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OCLC Acquires Ezproxy Smart Libraries Newsletter American Library Association NON PROFIT 50 East Huron Street US POSTAGE Chicago, IL 60611-2795 USA PAID PERMIT 3020 A LA TechSource BIRMINGHAM, AL www.techsource.ala.org March 2008 OCLC Acquires EZproxy Smart Libraries Newsletter Smart Libraries Newsletter delivers hard data and innovative insights about the world of library technology, every month. Contributing Editor Marshall Breeding TO SUBSCRIBE 615-343-6094 [email protected] To reserve your subscription, contact the Customer Service Center at 800-545-2433, press 5 for assistance, or visit www.techsource.ala.org. Interim Editor Tom Peters The 2008 subscription price is just $85 US. 816-228-6406 [email protected] Production and design by Kimberly Saar Richardson, Administrative Assistant American Library Association Production Services. Judy Foley Smart Libraries Newsletter is published monthly by ALA TechSource, 800-545-2433, ext. 4272 a unit of the publishing division of the American Library Association. 312-280-4272 [email protected] Copyright American Library Association 2008. All rights reserved. Newsletter TM A LA TechSource www.techsource.ala.org Formerly Library Systems Newsletter™ 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2795, USA OCLC Acquires EZproxy In a move that continues its ongoing drive to accumulate a broad set of library IN THIS ISSUE automation components, OCLC has acquired EZproxy from Useful Utilities, a one-person company based in Peoria, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. The acquisi- tion of this product gives OCLC control of an important piece of the infrastruc- OCLC Acquires EZproxy ture that connects individual libraries to the content and services on the Web. PAGE 1 This issue of Smart Libraries Newsletter describes what the EZproxy software NewGenLib: An Open Source ILS for Libraries does and why it is important, provides some information on the business acquisi- in the Developing World tion, and offers some background and perspective. PAGE 3 So, You Want to Use RFID in Your Library PAGE 4 March 2008 XXVIII Volume Number 3 An Essential Tool to Access Electronic Content Proxy servers like EZproxy facilitate access to Web-based information. A typical Innovative SUSHI a la ARL PAGE 5 academic library spends a significant portion of its collections budget on subscrip- tions to electronic content with the intent to provide access to that content to its Live Online Homework Help from Tutorvista.com users. Libraries generally need to enable access to their patrons not only when in PAGE 6 the library but also from off-site locations. EZproxy was developed specifically to Something Wikia This Way Comes help libraries deliver access to subscribed electronic content to off-site patrons. PAGE 7 EZproxy was developed specifically to help libraries deliver access to subscribed electronic content to off-site patrons. When a publisher licenses its content to a library, it needs some mechanism ISSN 1541-8820 to ensure that only the users of its subscribers gain access to the product and not the general public. Most publishers rely on IP address to regulate access, requiring that a library provide a list of the IP address ranges used within the organization it serves. This provides a convenient mechanism for on-campus or in-library access, but fails to accommodate off-site users. In order to serve off-site users, various types of proxy servers can function as an intermediary between a user and a remote service, effectively delivering to them a library IP address so that they can use these restricted resources. The key challenge lies in implementing a secure authentication system that ensures that access continues to be restricted to individuals associated with Receive Smart Libraries via e-mail the organization with the minimum of inconvenience for library users. Subscribers that would like an e-mailed ver- sion of the newsletter each month should for- Authentication ward one e-mail address and all of the mailing label information printed on page 8 of the A crucial component of EZproxy involves authentication—the ability to deter- newsletter to [email protected]. Type “e-mail my mine whether an individual is associated with the institution and has the right Smart Libraries” into the subject line. In addi- to access a given resource. Providing access to on-site users can easily be accom- tion to your monthly printed newsletter, you plished by virtue of their IP address of their computer. The library must use some will receive an electronic copy via e-mail (to one address per paid subscription) at no extra1 Continued on next page charge each month. A LA TechSource www.techsource.ala.org alternate authentication mechanism to Integrating EZproxy into Integration with eLearning allow access to off-site patrons. Most academic institutions maintain Library Content Delivery Environments some type of authentication service for In order to make access seamless to its True to the academic library orienta- its user community. Practically all col- users, the library can implement a few tion of EZproxy, work has been done to leges and