Talk:OpenAthens

JISC or Jisc

It is basically a style issue, and may not appear important to many. But quite possibly, we can have a better text, when we use a uniform name throughout the article. Currently JISC has two forms, as in the heading here (JISC or Jisc). (1)"supplied by Jisc, a British not-for-profit information technology services company". and (2)"After JISC decided to support Shibboleth rather than Athens". The Wikipedia page Jisc suggests small letters [after initial capitalization]. Kindly advise. Thanks. Neotaruntius (talk) 04:19, 8 May 2025 (UTC)

Proposed improvements to the OpenAthens article

I would like to suggest some updates to the OpenAthens article. I have a professional connection with OpenAthens and work in the marketing team, so I do not want to make the changes myself, I am providing the suggested improvements and sources here for independent editors to review.

Update the lead

The current lead does not fully explain what OpenAthens is used for today. I suggest replacing it with something along these lines:

OpenAthens is an identity and access management service used by organisations to authenticate users and provide access to subscribed electronic resources. It supports single sign-on and federated authentication using the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML). OpenAthens services are used by libraries and other organisations to manage access to digital resources, and by publishers and other content providers to support authenticated access to their services. OpenAthens is part of Jisc, a British not-for-profit information technology services company.

This would give readers a clearer understanding of both sides of OpenAthens.

Sources:

• Journal of the Medical Library Association — OpenAthens odyssey

• Oxford Academic — Institutional access

• Atla — Administering OpenAthens Authentication

OpenAthens for libraries and publishers

The existing article distinguishes between OpenAthens for libraries and OpenAthens for publishers, and I think this distinction is worth retaining and updating.

For libraries and other organisations, it could explain that OpenAthens can be integrated with an organisation's existing authentication systems, allowing users to access licensed electronic resources using their institutional credentials rather than needing separate credentials for individual resources.

For publishers and other content providers, the article could explain that OpenAthens provides a way of supporting authenticated and federated access to digital content for users whose institutions subscribe to that content.

OpenAthens, EZprozy and Shibboleth

I would include the existing context around other authentication technologies.

The article could explain that OpenAthens and Shibboleth can both support SAML-based federated authentication, while EZproxy provides a proxy-based approach to accessing licensed resources.

• Oxford Academic — Institutional access

• Taylor & Francis — Authentication

• JSTOR — Access Management: Shibboleth & OpenAthens

Add examples of library implementations

There are now many examples of libraries implementing or migrating to OpenAthens.

For example, the Texas Medical Center Library documented its implementation of OpenAthens. Other academic libraries, including Wheaton College, the University of Tennessee at Martin and Chicago State University, have also published accounts of implementing or migrating to OpenAthens.

I do not think the article needs a long list of customers. Two or three examples would be sufficient to demonstrate the technology's use in the library sector and explain the migration or implementation process.

• Texas Medical Center — Journal of the Medical Library Association

• Wheaton College — Internet Reference Services Quarterly

• University of Tennessee at Martin — Serials Review

• Chicago State University — The Serials Librarian

Update the history

The existing history is useful and should largely be retained, but it could be brought up to date and supported with additional independent sources.The historical evidence supports the following chronology:

OpenAthens originated from work at the University of Bath in the 1995.

The service was developed into the Athens service.

OpenAthens subsequently developed as the service evolved.

Jisc and Eduserv merged in 2019, bringing OpenAthens into Jisc

Source:

• NISO — OpenAthens celebrates 25 years

Update the current product portfolio

The article could briefly reflect the current OpenAthens product portfolio without becoming a product catalogue.

In 2025, the existing library product was renamed OpenAthens Compass. The current OpenAthens portfolio now includes Compass, Connect, Keystone and Federation.

Overall proposal

I think the article could be substantially improved without becoming significantly longer. I would welcome independent editors' views on whether these changes are appropriate and how they should best be incorporated into the article. OpenAthensMarketing (talk) 12:56, 5 October 2026 (UTC)