Implementing ATHENS at University College London
| Pages | 34-37 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040693 |
| Published date | 01 March 1998 |
| Date | 01 March 1998 |
| Author | Joanne Lomax |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Implementing ATHENS
at University College
London
by Joanne Lomax, formerly the
ATHENS Administrator, University
College London
The article describes the Athens
authentication system, run by NISS for the
Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).
She describes the initial implementation of the
system at University College London. She also
discusses other implementations, based on a
JIBS
survey.
Introduction
ATHENS is an authentication system which allows
control over access to online resources. It is run
by NISS and supported by the JISC. ATHENS
enables controlled access to subscription services
provided by publishers and data suppliers and
made available via the Data Service Suppliers
NISS,
BIDS, EDINA and MIDAS.
ATHENS is a key part of the Distributed National
Electronic Resource (DNER) - an initiative to link
and exploit those resources created and paid for by
the higher education community.
The advent of ATHENS means that most, if not
yet all, resources provided to UK Higher Educa-
tion Institutions by the Data Service Providers can
be made available to users through a single sign
on - one username and password can provide
access to many resources. This replaces the
previous situation of
a
user needing several
usernames to log in to all the resources available
to them.
ATHENS is developed and managed by NISS at
the University of
Bath;
it was phased into use in
1995/1996 and will face its biggest test on Septem-
ber 1st this year when all old-style BIDS and
EDINA usernames expire and are replaced with
new-style ATHENS usernames.
The role of the local
administrator
ATHENS gives UKHEIs more control over the
distribution and management of usernames for
resources - where previously access management
was the sole responsibility of the DSPs it is now
also a responsibility of the local ATHENS admin-
istrator. Local (or Domain) Administrators were
volunteered for action in 1996 when ATHENS
Phase 2 came into being - they were given
control over existing BIDS usernames and could
restrict or allow access to BIDS resources which
their site had purchased, without asking BIDS to
intervene. In 1997 the release of ATHENS 3 made
it clear that the administrator's role would grow -
ATHENS 3 usernames were to completely replace
those previously issued separately for BIDS,
EDINA and MIDAS resources and would provide
a single sign on for the growing number of new
nationally negotiated resources. The changeover
would come in the summer of 1998, and all
UKHEIs using ATHENS-protected resources
would need a domain administrator.
ATHENS usernames
ATHENS usernames are different to both the old-
style BIDS and EDINA usernames, in that there
are two distinct types of account - the Access
Account and the Personal Account. The access
account is designed to be used by many users,
much in the fashion of
the
old BIDS usernames,
while the personal account is individual to a single
user, as were EDINA usernames.
The two types of accounts each have different uses
and strengths. There are also several ways of
administering the site and of creating and
distributing usernames.
Administering ATHENS at
University College London
University College London has approximately
13,000 undergraduates, 5000 postgraduates and
5000
staff.
Library Services subscribes to about a
dozen resources provided by BIDS, EDINA and
MIDAS for use by College members. After some
discussion it was decided to issue UCL users with
Access Accounts and instructions on how to
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