universities offer an authen- simple changes to integrate EZproxy into use the utility to help integrate library tication service as part of the campus the various systems it uses to point its resources into the Blackboard course network to support access to course- users to its electronic resources. To invoke management system. A Blackboard ware or virtual learning environments, EZproxy, the library will reformulate the building block integrates authentication e-mail systems, and the like. Such an URL for each of its resources to one that mechanisms providing access to library authentication service might be imple- routes access through the proxy server. resources listed in a course without the mented using protocols such as LDAP The links provided through the library’s need for the dual logins that would oth- (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), online catalog through the 856 field in erwise be needed. CAS (Central Authentication Service), the MARC record as well as any menus, RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial- link resolvers, finding aids, or other Web EZproxy Background in User Service), Kerberos, or Athens. pages used to provide access to restricted Many campuses are working toward sin- content will prepend the EZproxy URL to EZproxy was created by Chris Zagar, gle sign-on environments where all the the resource’s native location. For exam- a librarian employed by the Maricopa network services available to the com- ple to access the resource located at http:// Community College system in Arizona. munity work through a single centralized tvnews.vanderbilt.edu, all access points The software was initially released in authentication service. Academic libraries would be adjusted to use http://proxy. 1999 and by the time that it was acquired increasingly rely on campus-wide authen- library.vanderbilt.edu/login?url=http:// by OCLC had been purchased by over tication services rather than maintaining tvnews.vanderbilt.edu. With this version 2,400 libraries spanning sixty countries. their own independent service. of the URLs in place, as long as users go While academic libraries comprise the Public libraries, however, usually through the library’s Web site, they will majority of its users, it has also been don’t have the luxury of authentica- be able to access its resources from any sold to many public and special librar- tion services provided by their higher- location. EZproxy will detect whether ies. Zagar maintained a tight focus on the level organization and tend to rely on they are off site and perform authentica- company, developing and supporting a their integrated library system’s patron tion as needed. In most cases prepending single product. This focus has resulted in database as the authority for identifying the EZproxy component of the URL can be a reputation for highly reliable software valid remote users. A key component of accomplished programmatically without with stellar support. The product has the ILS involves a database of registered the need to change each one individually. become the de facto proxy server used in library patrons, which is used for in-per- academic libraries. son circulation transactions as well as Useful Use Statistics The cost of EZproxy has held steady Web-based self-service features. Many of at $495 since its initial release. At this the ILS products provide an API (appli- Given the large financial investments that price, EZproxy ranks as an extremely cation programming interface) to allow libraries make in their collections of sub- inexpensive, but essential, infrastructure it to function as an authentication service scribed content, it is essential to measure component for libraries. Unlike most for other applications. the level of use each product receives. other software products, Useful Utilities EZproxy was specifically designed Content publishers routinely provide offers perpetual free maintenance once for libraries and can take advantage of libraries with usage statistics. EZproxy an institution purchases the product, the authentication services available to also gives the library an additional means which includes the access to new releases both academic and public libraries. In to monitor use counts through its logs. of the software and technical support. addition to the major protocols used Libraries can use standard Web server Sales of EZproxy have generated reve- on campus networks, it can authenti- log analysis tools to create reports that nue of just over $1 million since its ini- cate against library automation systems show the use of each product as mediated tial release. including Millennium from Innovative by the proxy server. These reports can EZproxy is not open source software. Interfaces, Web2 and HIP from Sirsi- be especially helpful in helping libraries Useful Utilities developed EZproxy using Dynix, as well as the SIP protocol (Ses- measure the levels of use by patrons from the traditional closed source licensing sion Initiation Protocol) supported by all off-campus locations versus those in the model, but with extremely liberal terms the major ILS products.
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