The TOLIMAC project: access control, charging and payment of electronic information resources by means of smart cards
| Pages | 30-33 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040692 |
| Date | 01 March 1998 |
| Published date | 01 March 1998 |
| Author | Françoise Vandooren |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
The TOLIMAC project:
access control,
charging and payment
of electronic
information resources
by means of smart
cards
by Françoise Vandooren,
Researcher, Department of R&D and
Cooperation, Libraries of Université
Libre de Bruxelles
TOLIMAC is a research project funded by the
Telematics for Libraries Programme of
the
EU
and is developing a system to provide
controlled access to, and management of,
networked information resources and other
services in a library environment. The system
is based on smart cards and encryption
technology integrating management
functionalities -such as user identification,
remote access control, electronic payment-,
and security requirements -such as secure
information transfer and financial transactions,
document
integrity.
The system also enables
libraries to adjust user access rights, and
charges for available electronic resources,
whether local or
remote,
according to user
categories. The system is based on standards.
It has a Web interface.
The
pilot system will
provide users from three university libraries
with access to an electronic document delivery
service based at INIST
(France),
including
search, order and delivery of journal articles,
as well as payment facilities by means of the
electronic purse on the user's smart
card.
Introduction
The aim of the TOLIMAC project is to develop a
smartcard-based system for controlling access and
managing payment of electronic information
products and networked services in a library
environment. TOLIMAC, Total Library Manage-
ment Concept, is a project funded under the Fourth
Framework Programme Telematics for Libraries of
the Commission of the European Communities
DGXIII1. It started in October 1996 and will end
in June 1999. The system designed by the project
involves three actors : users of electronic informa-
tion, libraries and information providers. (See
Figure 1)
In the TOLIMAC system, users have remote
access through a single Web interface {computers
are represented by EU# in the figure) to a range of
electronic information services, managed by their
library. Access control is achieved by means of
personal smart cards (represented by SC# in the
figure),
which are also used to pay for the services.
The library (represented by I# in the figure) acts as
an intermediary between users and information
providers. It manages, controls and adjusts user
access rights to electronic resources, whether local
or remote, and charges users according to its own
information policy. Electronic information provid-
ers (represented by DP A/B/C in the figure) agree a
new type of institutional contract with libraries,
based on actual use of their services. They process
information requests issued by end users and
distributed via the library through the Internet.
They have no information on the user identity and
bill the library for the electronic information
supplied.
The TOLIMAC project has developed a pilot
system that implements two types of applications:
an online document delivery service supplied by
INIST (Institut de l'Information Scientifique et
Technique, France), which includes searching for
references, ordering articles and PDF document
delivery. Users pay their library by means of the
electronic purse on their TOLIMAC card for the
articles ordered. The second application is an
off-line service, enabling users to pay for photo-
copying machines by means of
the
TOLIMAC
electronic purse. The pilot system is being tested
by library users at Université Libre de Bruxelles,
University of Surrey and University College
Dublin.
The rest of this article presents the
functionalities provided by the TOLIMAC
system and the technology used, especially
regarding secure networked access to informa-
tion services, and it underlines the system's
wide portability.
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