InCommon Library Services

[Andy Ingham <>]

Hi Dean, and others:

I was unable to participate in the kickoff call 10 days ago, but am 
hoping to participate going forward.  I will be thinking about the 
action items over the next few days in preparation for the call this week.

I also wanted to provide some info that would have been shared on that 
initial call if I'd participated, FWIW...



UNC-Chapel Hill has run EZproxy in production for many years.  We are 
planning to Shibbolize our EZproxy in early May 2009.

Our campus computing group (ITS) is supporting the IdP and the Library 
will continue to run the EZproxy software as it shifts to Shibboleth.

Our main problems relating to EZproxy authentication include:

* some legitimate users (in our ILS's "patron db") are NOT represented 
in the ITS (campus level) user database

* some legitimate users are ONLY in a THIRD data source (neither the ITS 
user database NOR the "patron db")
        
* certain user ATTRIBUTES (for users that ARE in the ITS database) are 
available ONLY in our "patron db"; this will continue to require a 
"secondary" lookup for authorization purposes AFTER authentication 
against the ITS IdP
        

        
We are hopeful that eventually the IdP can be configured to consult both 
the patron database AND the third datasource (as necessary) for users / 
attributes behind the scenes, as it were, to enable a single point of 
entry for all users.  Shibboleth seems, in fact, to provide the 
likeliest solution to this long-standing problem.

More generally, we have other challenges that Shib and EZproxy may help 
us with, such as a satellite base of users (I won't call it a separate 
campus) that is significantly geographically distant from Chapel Hill.

I'm looking forward to working with the group.

Best,
Andy

Andy Ingham
Assistant Head, Library Systems
University Library
UNC-Chapel Hill
919-962-1288




Dean Woodbeck wrote:
> We have an InC-Library call coming up this Friday. In preparation, I am sending out the 
> list of action items from the last call. You will see the top three say 
> "All," so I invite you to take action!
>
> The wiki space has some additional information. You will find a summary of Phase 1, as well as a section called "Phase 1 work," which includes short (relatively) descriptions of some of the piloting done at UCSD, UWash, and the U of Maryland. 
>
> https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/inclibrary/Phase+2+-+InC-Library
>
> Action Items
>
> (AI) All - Develop use cases prior to the next call - how we want this hybrid 
> to look to the user and to the librarian. (email to Dean Woodbeck - 
> )
>
> (AI) All - Provide ideas as to the business case that you would present to 
> the library and IT organizations to justify this project. (email to Dean 
> Woodbeck - )
>
> (AI) All - List the top 10 outside library vendors that you'd like to see 
> Shib-enabled. (email to Dean Woodbeck - )
>
> (AI) Rich Wenger will email the list outlining this issue: how to account for 
> access to systems that may need a more-secure level of authorization.
>
> (AI) Ken Percival will email the list: how libraries are adding value to 
> EZproxy.
>
> (AI) Dean Woodbeck will develop the wiki space and add the initial 
> information from participants as it comes in via email.
>
> --Dean
>
> ---
> Dean Woodbeck
> Internet2/InCommon Outreach
>
> office: +1 (906) 483-2180
>
> Spring 2009 Internet2 Member Meeting
> April 27-29, Arlington, Virginia
> events.internet2.edu/2009/spring-mm