Re: Remote Access for Library Resources Alternatives

[Steven Carmody <Steven_Carmody () BROWN EDU>]

At 8:14 AM -0500 6/23/09, Michael J. Wheeler wrote:
> Jim,
>
> Our library has been using EZProxy for quite some time (several
> years). Right now it authenticates against LDAP, but we are working
> with our library staff to get it integrated into our Shibboleth IdP.

I'd note that InCommon (the US Higher Ed/Research Shibboleth
Federation) is currently sponsoring a working group that is exploring
how to integrate Shibboleth with existing library access control
infrastructures (InC-Library). The group has a wiki space at:

https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/inclibrary/InC-Library

and an email list; the group holds regular conference calls.  The
group is proceeding from an assumption that a campus is already using
EZProxy, since that greatly simplifies the issues related to running
a "hybrid" environment that includes some vendors that are
shib-enabled and some that aren't.

Someone mentioned that currently there aren't that many info vendors
that are members of InCommon. Several european countries took the
lead on this (the UK Federation has 100+ info providers as members,
as do several other european countries); one of the InC-Library
sub-groups is working to bring those vendors into IC.

If you'd like more info about this WG, or would like to be added to
the WG email list, send me an email off-list. Your school doesn't
have to be a member of IC in order to join this group (eg there are
already several Canadian campuses that are members). I'd note, tho,
that you're not going to get much out of participation if you're not
thinking about deploying Shib and joining IC.