Toolkit for sites wishing to offer UK Computing Plus Services

Sara Marsh, Convener, UK Computing Plus Task Force
University of Wales Swansea
s.l.marsh@swan.ac.uk; 0179 295176

[Download entire toolkit as an MS Word Document]

Introduction

UK Libraries Plus is primarily a reciprocal borrowing scheme for HE libraries. There is no requirement for member libraries to offer IT access to visitors registered under the scheme. However, in the light of the UK Computing Plus pilot project carried out during 2002/03, we hope to encourage members to consider whether they may be able to adapt their UKLP services to include some form of IT access. A full report on the Computing Plus pilot is available on the UK Libraries Plus website. The present Toolkit was developed by the six sites who participated in the pilot project, and consists of this introduction together with summaries of the approach taken by each pilot site. Our hope is that other UKLP member libraries will consider adopting one of these approaches, or adapting an approach to suit their own circumstances.

We do not seek to recommend one approach over another. We recognise that HE libraries are different in terms of their administrative procedures, their relationship with systems and network specialists, the number of PCs available to their own students, and the likely levels of demand from UKLP and other visitors.

You may wish to ask the following questions as you assess what level of service, if any, you intend to offer:

1. Technical

1. What support is available from your systems and network specialists? How much time and effort are they able to devote to this project?

2. What level of access do you wish to offer? (full network, limited range of software and/or electronic information services, Internet only, thin client access to home institution, etc).

3. Will you have dedicated PCs for visitors, or can they use any PC in your library?

4. How will you ensure that any misuse of the JANET network can be easily traced back to an individual user?

5. Will you require usernames and passwords? If so how are these to be generated? by whom? for how long?

2. Administrative

1. Who will be eligible to use your Computing Plus service? Will you restrict this to UK Libraries Plus borrowers, or do you see it as part of a wider service you are offering to other categories of external visitor?

2. Do you propose to analyse the detail of all your licences?

3. Will you provide visitors with a list of services they are authorised to use? (or will this be controlled by technical means?)

4. Will you require visitors to sign anything? You may require an undertaking that they will observe your institution's computing regulations, and/or that they will only access particular services.

5. Who will deal with queries relating to your Computing Plus service?

6. What training and documentation is needed for your front-line staff?

3. Promotional

1. How will eligible users know about your Computing Plus service?

2. Do you need a handout or separate leaflet about this service, or can it be included within your existing publicity?

3. Is it clear to visitors who is allowed to do what?

The main concern about offering legitimate visitor access to IT services relates to the risk of a visitor misusing your network to carry out illegal activity which could bring your institution into disrepute and generate a lot of work for network specialists. It is important to seek the advice of colleagues in your Computing Service at an early stage, and to liaise with them over any technical issues raised by your project.

It is already a requirement from the JISC that any access to JANET and services on JANET should be traceable to an individual person, and CHEST have pointed out in their recent survey on model licence conditions (see report at http://www.chest.ac.uk/usage-rights-report.rtf) that future legislation is likely to require that anyone using networked resources must be properly "registered", ie known to and traceable by the service provider. See also the useful guidance form UKERNA about user authentication at
http://www.ja.net/services/publications/factsheets/041-user-authentication.pdf

It would be advisable to put in place a range of safeguards to minimise the likelihood of network misuse, eg:

• get the visitor to sign up to the host institution's computing regulations;
• issue temporary usernames (one day at a time) and ensure these can be easily traced back to the individual user;
• check all licences carefully;
• ensure (by a technical restriction if possible, or failing this by getting a signature on an agreement) that visitors are only able to access resources for which the licence gives clear authorisation;
• assign dedicated PCs for use by visitors.
  

It is worth noting that there were no instances of network misuse during the pilot project. Comparison with the established UK Libraries Plus service shows that there have been very few instances of UKLP visitors failing to observe the regulations of host libraries, and these users appear to be highly motivated and appreciative of the services being offered to them.

The other significant concern that has been expressed relating to Computing Plus is that you may not have enough PCs to satisfy demand from your own students, let alone any additional demand generated by new categories of visiting user. This is something which must be weighed up by individual institutions, but again the evidence of the pilot project suggests that demand by UKLP visitors is not likely to be excessive. Assigning dedicated PCs for visitor use would limit demand, but as noted by some of our pilot sites, this could be counter-productive in that if visitor demand is low you may end up with vacant visitor PCs which are not able to be used by your own students.

In the end, each site must determine its own approach depending on local circumstances. You may of course decide that you do not wish to offer IT access at this time, and UK Libraries Plus does not seek to impose any obligation of this kind on member sites.

Please contact Sara Marsh or any other member of the UK Computing Plus task force if you wish to discuss your proposed approach in more detail. See contact details on the following summary web pages, or visit the relevant pages on the UK Computing Plus website.


Summaries of Approach

University of Durham

Leeds Metropolitan University

London School of Economics

Northumbria University

University of Wales Swansea