InC-Lib-Vendor

["Kent Percival" <>]

I’m just back from vacation and catching up on conversations.  Congratulations to Dave and the team. The vendor engagement and data collection has been very productive.  I’m learning a lot about vendor interest and status.  The data will provide a good resource to library IT support.

Beyond the list of vendors we are working with, there appears to be a dizzying array of businesses in the digital library industry.  Besides the publishers (Thomson-Reuters, Elsevier, etc.) there are also a number of “aggregators” providing federated search and access to the basic publisher content databases.  They are developing API’s and interconnection architecture that also link local library resource and other databases into a single virtual search space. 

One application that I’ve had a recent introduction to is Summon® from SerialSolutions, a ProQuest company.   The “Standards” tab on the home page describes a list of standards and standards partners they are working with.  Some of these relate to the transparent linking of library applications and resources.  While Access Management is mentioned, there is no reference to Shibboleth/InCommon.  However, I was told verbally that they are talking with Google about OpenId among other things.

Originally our library and others were concerned about direct access to the base content at the publishers.  Lately however, there is much more talk about utilizing aggregators rather than trying to maintain in-house search and link capabilities (including EZproxy) … essentially outsourcing services to the “cloud” to be able to offer leading application tools.

Our project is focused on enhancing the use of EZproxy with the addition of the access management middleware of Shibboleth.  However, I believe we need to be aware that the industry may be moving quickly beyond the EZproxy model.  A future Ineternet2/InCommon project needs to figure out how Shibboleth (more generally SAML) plays with the newer models and standards developed by the industry.

 

....Kent

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From: David Kennedy [mailto:]
Sent: July 31, 2009 11:46
To:
Subject: [InC-Lib-Vendor] ** Vendor subgroup call canceled for today **

 

My apologies for the very short notice.  I am not able to make the call today and am canceling it.  

Our next call will be next Friday, August 7th at 1PM EST.

Dave

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