[LIBRARYDIR] OpenAthens vs. EZproxy

[Guidry, Wade]

Just some additional background…

OpenAthens (https://openathens.org ) is a platform implementation of the RA21 standard. Ebsco is the reseller of OpenAthens in the US.

The larger, standards-development efforts for a universal access solution for restricted academic content was known as RA21 (https://ra21.org/  ).

The RA21 effort concluded this June with the publication of a NISO recommended practice (https://www.niso.org/standards-committees/ra21 )

That work continues now in the form of a non-profit group working on a new, open implementation (https://seamlessaccess.org /)

To implement these kind of identity-based access systems (as opposed to EZProxy, which is IP address based), your institution must first be using a true single sign-on (SSO) platform, such as Shibboleth or ADFS. (Tammy, YVC doesn't use SSO, or at least not for Alma and Primo. You use Active Directory, which isn't SSO.)

The other big requirement is that all of your vendors must also support SSO. Otherwise, you still need EZProxy.



Wade Guidry
WACTCLC
Library Consortium Services Manager
mailto:wadeg at bigbend.edu 
http://www.wactclc.org/
509.760.4474


From: LIBRARYDIR [mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Thomas, Kirsti via LIBRARYDIR
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2019 3:27 PM
To: WACTC Library Directors <librarydir at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Thomas, Kirsti <Kirsti.Thomas at seattlecolleges.edu>
Subject: Re: [LIBRARYDIR] OpenAthens vs. EZproxy

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Tammy,

There was discussion of this on the Alma-L list just last month.  Kelly Lutz at Nevada State College had a really good overview:

https://exlibrisusers.org/cgi-bin/mailman/private/alma/2019-September/045276.html

In general, she says that they've had to keep EZProxy running in tandem with OpenAthens longer than expected (details in her post).  She also says:

The pros, as we have seen them thus far, are:
Authentication at publisher websites: Many (the larger ones) publishers allow users to login using OpenAthens via an institutional login at their site.  We could see from the OpenAthens dashboard that our users were finding and using this feature even before we officially switched over to OpenAthens in Alma/Primo.  This is a great feature, and our hope is that more publishers will build this feature into their sites in a way that is easy for users to find and use.

Seamless (almost) access:  We use our campus sso as the identity provider for OpenAthens, meaning that users now sign into library resources with the same login screen they use for other campus systems, which include Canvas (the college LMS).   The end result of using OpenAthens with campus sso is that users have almost seamless access across these systems -- one sign in for Primo user accounts, library e-resources, campus services, and the LMS.  I say almost because we are still working on some issues with access across systems.  For ex, a user can be signed into their account in Primo, open Primo a new tab, and not be signed in.  OpenAthens is supposed to enable sites in the same browser to recognize you as an authorized user, for up to 8 hours.  We've had a ticket into ExLibris about this for over a month.

The cons so far:
We are still working on finding the best solution for guest access for walk-in users.  Briefly - because we do not use IP authentication, and because OpenAthens uses our campus sso to authorize users, it is trickier.

Laszlo Gercsov at Macquarie University says:

If you have IP authenticated resources, you either need to keep your existing EZproxy server, or you can have a basic proxy service hosted by OpenAthens at additional cost.

https://exlibrisusers.org/cgi-bin/mailman/private/alma/2019-September/045049.html


Kirsti S. Thomas
Library Technical Service Manager
Seattle Colleges
mailto:kirsti.thomas at seattlecolleges.edu



From: LIBRARYDIR <mailto:librarydir-bounces at lists.ctc.edu> On Behalf Of Tammy Siebenberg via LIBRARYDIR
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2019 13:17
To: WACTC Library Directors List <mailto:librarydir at lists.ctc.edu>
Cc: Tammy Siebenberg <mailto:tsiebenberg at yvcc.edu>
Subject: [LIBRARYDIR] OpenAthens vs. EZproxy

Yesterday I spoke with our EBSCO rep, George Dragich.  One of the products he told me about is OpenAthens as an alternative to EZproxy.

Do any of you use OpenAthens?  If so, what has been your experience?

Do you use another proxy server other than EZproxy?  If so, what is it and how do you like it?

Thanks.

Tammy

Tammy R. Siebenberg, MLIS
Director – Library & Media Services
Yakima Valley College
509.574.4984
mailto:tsiebenberg at yvcc.edu
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