RE: Non-IP Based Institutional Subscriptions?

["David L. Osterbur" <dosterbu@mcb.harvard.edu>]

Harvard uses a proxy server that requires that all users sign in with their
Harvard ID number and a PIN.  That way only Harvard people can use the
system.  This has worked well for us and seems to be fine with most
publishers.


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu]On Behalf Of Evan Owens
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2001 4:23 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Non-IP Based Institutional Subscriptions?

What means have you worked out with publishers of online journals for
granting your patrons access to materials when IP-based access is not
workable? We have a number of institutional customers who subscribe to our
online journals but who cannot provide us with IP addresses used
exclusively by the subscribing institution. (E.g., a library whose
internet connections are passed through a proxy server that also handles
internet traffic for computers not part of the subscribing library or
campus, or an institution whose IP addresses are randomly assigned from a
pool owned by a commercial internet service provider.)

When we tell these customers that we can't register their IP addresses,
they ask for a username and password instead, but this seems to be very
insecure and easily susceptible to abuse.

Have you worked out any alternatives to IP-based or
username-password-based access to online subscriptions that have worked
well for you and the vendor?

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

=====================================================
Evan Owens
Information Technology Manager, The University of Chicago Press
eowens@press.uchicago.edu
1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637-2954
(773) 753 3375  Fax: (773) 753 3383
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