and remove proxy links directly.

Understanding the two lists

The relationship has two directions, and the Proxies tab shows both for the user whose record you have open:

List on the Proxies tab	What it shows
Proxies for this User	People who can act on behalf of this user. If you're on Dr. Lee's record, this is everyone allowed to place requests in Dr. Lee's name.
This User is Proxy for	People this user can act for. If you're on the assistant's record, this is every researcher whose requests the assistant is allowed to place.

The two lists are just the same links seen from opposite ends. Adding the assistant under Proxies for this User on Dr. Lee's record is identical to adding Dr. Lee under This User is Proxy for on the assistant's record — you'll see the result reflected on both records.

Each row shows the linked person's Username and Name. Click a username (or double-click the row) to jump straight to that user's record.

Opening the Proxies tab

1. Open the user record — search for the user, or click their name anywhere it appears, then open their detail page.
2. Select the Proxies tab.
3. The two lists load: Proxies for this User at the top, This User is Proxy for below. Each shows a count next to its title (for example, Proxies for this User (2)).

If a user has no links in a list, you'll see a short empty message — No proxies assigned or Not a proxy for any users — rather than an empty table.

Adding a proxy

Use this when you're on the researcher's record and want to grant someone the ability to act for them.

1. On the researcher's Proxies tab, in the Proxies for this User card, click Add.
2. The Add Proxy dialog opens. In the Search Users box, type at least 2 characters of the proxy's username, first name, or last name.
3. Pick the person from the results table (it shows Username, Name, Email, and Department). The selected user is confirmed at the bottom of the dialog.
4. Click Add. Aeon creates the link and confirms with Proxy added successfully. The new proxy appears in the list immediately.

Adding a researcher (granting proxy rights from the proxy's side)

Use this when you're on the proxy's record and want to say "this person may act for that researcher."

1. On the proxy's Proxies tab, in the This User is Proxy for card, click Add.
2. The Add Researcher dialog opens. Search (again, 2 characters minimum) for the researcher this person should be able to act for.
3. Select the researcher and click Add.

The result is the same link as before, just created from the other direction — the proxy now appears under the researcher's Proxies for this User, and the researcher now appears under the proxy's This User is Proxy for.

The search skips people who can't be linked

To keep you from creating an invalid link, the search results automatically leave out the user whose record you're on and anyone already in the list you're adding to. Anonymous accounts are also filtered out — they can't take part in proxy relationships (see the warning below).

Removing a proxy link

You can remove a link from either side — the effect is identical.

1. On the Proxies tab, find the person in the appropriate list.
2. Click the trash icon at the right end of their row.
3. A confirmation dialog (Remove Proxy or Remove Researcher) explains exactly what will happen — for example, Are you sure you want to remove Jamie Park (jpark) as a proxy for dlee? They will no longer be able to submit requests on behalf of this user.
4. Click Remove. Aeon deletes the link and confirms with Proxy removed successfully.

Removing a link only ends the ability to place future requests on the other person's behalf. Requests already submitted under the relationship are unaffected.

Rules Aeon enforces

When you create a link, Aeon validates it and will refuse with a clear message if something's off:

Situation	What you'll see
You try to link a user to themselves	Cannot add a user as proxy to themselves
The link already exists	This proxy relationship already exists
Either party is an anonymous account	Cannot create proxy links for anonymous users
The selected user can't be found	User not found

Anonymous users can't be proxies or researchers

Aeon blocks proxy links where either the researcher or the proxy is an anonymous user. This applies whether you add from the proxy side or the researcher side. If you need a proxy relationship, both people must be real, named accounts.

Permissions

• Viewing the Proxies tab — the two lists — is available to anyone with at least View access to Users.
• Adding or removing a proxy link requires Edit access to Users. If your role is view-only for users, the Add buttons and trash icons are disabled, and the proxy actions in the user record's action menu are greyed out.
• The proxy actions are also disabled while the user record is locked by another staff member, since you can't change a record someone else is editing.