ExLibris Summon and the OpenAthens redirector

This guide will help you configure your Summon instance to work with the OpenAthens Redirector.

Whilst our service desk will always try to be helpful, they can only support the OpenAthens end. Information about Summon was correct at the time of writing.

Prerequisites

• Access to your Summon Client Center
• Access to the OpenAthens administration area at the domain level

Method

Look up your redirector prefix

Access the administration area as the domain administrator and navigate to the redirect link generator (Resources > Redirector link generator).

The part you are interested in is the bit like this: https://go.openathens.net/redirector/yourdomain.com?url=

Add your Redirector prefix to Summon

For details refer to the ExLibris documentation: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/360_Services/360_Core_Client_Center/0Product_Documentation/360_Core%3A_Proxy_Setup%3A_Fully_Encoded_URL

Even though the redirector is not a proxy, we can use the proxy server prefix function in Summon to insert the redirector prefix

1. Login to Summon's Client Center
   
   
2. Navigate to the Manage Your Library > Library Settings
   
   
3. Select Library URLs > Edit  
   
   
4. From Authentication Type menu select Fully Coded URL
   
   
5. In the Proxy URL field paste in the redirector prefix  from the OpenAthens admin area

Changes can take up to 24 hours. 

You can test ahead of that change going live via Summon's Data Management > URL Preview function

Suppliers who use non-standard identifiers

Certain providers, such as Gale, EBSCO and ProQuest use proprietary parameters instead of federation standard ones during the login process (Gale rely on the Location ID, ProQuest on the Account ID and EBSCO on the Customer ID). You will need to have Summon omit the redirector prefix for these providers:

1. In Summon: navigate to Data Management > Provider Details
   
   
2. Select Gale, EBSCO or ProQuest 
   
   
3. On the provider details page, select the edit option
   
   
4. Select the Library Proxy > Omit proxy from all databases from this provider checkbox
   
   
5. Save and repeat for the same resource (Apparently there is a bug in their software).
   
   
6. Repeat for each provider.