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What if the resource I want is not in the catalogue?

The catalogue includes all the resources that are potentially accessible through all the parts of the service that you use - for example, if you are not in the UK, you will not see the resources that are only available through the UK Access Management Federation, and if you do not have the managed proxy service in your subscription, you will not see any proxy resources.

There might be resources, or things you want to treat as resources, that are not present in your catalogue.

Those that support proxy access may be accessible using our managed proxy service. Proxy resources are not present in your catalogue by default and must be added to it by us, but you can use our compatible providers search to check for resources that we already support proxy access to. If you want to add a proxy resource to your catalogue, please contact our service desk.

For resources that support SAML, for example a VLE, or the require another form of access such as a shared username and password, you can usually create custom resources. There are four main types of resources that you might want to add as custom resources:

1. Resources that use other authentication methods, such as a shared username and password

For these, you might include the shared credentials as information in the description.

They will not appear in statistics reports.

2. Resources that use no authentication but that you think may be useful to your users

Examples might be publicly available research or information services from governments or learned societies.

You could also use custom resources to add links to library catalogues or help pages this way.

They will not appear in statistics reports.

3. Copies of existing resources with modified names, descriptions or target URLs

For example where a resource has several possible landing pages for different journals. See also when resource names or links do not suit your needs.

These will appear in statistics reports under the name of the original resource.

4. SAML resources that are not in a federation

For example a VLE or other local resource, or Google Workspace. Unlike the other three, which only affect the links that appear in MyAthens, this type is necessary for access to work for the resource in question. See: Add and manage custom resources

These will appear in statistics reports under the name you give them.

5. SAML resources that are in a different federation

It may be possible for you to add them as a custom SAML resource, but the better solution is for that resource to be added to the OpenAthens federation. Our service desk will be able to help.

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