Global library cooperative OCLC, US, has announced that EZproxy, the authentication and remote access software for libraries, is now available as a hosted solution in Europe. Beginning in June 2012, University of the Arts London will be piloting an EZproxy authentication service hosted in OCLC’s new data center in London. On conclusion of the pilot, the service will go live for libraries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
EZproxy manages institutional data about staff and users, domains and IT settings plus libraries’ electronic collections to facilitate access to online materials both inside and outside institutional IP ranges. The service ensures that a user’s interaction and engagement with their library’s e-resources can be the same, wherever they happen to be when accessing them.
The growth in investment in e-resources by libraries and the increasing numbers of users who choose to connect with these resources remotely has put even greater emphasis on the need for robust and trusted technology to manage increasing levels of access requests. The hosted service is expected to attract interest from libraries that are looking for a fully managed service where all aspects of its setup and configuration – in addition to its ongoing maintenance including IT monitoring, security, backup and recovery - will also be provided.
Hosted EZproxy is also being offered as part of OCLC WorldShare License Manager, OCLC’s wider solution for electronic resource access and management. The service, announced earlier this year, addresses the needs of electronic services teams who are on the frontline in managing user requests and troubleshooting access issues. License Manager combines a robust access and delivery mechanism for e-resources with an easy-to-build search and manage subscription and licence repository, hosted in the cloud and populated by data from the WorldCat knowledge base.
