The Network Zone can distribute access to electronic resources for the institutions of a collaborative network implementing a Network Zone. See Configuring Distributed Access to Electronic Resources When Working with a Network Zone.
However, distributing proxy access through the Network Zone is not supported for Network Zone member distribution. This option is only available for multicampus institutions. Proxies must be managed in the Institution Zone rather than the Network Zone.
Alma enables you to permit or deny access to electronic resources (portfolios, services, or collections) from specific libraries and campuses within an institution. When access is limited, patrons searching or browsing in Discovery from a restricted location (based on their IP address) cannot access the resource contents.
Alma uses inventory management groups to control distributed access. An inventory management group is a set of libraries or campuses. These groups can be assigned to portfolios, services, or electronic collections.
For example, if a library purchases electronic resources and wants them to be available only in the library, the library can define the resources to be available for a group that contains only that library. When a patron tries to access a resource, the patron's IP address is matched against the IP range of the library to determine if he or she is at the library. If the patron's IP address is not within the IP range, access to the electronic service is not enabled. A campus or library may belong to more than one group.
By default, if access to an electronic resource is limited within an institution by assigning an inventory management group to it, the resource becomes unavailable for Resource Sharing. A customer parameter,
ignore_group_filter_in_rs_locate, which can be enabled or disabled by the lending institution, controls this behavior. By default, the customer parameter is set to
false, and the electronic resource is not located for borrowing requests when an inventory management group is attached to the resource. When the customer parameter is set to
true, the electronic resource is located for borrowing requests even when an inventory management group is attached to it. The value of this customer parameter can be set in
Configuration > Fulfillment > General > Other Settings. For additional information, see
Configuring Fulfillment Jobs.
Managing Inventory Management Groups
Inventory management groups are managed on the Inventory 'Available For' Management Groups page (Configuration Menu > Resources > General > Inventory Network Groups).
If you delete an inventory management group that is connected to inventory, the relevant setting in the inventory is also deleted and cannot be automatically restored.
Inherited Group Settings
You can define specific inventory management group restrictions for portfolios and services, separately from the inventory management group restrictions that are defined for the electronic collections with which they're associated. If you do not define separate restrictions for an inventory management group, then portfolios inherit inventory management group restrictions from electronic services and services from electronic collections. These restrictions appear at the top of the Group Settings tab of the service or collection. For example, the following service has inherited restrictions from its parent collection.
To apply a Group Settings Proxy for Portfolios, define the Group Setting, together with the Proxy, in the Group Settings tab of the Electronic Service.
Inherited Available For Group Settings
Inherited Group Settings Defined
Inventory Management Group Workflow Example
The following sections that describe working with inventory management group settings use the following example information:
- There is a campus called The Science and Law Libraries Campus:
- This campus includes the Science Library and the Law Library:
- There is another library called the Graduate Library:
Adding the Group
- On the Inventory Network Groups page (Configuration Menu > Resources > General > Inventory Network Groups), select Add Group. The Add Group dialog box opens.
- Add the group The Science and Law Libraries Campus Group and select Add and Close.
- Select Edit from the group row actions to add campuses and libraries to this group.
For each campus, select the campus and select Add Campus. For each library, select the library and select Add Library.
- Select Save.
Associating a Resource with the Inventory Management Group
- Open the Law & policy portfolio in the Electronic Portfolio Editor and select the Group Settings tab.
- Select Add Settings for Group. The Available For Information dialog box appears.
The Available For Information Dialog Box
- Select the group The Science and Law Libraries Campus Group.
- If you want to narrow down the embargo/rolling year information for this group, you can do that in the Embargo/Rolling Year section. If not, the embargo/rolling year information for the group will be inherited from the higher-level resource, as defined in the Coverage tab for the resource.
- To specify separate proxy settings for this group setting, select one of the following in the Proxy enabled parameter:
- No - select to remove any resource default, and not to use a proxy.
- Yes - select to remove any resource default and select a different proxy from the list of proxies pre-defined for your institution in the Proxy Selected parameter.
- Resource Default - Use the proxy selected for the resource, as defined in the Linking tab for the resource.
The Network Zone can distribute access to electronic resources for the institutions of a collaborative network implementing a Network Zone. It is also possible to Network Zone to allocate electronic resources to specific libraries or campuses within a member Institution Zone See Configuring Distributed Access to Electronic Resources When Working with a Network Zone.
However, distributing proxy access through the Network Zone is not supported for Network Zone member distribution. This option is only available for multicampus institutions. Proxies must be managed in the Institution Zone rather than the Network Zone. Electronic resources from the network zone might use the institution’s default proxy – in campus level, library level or institution level.
- In the Authentication Note or Public Note parameters, you can specify a note specifically for this group setting.
- Select Save.
After saving the group settings, you must also save the portfolio or service; otherwise, the group settings will not be applied.
Group Settings - Saved
When Law & policy appears in a search, the results indicate that this resource is only available for a specific group.
Resource Identified as Available For a Specific Group
Understanding the Effects of the Inventory Management Group
A guest is someone trying to access a resource while not logged in to the system. A logged-in user can be explicitly associated with a campus in the user's definition; if the user is not associated with a specific campus, the user's IP range is checked, as for a guest.
