About the redirector

The OpenAthens Redirector is a tool that allows you to pop the URL of a page in a resource (such as an article) on the end of a consistent prefix. When this new link is followed, the redirector works out the best way to get the user there - no need to maintain separate links for on-site and off-site access or work with complicated 'WAYFless URLs' (the redirector uses them so that you don't have to).

Redirector links work in two different ways:

When coupled with redirector IP bypass addresses they can pass users within your network straight to the specified address for IP based access without the need for them to enter username and password. When users are outside of your network they route the user via an OpenAthens login to the same page.
With or without Redirector IP addresses they can be used with link resolvers and portal tools such as library catalogues because of the static link you can use as a prefix for target URLs.

An ever-increasing number of resources support the redirector. These are known as 'redirectable' when discussing the redirector and it is these resources that are best to use with link resolvers as the user is taken to the specified target page. For a resource to be redirectable it must support 'WAYFless' access and deep linking (sometimes called article level linking)

If a resource is not redirectable, but does have a general access URL, it is still compatible with the IP bypass address function. These are known as 'bypassable' when discussing the redirector and should sign a user into the resource, but because they use the general access URL they will always send the user to the same place and consequently do not work with the redirector link generator.

You can identify resources compatible with redirector links in the catalogue:

Redirectable:
- Looking for the arrow icon on the cards or detail pages
- Clicking the icon on a card to filter the catalogue.
- Entering 'status:redirectable' in the search box.
Bypassable
- All redirectable resources work with IP bypass
- Resources with an access URL will work with IP bypass. Resources that do not have an access URL are flagged in the interface (circle icon with a line)
- If you add an access URL to any resource that does not have one (including custom) it becomes bypassable, but it can take up to 8 hours for this to go into effect.

Anything to watch out for?

As resources change over time, it may be necessary to change the authorisation method you use for access to a redirectable resource. As and when this happens our service desk will update you.

Redirector links work at the domain level, and where sub-organisations have a distinct entityID.