[Eril-l] AnswerConnect access

[Christopher D Vidas]

Hi Seth,

AnswerConnect is one of a few similar resources that we've been struggling with a lot lately.  If your users were only accessing the collection from your campus with IP authentication, you probably wouldn't experience any problems, but I'm sure that isn't how you anticipate it being used.  IntelliConnect offered users the option of creating a new account on their own.  AnswerConnect does not provide that option, an unfortunate reality that was confirmed during one of my conversations with their tech people.  Their solution is what I consider to be the worst possible scenario, and they aren't alone in choosing this option.

Following my final chat and/or call with them, they provided me access to the ID Manager portal where I can manage users, including adding or removing them manually.  Since users can't create their own accounts, someone on our end has to enter their details each semester (or each time an individual wants access via our database page).  This isn't at all practical for students, faculty, or our staff time, but according to them, it is the only option available at this time.

We'd probably drop this product and others like it if it weren't considered so important for our students and faculty.  We're really hoping they adopt a less restrictive method of access.  I decided to reply to the list since others probably have this same issue, or on the off chance anyone has found a less frustrating workaround.

Chris

Christopher D. Vidas
Electronic Resources Librarian
Clemson University
Library Depot
103 Clemson Research Blvd
Anderson, SC 29625
864-656-5175
cvidas at clemson.edu<mailto:cvidas at clemson.edu>

From: Eril-l <eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org> On Behalf Of Sisler, Seth
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2019 12:09 PM
To: eril-l at lists.eril-l.org
Subject: [Eril-l] AnswerConnect access

Hi all,

Does anyone have experience with the Wolters Kluwer/CCH product AnswerConnect?  I'm looking into it as a possible replacement for their similar, older product, IntelliConnect.

In my discussions with the sales rep, we were given price tiers based on registered users.  We're trying to figure out if users absolutely must have registered account to get access, or if that's only needed for users who don't authenticate through our proxy server.  Are users required to be both IP/proxy authenticated AND registered with the vendor?  We're starting to worry it'll be fairly restrictive compared to IntelliConnect, which only requires proxy/IP authentication.

Feel free to reply off list

- Seth

Seth W. Sisler, MSLS
Electronic Resources Librarian
419 Alden Library | Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701
T: (740) 593-2694
sislers at ohio.edu<mailto:sislers at ohio.edu>
www.library.ohio.edu<http://www.library.ohio.edu>

[ohioColorLogo_3_2]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.eril-l.org/pipermail/eril-l-eril-l.org/attachments/20190920/34a50854/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 5729 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.eril-l.org/pipermail/eril-l-eril-l.org/attachments/20190920/34a50854/attachment-0001.jpg>