Transcript Technical aspects of managing e-resources

Technical aspects of
managing e-resources tools
Problems facing e-resources
• Most library e-journals & databases are restricted to use on
campus, or use off-campus only by current faculty, staff, and
students.
• Accessibility of the resources by users away from the libraries
or out of IP range.
• Authentication of users accessing the e-resources.
• Difficulty of users to find the exact material with the shortest
time possible.
• Too many databases having the same materials in different
locations.
• Restriction of some materials in some repositories and
databases.
• Lack of enough knowledge by users to search the materials
and navigate through the databases.
The main question is?
• How to access the e-resources remotely with
ease.
• How to have a less complicated process when
searching the e-resources.
• How to solve the authentication problem where
users don’t have to remember a lot of passwords.
• How to search the e-resources from one central
position.
• How to train users on use of e-resource materials.
The answers:
• This challenges can be solved by use of tools
that are available and they are open source.
• The tools have been made available to improve
and make use of e-resources easy to use ,
available any time and at any location.
• These tools are easy to implement and
customize according to your liking.
• These tools can integrate with most library
information systems.
THE TOOLS?
Federated search tools
Federated search is an information retrieval
technology that allows the simultaneous
search of multiple searchable resources. A
user makes a single query request which is
distributed to the search engines participating
in the federation. e.g. Google CSE,
subjectsplus, Vufind, Libraryfind and
blacklight.
Authentication tools
• This are software's used to authenticate
users when logging in to restricted sites
such as repositories databases etc. A
software that is used during the user
authentication process. E.g. shibboleth,
simplesamlphp, JASIG and the Openvpn
Example of federated search tools
• VuFind
VuFind is a library resource portal designed and developed
for libraries by libraries. The goal of VuFind is to enable
your users to search and browse through all of your
library's resources by replacing the traditional OPAC to
include Catalog Records
a) Locally Cached Journals
b) Digital Library Items
c) Institutional Repository
d) Institutional Bibliography
e) Other Library Collections and Resources
VuFind Cont.:
• VuFind is completely modular so you can implement just
the basic system, or all of the components. And since it's
open source, you can modify the modules to best fit your
need or you can add new modules to extend your
resource offerings.
• VuFind runs on Solr energy Apache Solr, an open source
search engine, offers amazing performance and
scalability to allow for VuFind to respond to search
queries in milliseconds time. It has the ability to be
distributed if you need to spread the load of the catalog
over many servers or in a server farm environment.
VuFind cont.:
• Licensing
• VuFind is offered for free through the GPL
open source license. This means that you
can use the software for free. You can
modify the software and share your
successes with the community!
Features of vufind:
• Search with Faceted Results
• The search system allows for the user to search from a
basic search box and then to be able to narrow down the
results by clicking on the various facets of the results.
• Browse for Resources
• The user has the ability to browse the catalog allowing
them to explore what the library has rather than only
being able to see a very narrow spectrum of results.
• Author Biographies
• The user can learn more about the author with
contextual information and see all of the books that they
have written in the library.
Features of VuFind Cont.:
• Persistent URLs
• Allows the user to bookmark their queries or records to
allow permanent access to a page they were once on.
• Zotero Compatible
• Your users can save and tag any records with Zotero or
any other COinS based application so they can store
their records in one place.
• Resource Suggestions
•
When viewing a record, the user will be offered
suggestions of resources that are similar to the current
resource.
Conclusion
• The VuFind being a federated search tool
can be implemented in libraries and
repositories, databases, journals ,e-books
and electronic materials searched from
one central position thus the vufind is a
critical tool libraries and thus the need to
implement.
The Blacklight:
• Blacklight is an open source Ruby on Rails gem that
provides a discovery interface for any Solr index.
• Blacklight provides a default user interface which is
customizable via the standard Rails mechanisms.
• Blacklight accommodates heterogeneous data, allowing
different information displays for different types of
objects.
• Blacklight uses Apache Solr an enterprise-scale index for
its search engine.
