InC-Lib-Vendor

[David Kennedy <>]

Subject:  "Vendor A"'s Shibboleth implementation

Dear _______,

My name is David Kennedy.  I am writing on behalf of the InCommon Federation's Library Working Group (our membership is listed below).  Over the past two years, we have been piloting technology solutions for providing seamless access to licensed online resources.  The technology solutions that we have been piloting are a hybrid approach with Shibboleth and EZproxy.  Our goals are to promote common approaches to use of these technologies across libraries and information providers, document these practices to facilitate implementation, and ultimately provide seamless access to licensed resources to our user communities.

We have identified that there are some barriers to implementation.  Namely, there are no clear technical implementation guidelines for vendors implementing Shibboleth.  On the flip side, there are also no clear guidelines for institutions to integrate Shibboleth into their library environment.  And there is no comprehensive list, in the US, of Shibboleth-enabled resources.

To this end, we are contacting resource providers, initially focusing on those vendors who have supported the Shibboleth cause.  We are in the process of generating a registry of resources that support our approach, and would like to include you in that registry.  The purpose of the registry is to promote those resources that are Shibboleth-enabled and to guide libraries that are implementing Shibboleth where to find information.

How can you help us?
1.        We have attached a questionnaire to gather information for the registry.  We ask that you please fill this out and send it back.
2.        We have documented best practices for resource providers that are integrating Shibboleth into their services.  The real crux of these best practices is the configuration of the Shibboleth SessionInitiator.  We have gathered together an eager group of institutions, many of whom are already your customers.  We are ready, willing and able to work with you to understand and implement these best practices, as well as act as testers for your implementations.  Our names, and our institutions are listed below.  Would you, or members of your staff, be willing to work with us to test your Shibboleth implementations?

Thank you for your consideration.

David Kennedy (Duke University)

Steven Carmody (Brown University, Internet2)

Adam Chandler (Cornell University)

Andy Ingham (University of North Carolina)

Kent Percival (University of Guelph, Canadian Access Federation)

Joy Veronneau (Cornell University)

Ann West (Internet2)

Dean Woodbeck (Internet2)

Jason Zavar (OCLC)

Foster Zhang (Johns Hopkins University)

Fred Zhang (Michigan State University)

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(Attached questionnaire)

[include basic questions here to gather information for registry]

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David Kennedy
Systems Programmer
Perkins Library, Duke University
(919) 613-6831