Overview
Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions are a key part of Australia's vocational education and training system. They offer a wide range of high-quality vocational education and training programs to equip students with practical skills and knowledge for various professions.
Two TAFE institutions in Victoria, Australia, have recently transitioned their authentication methods from IP-based proxy servers to SAML-based authentication to address their expanding requirements. Notably, one institution following the implementation of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) in 2022, recognised the need for a Single Sign-On (SSO) solution so that it could provide users with smooth access to online databases and resources.
Challenges
Both institutions faced outdated authentication systems that could not address their growing requirements. “We were using an authentication platform that was not keeping up with the evolving needs of our students and staff when accessing online subscription material.”
A key moment that led to the institutions seeking transition was when major vendors for some of their important resources indicated that they soon would not be able to support their existing authentication. “When the vendor for one of our most popular products indicated they would no longer support that authentication method, we looked for a higher standard alternative.” Also, “if we were going to spend large amounts of money on high quality online material, we should make it as secure as possible, whilst also allowing trouble-free access to our valued students and staff.”
Users would experience disruptions because they had to “rely on proxy server with its frequent outages, updates and resets” and it would “cause problems with users with no ongoing support for a timely fix.” There were inconsistent login protocols for accessing certain databases, resulting in increased user frustration and leading users to abandon the resources and not return.
Solutions
Recognising the need for a robust solution and considering the recommendations by the growing number of educational institutions that had successfully implemented, both institutions turned to OpenAthens for authentication.
“We spoke to a number of other TAFE library managers who had already implemented and were satisfied that we were making the right decision, and it would be a kind of insurance policy to safeguard our access into the future,” said one institution.
The anticipated value from this transition made it a priority for both TAFEs as they understood that moving to OpenAthens for SSO would: streamline access to resources on and off site; improve user experience across campuses; and secure their future access to resources.
“It was decided that the value to be gained from this product warranted prioritising,” said one institution. Whilst the other stated, “We knew we wanted it; we thought it would solve our access problems and all the documentation we read pointed to a robust system, relatively easy to maintain. It would also provide us with statistical data on our online collection usage to justify continued subscriptions and perhaps guide future purchases.”
With the support of EBSCO’s implementation team, both TAFEs successfully went live in 2023.
Benefits & Results
One of the major benefits that emerged from this transition is the ease of access for students which has contributed to a substantial increase in database and resource usage.
Database and article usage increased significantly since OpenAthens go-live.
Database and article usage increased significantly since OpenAthens go-live.
“Previously, there were different login protocols just to be able to access certain databases, which was confusing students. There were frequent queries coming in about not being able to ‘get into’ a certain database or access an article. Now, such failures are almost unheard of. Database and article usage increased significantly since OpenAthens go-live.”
Regarding the implementation and transition, “Students are unaware of the huge changes that have taken place behind the scenes to enable them to have such unfettered access, and this is how it should be.” Also, “nobody noticed - it was a seamless transition.”
Adopting OpenAthens allowed libraries to manage user access more effectively without reliance on other departments, and it also earned the IT team's support. “Our own IT team were supportive, and after looking into the benefits of adopting OpenAthens, including the fact that it would not be hosted on our local server, they were on board!”