OpenAthens makes access to resources easy, even ones that don’t support SAML

In 2021 Hong Kong Baptist University’s (HKBU’s) library went live with its OpenAthens implementation, a decision they made to improve security and protect library patrons’ privacy. But how easy has it been to get content providers to play ball?

“I want to emphasize how easy it is to allocate federated resources in the OpenAthens resources catalog,” says Chris Chan, the university librarian.

Because OpenAthens is all about making access to resources and knowledge easy, this makes us happy. And while we’re delighted it’s easy for librarians to set up content providers who support SAML and federated access, we are committed to help libraries resolve issues with those who don’t.

For these providers, we have a managed proxy service and Chris says this works well:

“Proxied resources may require a bit more effort, but the vast majority are still easy to set up.”

A few, however, are more complex. One important example for HKBU was a large Chinese language content provider whose titles were essential for the library.

Collaborative solutions

For a long time, this vendor simply declined to engage. But with support from OpenAthens and EBSCO Information Services, who have partnered with us to pioneer easy access to resources for 20 years, authentication is now working seamlessly with this Chinese organization. Chris says the groundwork that we’ve laid with them will benefit the library sector across his region.

Jeff Arsenault, SaaS sales manager at EBSCO Information Services, says the partnership between his organization and ours is fully focused on making configurations more effortless for librarians.

Making access to resources easy, day by day

To this end, EBSCO has more than 50 specialist staff working in 13 countries around the world. They support libraries and provide discovery tools, content management systems, link resolvers and more to make sure OpenAthens implementations happen smoothly and keep working well. They troubleshoot quickly if there’s a difficulty. It’s their job to give timely feedback to vendors, OpenAthens and libraries to share lessons learned, improve efficiencies and remove obstacles. Sharing information about glitches that have been experienced with setting up a particular vendor means it’s easier for others to find a solution next time.

Over time, EBSCO has evolved its systems to make it easy to collaborate. They have web-based tools and interactive user interfaces to, as Jeff says, “lighten the librarian’s load” and get problems dealt with faster.

“More recently, we have partnered with [project management software company] Monday.com to create a dashboard that’s interoperable, interactive and collaborative,” says Jeff.

“It means librarians can track progress on resolving their issues, talk to their EBSCO implementation manager and arrange update meetings to suit their needs. We’re always looking for ways to improve the tools to make set-up more efficient and intuitive.”

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