EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is making it possible for organisations to provide their users with a single access portal though which they can discover and seamlessly access all library resources regardless of where that content is located. EBSCO has expanded its partnership with OpenAthens from Eduserv to provide a single sign-on solution which allows users to avoid using multiple passwords to log in to the organisation's accounts.
The agreement builds on a successful collaboration between EBSCO and OpenAthens in Australia and New Zealand and allows EBSCO to resell OpenAthens to customers around the world. Combining OpenAthens with EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and Full-Text Finder (FTF) creates an access portal that can discover all library resources along with an authentication system that provides seamless access across virtually all content providers. EDS and FTF can be configured to sense a user's authentication method and provide appropriate links to target sites.
Using the single sign-on approach to authentication, OpenAthens allows an institution to centrally manage its users and the resources they can access. OpenAthens supports both IP and username/password authentication to allow on-campus users to authenticate without a username/password. It works with content providers that offer authentication using: OpenAthens; Shibboleth; IP Address (requires subscription to OpenAthens Managed Proxy); or username/password.
The OpenAthens/EBSCO solution provides an option for organisations where single sign-on is a major need but is difficult to achieve with conventional approaches. It can serve organisations that must have 'named user' capabilities that transcend their firewalls and integrate with third-party research and learning products and institutions that are required by law to strictly control access to their intranet as well for organizations that want to enjoy the benefits of single sign-on but lack the technical infrastructure or expertise to support the authentication method.
