Open Athens launches manifesto

OpenAthens has announced its publisher manifesto: a series of commitments that aim to address the common issues around IAM faced by publishers and vendors, and highlight the next steps for the publishing industry in managing access to knowledge. The announcement follows a programme of research into librarians and end-users’ views and experiences of Identity and Access Management (IAM).

The manifesto commits OpenAthens to:

• Providing the best end-user experience possible at the heart of authentication into e-resources and applications;
• Enabling single sign on that is simple to set up and easy to maintain within publishing platforms;
• The use of common standards across SAML and other authentication protocols to deliver interoperability;
• Providing a forum where all parties involved in access and authentication into e-resources can share views and challenge orthodoxies; and
• Recognising that change is now constant, and that our services must continually evolve to meet new challenges.

In addition to research currently being undertaken, the aims of the manifesto are reflected in OpenAthens’ development plans which will result in significant enhancements for existing OpenAthens SP customers this summer, and a new cloud-based service to be launched in early 2017. More information about the Publisher Manifesto can be found on the OpenAthens blog.

'OpenAthens is committed to removing barriers to knowledge. Publishers, as the creators, curators and distributors of information are integral to this information value chain,' said Jon Bentley, head of product marketing at OpenAthens.

'The OpenAthens Publisher Manifesto underpins our work in three main areas: supporting activities and initiatives throughout the industry by sharing our expertise and creating new forums to enable cross-industry collaboration; gathering additional feedback through ongoing research to identify and highlight shared pain points for publishers, vendors, institutions, and end-users; and increasing harmony between identity and service providers by helping to establish common frames of reference, improve access pathways, and further developing the OpenAthens suite of products.

'The Manifesto illustrates our commitment to working with stakeholders within the industry and beyond, and we look forward to forging ever-closer relationships to tackle the major challenges within the field of IAM.'