A model for incorporating e-resources into Trove, September 2010

A MODEL FOR INCORPORATING

E-RESOURCES INTO TROVE

ERA MEMBERS FORUM 1 SEPTEMBER 2010

WARWICK CATHRONATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA

E-RESOURCES: BARRIERS TO ACCESS

• Users lack awareness of the e-resources provided by their libraries (especially for public /state / national libraries)

• Consequently they are significantly under-used• Often there is no easy article-level discovery• A user-centric approach is needed

NLA ASPIRATION

• Australian library users can easily discover and link through to those e-resources which they are entitled to access by virtue of their multiple library memberships

NSLA OPEN BORDERS PROJECT [1]• Increase the use of e-resources by making

access easier• Adopt a common NSLA framework for access

to e-resources via Trove• Contribute data (such as EZProxy addresses)

to support authentication

PLANNED EXPANSION OF TROVE

• To commence in October 2010• Aim to complete by April 2011• Load APAIS, AMI and other indexing data• Load data for e-resources from partner

vendors, starting with RMIT Publishing

ACCESS AND AUTHENTICATION MODEL• Vendors supply:

– article level metadata for inclusion in Trove– data about which articles are in which products are licensed by

which libraries

• Users of Trove are encouraged to register and to tell Trove which libraries are their libraries

• Trove uses this vendor and user data to highly rank those articles which the user is entitled to access

• The user is then landed on the vendor’s site where any remaining authentication and access to the full text are managed

COMMENTS ON MODEL• Requires collaboration from vendors

– To date, RMIT Publishing and Gale have agreed to participate

• Leverages off the efforts of vendors in maintaining article and subscription data

• Vendors can be confident that access and authentication are under control

• For some libraries, there will be difficulties in authenticating users that are off site

AUTHENTICATION SCENARIOS• Case 1: user’s library affiliations are unknown• Case 2: none of the user’s libraries subscribe to a

wanted e-resource • Case 3: user can be IP-authenticated as having onsite

access privileges • Case 4: user is offsite, user’s library has an EZproxy

server or OpenURL resolver• Case 5: user is offsite, user’s library does not have an

EZproxy server or OpenURL resolver

CASES 1 AND 2

• Case 1: user’s library affiliations are unknown, OR• Case 2: none of the user’s libraries subscribe to a

wanted e-resource • Trove encourages the user to register their library

affiliations (in Case 1) • Trove may be able to refer the user to a vendor’s

“pay per view” page• Access to the PDF of the article will be provided

after the user supplies valid credit card details

CASE 3• User can be IP-authenticated as having onsite access

privileges• If more than one of the user’s libraries have the e-

resource, Trove asks the user to select a library • Trove refers the user to the vendor site, where the IP

address of the library will be verified, and the user will be given access to the e-resource

• There are caveats with respect to walk-in users and in determining whether a user is really onsite, especially for public libraries

CASE 4• User is offsite, but user’s library has an EZproxy

server or OpenURL resolver• The user finds an article and selects a library• Trove creates a link to the relevant EZproxy server,

passing the article URL as a parameter• The user enters their credentials and the EZproxy

server authenticates the user • The EZproxy server redirects the user to the article

URL• The vendor site trusts the referrer, given that it can

verify the address of the EZproxy server, and the user will be given access to the e-resource

CASE 5• User is offsite, and user’s library does not have an

EZproxy server or OpenURL resolver• User finds an article and selects a library• Trove provides user with a login screen and user enters

the relevant credentials for the selected library• Trove “pretends to be a human being” and enters the

login credentials at the real library login page • If this succeeds, Trove connects to the vendor’s site

behind the scenes, obtains the e-resource and presents it to user

• There are a number of security issues with this process• Complexities include the need for a directory of library

login pages, maintained by NLA

OPEN BORDERS PROJECT [2]• Project Group met on 12 August and

agreed to support Cases 1-4• If possible, there will be a small pilot of

Case 5• NSLA has agreed to fund the work of

collating and building the required authentication data

• Still aiming for implementation by April 2011

CONCLUSIONS

• E-resources are under-used, especially in public libraries

• There is a need for a user-centric approach to e-resource access

• Trove, and the Open Borders Project, are opportunities to improve access

YOUR QUESTIONS