Features of blacklight:
• Faceted browsing,
• Relevance based searching (with the
ability to locally control the relevancy
algorithms),
• Bookmark able items,
• Permanent URLs for every item,
• And user tagging of items.
Licensing
• Blacklight is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
United States License and thus open
source and is used for free and
customized according to your liking.
Conclusion:
• Considering it as an open source tool its
features that is faceted browsing,
relevance based searching (with the ability
to locally control the relevancy algorithms),
bookmark able items, thus conclude that
tool is of great benefit to our libraries and a
major tool in relation to access of eresources.
SubjectsPlus
• SubjectsPlus is developed by the Joyner
Library at East Carolina University.
• It became abandon ware, and with
permission, an expanded version of this
original software was open sourced and it
still is.
• Its development was undertaken at the
Ithaca College Library and now the
University of Miami Libraries.
SubjectsPlus Features:
• Create Guides
• Create unlimited Research Guides via drag'n'drop interface.
• Staff List
• Sorted A-Z, By Department, By Librarian
• Database List
• A-Z, By Format, By Subject
• Responsive Design
• Looks better on tablets & mobile devices
• Suggestion Box
• Easy way to display and respond to patron comments; now
multi-site
SubjectsPlus Features Cont.:
• Video Management
• Ingest video metadata from YouTube or Vimeo, organize
and display in one place on your site
• Customizable
• You have complete control; add your own headers &
footers, tweak the layout & css, add data via the API
• Multilingual
• French, Spanish & Russian versions included; new
translations coming.
Licensing
• Subjectplus is offered for free through the
GPL open source license. This means that
you can use the software for free. You can
modify the software and share your
successes with the community.
Conclusion:
• The subjectplus easily integrates with the
library information systems and thus have no
doubt affirming it as a great federated tool
that is a necessity for better access of the eresources materials in libraries.
• A national training workshop on SubjectsPlus
was held in Zimbabwe in December 2011.
You can download the training materials as a
Zip file here:
zimbabwe_subjectsplus_workshop.zip.
Google CSE:
• Google Custom Search is a platform provided by
Google that allows web developers to feature
specialized information in web searches, refine
and categorize queries and create customized
search engines, based on Google Search.
• Google Custom Search Engine allows creators to
select what websites will be used to search for
information which helps to eliminate any unwanted
websites or information.
• Google CSE users can also attach their custom
search engine to any blog or webpage.
Google CSE – setting up
• Must first create a Gmail account / or use existing
• Login to Google CSE and add the name of the
CSE.
• Add the sites that one wants to search from e.g.
The url to the online OPAC , e-resources etc.
• The links should be added carefully i.e. use the
original or the home link.
• Once the links are added click on the option get
code.
• A code will be provided which one can copy and
add it to your website where users can search
from.
Conclusion:
• The Google CSE is a free to use software. It
is the easiest to install yet very effective and
reliable. Its open source thus one can
customize it to your liking. This can be a big
step for libraries where users can search for
e-materials from one central position and
search for many databases, repositories and
other site .The libraries should adopt it and
implement it to libraries.
The authentication tools:
• OpenVPN Technologies
• This is a privately held company based in the
Pleasanton, California, integrating a suite of leadingedge networking and software technologies.
• OpenVPN Technologies has designed and deployed
a virtual network software that provides secure, reliable,
and scalable communication services,
fulfilling the
requirements of the traditional virtual private network
(VPN) market.
openVPN Features
• tunnel any IP subnetwork or virtual ethernet adapter over
a single UDP or TCP port,
• configure a scalable, load-balanced VPN server farm
using one or more machines which can handle
thousands of dynamic connections from incoming VPN
clients,
• use all of the encryption, authentication, and certification
features of the OpenSSL library to protect your private
network traffic as it transits the internet,
• create secure ethernet bridges using virtual tap devices,
and control OpenVPN using a GUI on Windows or Mac
OS X.
Conclusion
• The openvpn is a gateway to allow remote
access of the e-resources . Libraries need
to embrace the and implement it and thus
allowing the accessibility of their
repositories, digital libraries, journals ebooks and other electronic materials
available to the users away from the
libraries which will in turn increase and
bring information closer to the users.
