[Web4lib] blue sky thinking

[Mark Costa]

For those of you who outsource, how do you handle authentication? Does your
IT department still maintain some sort of proxy server, or have you found a
better way to go about this?

On 7/27/06, Aslin, Verna <Verna.Aslin at tafensw.edu.au> wrote:
>
> I can guardedly endorse the suggestion that libraries outsource their
> websites to a commercial server. We have been running a site on an
> external server for the past 4 years. I say "guardedly" because I think
> it has worked well for our library service (particularly when the
> alternative was to be restricted to intranet pages), but has been at
> times heavy weather for me as our library service's default, low end
> "Webbie and Techie".
> The commercial hosting service we use has been very reliable and offers
> a good range of support technologies, some built into the subscription
> rate and some available for a bit extra. Licences for these technologies
> would probably have been quite expensive if acquired separately.
> Advantages of having the site hosted are the freedom to develop and
> evolve away from the standard response of our IT department "Why do you
> want to do that?" closely followed by "We don't think you should be
> allowed to do that", plus the ability to have outside contractors do
> work on your site (something not allowed on our inhouse server for
> security reasons, a bit of a Catch-22 when your in-house IT staff don't
> want to do any work for you).
> The main disadvantage is that puzzling issues arise from time to time
> which you really have to solve largely by yourself. Our hosting service
> has technical support but they speak tech-speak only, nothing for
> dummies at all. Another disadvantage is being officially "frowned on" by
> your organisation.
> I'd say go for it and publish your library site on an outside server but
> preferably have at least one person on staff who is either very tech
> savvy or very very keen to learn - preferably both!
>
>
> Verna Aslin
> Manager Library & Information Services
> North Coast Institute
> N.S.W., Australia
> ph 02 6586 2223 fax 02 6586 2333
> verna.aslin at tafensw.edu.au
>
>
>
> **********************************************************************
> This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain
> privileged information or confidential information or both. If you
> are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender.
> **********************************************************************
> _______________________________________________
> Web4lib mailing list
> Web4lib at webjunction.org
> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>



-- 
Mark R. Costa, MLS
Librarian
U.S. Army War College
Library, Reference and Information Services
122 Forbes Avenue
Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013-5220
717.245.4260 / 717.245.3323 (fax)

"What is possible is not independent of what we believe to be possible.  The
possibility of such developments in the practical world depends upon their
being grasped imaginatively by the people who make the practical world work"
-Neil MacCormick