Since the management group "The Science and Law Libraries Campus Group" was added to the resource "Law & Policy," and this group includes the IP range 192.168.1.40 to 192.168.2.30, any guest with an IP address within this range can access the "Law & Policy" resource.
IP Range Definition
See below for an illustration of the guest's search results for Law & policy. The guest has access to the Law & policy resource.
Guest Search Results (from IP 192.168.2.30)
If the IP of the guest is not within the IP range defined for the campus, the guest is denied access to the electronic resource.
Guest Search Results with Access Denied
Associating an Electronic Collection with an Inventory Management Group
You can associate an inventory management group with an entire collection. The restriction of the collection applies to all the resources associated with the collection (unless other restrictions are defined separately for the services/portfolios).
In the following example, the inventory management group The Science and Law Libraries Campus Group is associated with all the resources that are part of the EBSCOhost Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text electronic collection.
EBSCOhost Criminal Justice Abstracts with Full Text Electronic Collection
The repository search results show that The Science and Law Libraries Campus Group inventory management group applies at the electronic collection level and to all the resources in the electronic collection.
Electronic Collection Level Management Group Access
Access to All Resources in the Electronic Collection
Limiting Access by Library
In the following example, an inventory management group is associated with the Graduate Library, not a campus. The only member of The Graduate Library Group (a management group) is the Graduate Library.
The Graduate Library Group Configured
The Graduate Library has an IP address range of 192.80.206.1-192.80.206.206. When the inventory management group The Graduate Library Group is applied to a resource, only users coming from IPs within this range can access it.
In the example below, Law & policy is now also associated with the management group The Graduate Library Group.
Resource Assigned to the Graduate Library Group
Similar to the example in
Understanding the Effects of the Inventory Management Group above, if the IP of the guest is within the IP range defined for the
Graduate Library, the guest is allowed access to the electronic resource
Law & policy. If the IP of the guest is not within the IP range defined for the library, the guest is denied access to
Law & policy.
Access Restrictions for Users Explicitly Associated with a Campus
A user can be explicitly associated with a campus. In this case, the user's explicit association is used to determine whether the user is at the campus and able to access resources restricted to the campus.
When using inventory management groups restricted to a campus:
- A guest (not logged in) can only view the resource if accessing it from an IP within the range (demonstrated above).
- If a user is logged in and is not associated with a campus, the user is able to view the resource only coming from an IP within the range (demonstrated above).
- If a user is logged in and not within the IP range, the user is able to view the resource if the user is explicitly associated with a campus that is part of the inventory management group associated with the resource.
- If a user is logged in and is not coming from an IP in the range and is not associated with a campus that is part of the inventory management group, the user is not able to see the resource.
In the following example, there is a resource that is associated with an inventory management group that includes a campus with an IP range of 192.168.1.40-192.168.2.30. The logged in patron tries to access the resource from an IP address that is not within this range.
The patron Dean Andrews comes from a different IP range and is not associated with a campus. As a result, he will have no access to the resource.
No Campus Definition
However, if the patron Dean Andrews comes from a different IP range and is associated with a campus (that is part of an inventory management group associated with the electronic resource), he has access to the resource even though he is not in the IP range.
Patron with a Campus Definition
Adding Access to Resources by Adding a Campus to an OpenURL
When a resource is restricted by campus, you can add a campus parameter to the OpenURL to enable access to the resource. When the resource is accessed with this parameter, Alma considers the request to come from within the campus named by the parameter.
An OpenURL request using this feature must still be sent with valid proxy account details or from a correct IP range.
In the following example, the electronic resource Law & policy is associated with the group The Science and Law Libraries Campus Group which includes the campus The Science and Law Libraries Campus.
The Science and Law Libraries Campus Group Management Group Example
The user is coming from outside the IP range, is a guest, and has no associated campus, but the user can specify a campus in the OpenURL. To illustrate how using the OpenURL method works, the following three examples highlight both successful and unsuccessful access to resources in Alma.
The OpenURL syntax uses the following components:
- The Alma URL begins with https://uni.alma.exlibrisgroup.com
- The Alma institution code is: EXLDEV1_INST
- The campus code for this example is ScienceLaw
Example 1: http://uni.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/uresolver/EXLDEV1_TEST/openurl-ScienceLaw?rft.mms_id=994387020000121
This OpenURL has the correct syntax that uses the correct campus code and provides access to the resources for the user.
Correct OpenURL Syntax/Access Provided
Example 2: http://uni.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/uresolver/EXLDEV1_TEST/openurl-Law?rft.mms_id=994387020000121
Access is not provided with this OpenURL, because the wrong campus code is used.
Wrong Campus Code Used/Access Not Provided
Example 3: http://uni.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/uresolver/EXLDEV1_TEST/openurl?rft.mms_id=994387020000121
Access is not provided with this OpenURL. There is no campus code, and Alma correctly responds with No full text available.
No Campus Code/Access Not Provided
Working with Primo/CDI in a Multicampus Environment
When configuring an environment in which campuses and libraries are given distributed access to electronic resources, you must configure Primo and CDI to support the availability of these resources per campus/library. Refer to the following documents to configure Primo and the CDI for a multicampus environment:
For Primo users who work with Leganto in multicampus environments, resource availability is only displayed when a list is associated with a course.