Minutes - InC-Library Collaboration - September 25, 2009
*Attending*
Steven Carmody, Brown University (chair)
Adam Chandler, Cornell University
Thomas Howell, Northwestern University
Andy Ingham, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Tim Mori, North Carolina State University
Tod Olson, University of Chicago
Kent Percival, University of Guelph
Mark Scheible, North Carolina State University
Rich Wenger, MIT
Ann West, Internet2
Foster Zhang, Johns Hopkins University
Fred Zhang, Michigan State University
Dean Woodbeck, Internet2 (scribe)
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Update - Vendor Subgroup
Andy Ingham reported that the vendor subgroup has met twice since the last full InC-Library meeting. The focus was on development of the best practices document in preparation for conversations with vendors (https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/x/IYZz).
The September 11 call included representatives from JSTOR (notes are at https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/x/DAKP). The idea was to discuss what the libraries should be encouraging from vendors, in terms of support for federation and best practices, in terms of implementations.
The next two calls will feature vendors, as well, with Elsevier scheduled for October 2 and OCLC on October 9. Anyone interested is welcome to join either or both calls. The Best Practices document will likely be tweaked after both calls, and then will be ready for vetting/comment from a wider audience.
The subgroup also began discussing next steps, as the goals for the group have been met or soon will be. The group feels it is important that the Best Practices document and the Registry of Resources (https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/x/k4A9 ) continue to be available in a highly visible way.
There was a discussion about beginning to get the word out on this work.
- David Kennedy will make a presentation at the Internet2 Fall Member meeting and the session will be netcast on Wednesday, October 7, from 3 - 4 p.m. CDT (see more information at https://spaces.at.internet2.edu/x/YYCg).
- Andy Ingham will make a presentation at the EDUCAUSE Mid-Atlantic regional in mid-January.
- There will be opportunities to mention the work at the EDUCAUSE annual meeting in November.
- Kent will mention it at the NET@edu cyberinfrastructure half-day session.
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JISC-sponsored Report
Talk about WAYF-less URLs, as well as discovery services, led to a conversation about a report from JISC (the UK federation operator). The report does an excellent job of outlining the issues in this area, but a proposed solution has drawn some push-back. The report suggests placing a Shibboleth logo or some other type of logo on login pages, which would alert users to "click here." The concern is that multiple federations, and other organizations, will begin to populate these login pages with many logos and make them even more confusing.
Google also did some research by placing several logos on a page (Facebook, Yahoo, AIM, and others), as well as a box to type in a userID and password for Google account holders. However, most users tried to type their userID and PW, regardless of their provider.
This report will go to the refeds group, a council of the 25 or so higher education SAML federations around the world for discussion. This whole process is further complicated by having several other groups (NISO and Kantara, for example) working on this problem (in parallel and not really coordinated.
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Update - Use Case Subgroup
Thomas Howell provided an update for the use case subgroup. What started as highly complex descriptions that were technology-specific have now become an effort to write use cases that are simple and technology-agnostic. The idea is to provide useful information for someone on campus who is wanting to Shibbolize an application. The use cases will also be used to help explain the case for Shibboleth for someone unfamiliar with the technology. The subgroup is fairly close to completing the basic use cases, but may need to discuss how to handle the more-advanced use cases (walk-in users, for example, and some other issues unique to specific universities)
The subgroup has found two major divisions: 1) libraries that have already created Shib-enabled applications and looking for more advanced cases, and 2) libraries that are at the very beginning and just adopting federating technology.
The group would also like to see a "getting started" guide produced, perhaps in conjunction with the vendor subgroup. It may have two parts - one aimed at a resource provider and one aimed at a library looking to Shibbolize EZProxy.
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Next Steps
The group agreed that the documentation being produced or planned (i.e. Best Practices, Getting Start Guide, Registry of Resources) are important assets and need to be completed, vetted, shared with the larger community, and become easily accessible.
It will also be important that, as these documents become final, a plan is developed to publicize their availability, including continuing to make presentations at appropriate venues (Internet2, EDUCAUSE, ALA, and other appropriate associations or conferences), as well as to organizations like state federations and others who make available library resources and digital assets.
Thomas suggested that the most effective way to package the message is to discuss how it supports "Library 2.0," Web 2.0 and cloud computing - all concepts that have captured the attention of libraries.
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Next Meetings
October 2 - Subgroups will meet
October 9 - Subgroups will meet
October 16 and 23 - available for subgroups, if needed
October 30 - Full InC-Library meeting