Global library cooperative Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC), US, has announced that it has acquired EZproxy, a software for serving library patrons remotely, from Useful Utilities, US. Useful Utilities founder Chris Zagar will join OCLC as a full-time consultant. Zagar, a librarian at the Maricopa Community Colleges in Arizona, will help ensure a smooth transition of EZproxy operations to OCLC and also assist OCLC in developing authentication services for the cooperative.
EZproxy allows libraries to manage access and authentication configurations through a proxy server so that library users do not have to make any configuration changes to their personal web browsers. More than 2,400 institutions in over 60 countries have purchased the software.
OCLC will honour EZproxy's current service arrangement for existing and new customers whereby licensees will continue to enjoy access to new releases of EZproxy and technical support at no additional charge. OCLC will also continue to develop and support EZproxy by working with commercial vendors to create new connectors to authentication systems and online content resources to libraries. Version 4.1 of the product is scheduled for release in March 2008.
Additionally, OCLC is planning to connect local instances of EZproxy to WorldCat.org, which allows web access to one of the world's richest database for discovery of materials held in libraries. By surfacing EZproxy in WorldCat.org, end users outside of the library will have better access to library collections and services through WorldCat.
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