[Eril-l] I built a tool to automate daily proxy and e-resource access checks (Demo attached + Seeking testers)

[Electronic Resources in Libraries discussion list]

Hi everyone,
Sorry for cross-posting,
Like many of you, I have spent countless hours manually clicking through proxy links just to make sure our databases are actually working for students off-campus. There is nothing more frustrating than finding out a vendor changed their platform or an authentication stanza broke only after a stressed student submits a helpdesk ticket from home.
Working in an academic library setting, I finally got tired of the manual clicking and decided to build something to automate this daily grind. I’m calling it LibPages Lighthouse.
It essentially acts as an automated staff member. It logs in and verifies access exactly like a patron would, catching outages proactively.
I have attached a quick demo video to this email so you can see exactly how it works under the hood. In the demo, you can watch the agent run, navigate a proxy login, validate access for a couple of publishers (AIP and BMJ), and update the dashboard.
Here is a quick look at how it fits into our specific library workflows:

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Off-Campus & Proxy Validation: Lighthouse runs through your EZproxy, OpenAthens or any proxy tool setup to validate that off-campus access is actively working and the vendor page loads. (It can also test direct on-campus IP access).
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Publisher-Friendly & Lightweight: To simulate normal patron usage, it only runs once a day per resource. There is no web scraping and zero unnecessary file downloads—it strictly asserts that the authentication was successful and the resource is up.
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Flexible Execution: You run the testing agent directly from your managed off-campus network or a designated PC, meaning the traffic looks completely normal to vendors.
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Subscription Tracking: I added a feature to attach expiry dates to specific publisher tests, so it notifies you before a subscription lapses.

While I am launching this as a commercial SaaS platform, right now I am looking for a few fellow library folks to be early adopters. I would love for you to test it out on your proxy setup and give me some honest feedback. As a thank you for participating and helping shape the tool, I will be providing all early adopters with an extended free month of full access once the testing phase wraps up.
If you are interested in letting Lighthouse handle your daily access checks, you can check out the onboarding details here: https://lighthouse.libpages.com/onboarding
Please feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions. I would love to hear your thoughts!
Best regards,
Hosam
https://lighthouse.libpages.com/

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