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Every institution or establishment has


its own way of describing the technology: single-sign-on, single sign-in, same sign on, enterprise sign in, institutional access, federated access, log-on. All are valid ways of explaining access knowledge technology, although, nine times out of ten, this is where we lose the end-user, because the description of the technology is confusing and means different things to different people in different situations. We have been trying to solve this


issue for years, it is an evolving process that institutions across the globe need to address. Simplifying the language for end-users and those individuals who work in our industry is a must. The Seamless Access service has gone some way to solve language used at login by establishing the ‘Access through your institution’ button outlined in the RA21 recommended practices for access to institutionally provided information resources. But not all publishers are aware of the recommended practices or the benefits of the new service, so the login experience remains confusing and frustrating for end-users.


Collective will Lastly, the collective will of those that work in the industry needs to be addressed. Why have we not all come together and made remote access to content and knowledge as simple as it should be? Why is the user experience still so inconsistent? And, why has it been such a struggle to build consensus? The simple answer is because I do not think it has been a


@researchinfo | www.researchinformation.info


“We want to facilitate the relationships between institutions, publishers, and end- users to improve the collective will”


big enough issue or gained sufficient momentum – until now. A few years ago we joined the RA21


initiative, contributing to some of the pilots and a set of recommended practices to improve access to institutionally provided information resources. We continue to support this work through the Seamless Access service, which aims to provide a consistent login experience. Discussions are currently underway about how to integrate our Wayfinder organisational discovery service with the Seamless Access service, to provide an even simpler user experience. Uptake of these services by publishers was slow and steady until the pandemic hit, and the demand for secure, simple and scalable remote access to content and services started to drive huge changes to how we work and study. Why has change been so slow to happen? Lots of people point the fingers at the publishers, blaming them for inconsistent presentation and use of the tech, but this is not the case. Because when we asked, publishers said they respond to the needs of their library customers. This is why it is vitally important that libraries assert the needs of their library users more demonstratively and make the case for a simpler, seamless user experience. As OpenAthens has grown globally, we


have realised what the challenges are, and we want to facilitate the relationships between institutions, publishers, and end- users to improve the collective will. This started 25 years ago when we worked with the University of Bath, and now there is the realisation that it is universal, as there are so many different users and publishers. Things can get better. The tech is


developing, and understanding will continue to evolve. Many institutions have adopted new ways of describing, distributing and using technology more effectively. The challenge is the same as 25 years ago – students, scientists, doctors and knowledge enthusiasts are trying to access lots of different learning platforms for information and, as a collective, the industry is trying to make this easier for every end-user. We have come a long way from our


first deployment as an internal access management system, and are proud that we were one of the first services to provide electronic access to library databases. We believe our success and global


growth over 25 years has been down to our three key values around which our work has always been based: helping people achieve great things; providing excellent customer service; and supporting and innovating for the future. Ri


Jon Bentley is commercial director at Open Athens


October/November 2020 Research Information 41


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