Librarians’ experiences and perceptions of Identity and Access Management, 2015.

“Identity and access management plays a critical role in user experience. Like many core technologies, success can be defined by how well it keeps out of the user’s way expectations and behavior are rapidly evolving, necessitating integration with a growing range of related technologies, which themselves are undergoing constant change. The workflows and requirements of different sectors represent further challenges, from data security in healthcare, to licensing limitations in higher education, or cross- institution collaboration in academic research. The landscape in which identity and access management software must “just work” is therefore complex, and shifting – not least, as more and more usage of institutionally licensed resources takes place outside the networks of the licensing institution. What are the implications of this for librarians, for the organizations in which they work, and for the users they work with? What opportunities emerge from new modes of access? How confident do librarians feel about solving the challenges in this area? What hopes do they have for the future? In December 2014, OpenAthens sponsored a survey of librarians’ experiences and perceptions of identity and access management. This paper presents the key findings, from which it is evident that librarians are taking new use cases as a trigger for rethinking the library’s role, while retaining a focus on keeping the user experience as simple and unobtrusive as possible.”