InCommon Library Services

["Paul B. Hill" <>]

> 3) if the user is coming from a specified set of IP address ranges, send 
> the user directly to the resource

From what I have heard, correctly configuring EZProxy for that case can 
actually be problematic.

One of my co-workers recently pointed out the following problem. His 
town library uses EZProxy, as does MIT. His town library system prompts 
him for his library card number. From home, via the town library, he 
gets access to some material that MIT does not license. When he is on 
campus, he goes to the town library URL and enters his library card 
number. However, he ends up with the same access that he would have if 
he had started off at the MIT Library site. In other words, while on 
campus there are actually some resources that he cannot access.

From home, he can access all of the resources that MIT provides access 
to, because he authenticates to the MIT Library system using a certificate.

An increasing number of people in our campus populations use mobile 
devices that have wide area networking enabled, and hence are using an 
external carrier such as AT&T or Verizon. At what point do we say that 
access policy based on an IP address range is a waste of time and 
resources?

Paul