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With increasing demands from library users to access subscription databases from off-site, libraries are searching for and creating ways to authenticate off-site users. While many libraries have successfully managed to set up their own solution via the use of IP addresses, user IDs and passwords, digital certificates, and/or proxy servers, many of these solutions lack in important capabilities such as the ability to collect quality statistics and the control of creating and managing a multitude of varying users.
With increasing demands from library users to access subscription databases from off site, libraries are searching for and creating ways to authenticate off-site users. While many libraries have successfully managed to set up their own solution via the use of IP addresses, user IDs and passwords, digital certificates, and/or proxy servers, many of these solutions lack in important capabilities such as the ability to collect quality statistics and the control of creating and managing a multitude of varying users. Obvia Corporation, a small but expanding New York-based company, offers remote data access (RDA) through a server software system allowing for an easy, controllable, cost-effective management solution to the remote access problem. Using Obvia's RDA service, librarians can focus on administrative and professional decisions and spend more time guiding their users to the appropriate information sources rather than on the mechanical connection that happens between the two.
Expensive database subscriptions eat up a large portion of your library's budget. You are reassured that the faculty and students are reaping the benefits of your investment when you begin to hear, "Can I access these databases from home?"
As summertime vacations approach, you begin to hear, "Can I access these databases from anywhere?" The demand for off-campus access to your library's resources will continue to grow as the number of homes connected to the Internet increases. Long-distance learning is becoming more and more popular, and these programs are becoming more technically advanced. Patrons are demanding library service beyond the four walls of the library, and librarians have to respond to these demands to ensure the future success of their libraries. Librarians who do not provide off-site access to eligible patrons are simply not getting the full benefits of their dollar investment in the licensing costs for these resources.
So how do we go about creating off-site access for eligible users to these many databases? How can we be sure that only those with access rights will be able to connect to these databases? How can we allow different classes of users dif ferent access rights to accommodate the college body (fulltime and adjunct faculty, full-time and part-time students, alumnae, etc.)? Can statistics be collected that show which databases are being used? Can user records be easily updated and new patrons added and removed with ease?
"No problem!" says Obvia Corporation, a small but expanding New York-based company. Obvia offers remote data access (RDA) through a server software system. Its service provides an easy, controllable, cost-effective technology management solution to the remote access problem. Most vendors of subscription databases can set up libraries to allow remote access via IP addresses and/or user IDs and passwords. However, vendors generally supply libraries with a limited number of passwords, necessitating the sharing of passwords by users while offering little control on the library's side in setting up user profiles and access rights. Furthermore, vendors' usage statistics are either nonexistent or undependable.
The Obvia RDA server consists of Microsoft Windows NT Server-based web server application programs and supporting software products. The server supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later and Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later web browsers. The RDA server uses a two-tier authentication system, which first authenticates each user and then passes the information on to the database providers. Authentication is anonymous, and the database providers are not given the true identity of the library patron.
Obvia can use your library automation system's patron files, registration files, or any other machine-readable resource file to create the initial patron directory. Each remote user's information is stored in a single user directory. This means that each user's access information is stored just once. This removes the need to enter each user's information into each separate database account or vendor's system. Users are then classed into groups of service categories and access rights.
For example, at Manhattanville, full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, full-time students, part-time students, and alumnae all have different allowances and rights in accessing the library's subscription databases. These different types of classes are stored in the Service & Access Control Directory, and library administrators can easily update these classes of users as necessary.
The RDA server system administrator tool allows administrators to have complete control in assigning rights and privileges to different levels of classes, while there is virtually no control with authenticating through each database vendor. With Obvia's administration tool, adjustments may easily be made to the number of simultaneous users connected to a particular database by class of service. This can enhance performance by controlling network bandwidth utilization, and it can control priority access as well. Start dates and expiration dates can be assigned to individual users, specific services, or entire classes of service. The Obvia RDA management system is completely web based, allowing administrators to access the control directory with any web browser from any location.
A strong collection development practice is essential to librarians. With the increase in electronic materials, including online subscription databases, librarians need to adjust their collection development vision and procedures. Decisions must ultimately be made regarding database subscriptions: which should be started, continued, or discontinued? How are these decisions to be made? Having access to statistics showing which databases are being used and how often is certainly invaluable knowledge in making these decisions. These statistics are easily collected with Obvia's RDA server.
At Manhattanville College, initially, all our off site users connected through the RDA server, so we have been collecting these statistics with no problem. Up until recently, our in-house connections have been accessed through the library's "electronic resources" web page, and the connection to each vendor was made when the user clicked on the name of a database. We have recently changed this scenario at Manhattanville by routing all in-house use through Obvia's RDA server as well, and we now have access to the statistics of both in-house and remote users. We can see exactly who has been accessing which databases, with complete details of usage. Although many vendors provide usage statistics, some do not, and some provide very limited information. The importance of having these statistics should not be underestimated. Having these statistics is vital to librarians when negotiating pricing with vendors. In the past, librarians and library consortiums have been at the mercy of vendors, having no data to establish themselves in a bargaining position. Statistics gathered through Obvia's RDA server are current, collected under quality-controlled conditions, and represent all types of libraries.
There is another advantage to having our subscription databases connect through Obvia's RDA server: if our web server goes down, we can still access our subscription databases-a nice feature after paying the hefty prices to connect to these resources. We also have a backup "electronic resources" page on our local web server, with each database linking directly to the vendor or provider, and this page is available to be posted on our web site in the event Obvia's server should go down.
Academic libraries, public libraries, school libraries, and special libraries are all facing the issue of how to allow access to their subscription resources to eligible users from off-site. The demand for remote service will continue to increase as more people gain Internet access from offcampus. Many libraries are presently struggling with creating their own home-based solutions to remote access involving the use of scripted identification and passwords, digital certificates, and/or proxy servers. While many universities and colleges have knowledgeable and properly trained staff who can successfully set up and maintain their own systematic approach to remote data access, other libraries, such as Manhattanville, find that outsourcing this job really pays off. Many of these other solutions lack important capabilities, including ease of managing the classes of service, ease of operation, or the ability to collect quality statistics. These usage statistics are of great importance to librarians deciding the value of their current database subscriptions. Our experience in outsourcing to Obvia's RDA service shows us that librarians can focus on guiding the user to his or her appropriately chosen information sources rather than spending time and effort on maintaining the network connections between the two.
Obvia works with your institution's technology department, current operating system, and existing network environment and is involved in the planning, installation, implementation, and maintenance of your remote data access solutions. Currently, Obvia has more than forty-five sites ranging from academic, public, and K-12 libraries in New York state using the RDA server. With these services in place, librarians are relieved of the mechanical process of RDA and can focus on administrative and professional decisions.
For more information on Obvia, visit their web site at http://www.obvia.com.
About the Author
Tami-Jo Eckley has a B.A. in theater from Marymount Manhattan College, an M.A. in communication arts from the New York Institute of Technology and an M.S. in library and information science from Long Island University. She is the electronic services and media librarian at Manhattanville College Library. She is responsible for media operations at
the college, is currently working on building a listening media center in the library, and is supervising a newly renovated computer lab. She creates the library's web site and is responsible for setting up access to the online subscription databases. She also teaches a college-required one-credit library information literacy class for incoming students. She may be contacted at [email protected] or at Manhattanville College Library; phone: (914) 323-5274.
Copyright Sage Publications, Inc. 1999