JASIG
• This is a Central Authentication Service
project, more commonly referred to as
CAS. CAS is an authentication system
created by Yale University to provide a
trusted way for an application to
authenticate a user. It became a Jasig
project in December 2004.
JASIG Features:
• An open and well-documented protocol
• An open-source Java server component
• A library of clients for Java, .NET, PHP, Perl,
Apache, uPortal, and others
• Integrates with uPortal, BlueSocket, TikiWiki,
Mule, Liferay, Moodle and others
• Community documentation and implementation
support
• An extensive community of adopters and users.
Licensing
• The Jasig community is committed to
increasing openness in higher education
and beyond thus free and open access
to all versions of the software and have
access to the entire community
surrounding the software.
Conclusion:
• Authentication of users in accessing of the eresources is a major draw back to the use
and access of the e-materials in our libraries.
Most users find a hard time trying to access
the e-materials especially if they are
restricted materials where one has to log in
and having a tool capable of providing the
access of users from any location is a major
step ahead and thus need for
implementation.
SimpleSAMLphp
• SimpleSAMLphp is an application written in native
PHP that deals with authentication. The project is led by
UNINETT, has a large user base, a helpful user
community and a large set of external contributors.
• It uses the following included authentication
modules
– Simple LDAP
– Multiple LDAP
– CAS remote authentication lets you connect authentication to your
existing CAS service, and subsequently retrieve attributes from LDAP.
– Radius authentication lets to check the credentials against a Radius
server
– SQL authentication
– Open ID
– YubiKey
Licensing
• The SimpleSAMLphp community is
committed to increasing openness in
higher education and beyond thus free
and open access to all versions of the
software and have access to the entire
community surrounding the software.
Shibboleth
• Shibboleth is a widely deployed federated
identity solutions, connecting users to
applications both within and between
organizations.
• Its an open-source project that provides
Single Sign-On capabilities and allows
sites to make informed authorization
decisions for individual access of
protected online resources in a privacypreserving manner.
Concept:
• It works the same as every other webbased Single Sign-on (SSO) system.
• It is adherence to standards, ability to
provide SSO support to services outside of
a user's organization and protects privacy.
Shibboleth; how it works:
• Step 1: User accesses the Resource
• The user starts by attempting to access the protected
resource. The resource monitor determines if the user has an
active session and, discovering that they do not, directs them
to the service provider in order to start the SSO process.
• Step 2: Service Provider issues Authentication Request
• The user arrives at the Service Provider which prepares an
authentication request and sends it and the user to the
Identity Provider. The Service Provider software is generally
installed on the same server as the resource.
• Step 3: User Authenticated at Identity Provider
• When the user arrives at the Identity Provider it checks to see
if the user has an existing session. If they do, they proceed to
the next step. If not, the Identity Provider authenticates them
(e.g. by prompting for, and checking, a username and
password) and the user proceeds to the next step.
Shibboleth: how it works cont.:
•
•
•
Step 4: Identity Provider issues Authentication Response
– After identifying the user, the Identity Provider prepares an
authentication response and sends it and the user back to the Service
Provider.
Step 5: Service Provider checks Authentication Response
– When the user arrives with the response from the Identity Provider, the
Service Provider will validate the response, create a session for the
user, and make some information retrieved from the response (e.g. the
user's identifier) available to the protected resource. After this, the user
is sent to the resource.
Step 6: Resource returns Content
– As in Step 1, the user is now trying again to access the protected
resource, but this time the user has a session and the resource knows
who they are. With this information the resource will service the user's
request and send back the requested data.
Conclusion
• Accessing of E-resources materials remotely
can be a great achievement to libraries , eresource materials providers , e-books
providers ,organizations ,libraries and the
users . By providing access of the materials
available in our repositories and databases
the knowledge and information is evenly and
world wide . information is only useful when
available when needed from anywhere at any
time and the way to achieve this is by
implementing and the tools available in
achieving this goals and our purposes.
Thank you
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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