# EZproxy

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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/EZproxy.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZproxy
> Source revision: 1292259469
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Web proxy server used by libraries to give remote access to subscription resources}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Primary sources|date=May 2012}}

'''EZproxy''' is a web [proxy server](/source/proxy_server) used by [libraries](/source/library) to give access from outside the library's [computer network](/source/computer_network) to restricted-access [website](/source/website)s that [authenticate](/source/authentication) users by [IP address](/source/IP_address). This allows library patrons at home or elsewhere to log in through their library's EZproxy server and gain access to resources to which their library [subscribes](/source/subscription_business_model), such as [bibliographic database](/source/bibliographic_database)s.

The software was originally written by Chris Zagar in 1999 who founded Useful Utilities LLC to support it. [OCLC](/source/OCLC) announced in January 2008 that it had acquired the product and was hiring Zagar as a full-time consultant for a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/2/OCC/2010/05/07/H1273247173434/viewer/file21.htm|title=OCLC acquires EZproxy authentication and access software|website=Worldcat.org|accessdate=17 April 2018}}</ref> Zagar is a librarian who serves as a systems librarian at the [Estrella Mountain Community College](/source/Estrella_Mountain_Community_College), a part of the [Maricopa Community Colleges](/source/Maricopa_County_Community_College_District) in [Arizona](/source/Arizona). He won the 2006 LITA/Brett Butler Entrepreneurship Award for his work with EZproxy.<ref name=butleraward>[http://www.ala.org/ala/lita/litaresources/litascholarships/06butler.cfm]  {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124224801/http://www.ala.org/ala/lita/litaresources/litascholarships/06butler.cfm |date=2008-01-24 }}</ref>

EZproxy is a [URL rewriting](/source/URL_rewriting) program,<ref name=ezproxytech>{{cite web|url=http://www.oclc.org/us/en/support/documentation/ezproxy/technical.htm|title=Home|date=27 January 2017|website=Oclc.org|accessdate=17 April 2018}}</ref> which works by dynamically altering the URLs within the web pages provided by the database vendor. The server names within the URLs of these web pages are changed to reflect the EZproxy server instead, causing users to return to the EZproxy server as they access links on these web pages."<ref name=ezproxyglance>{{cite web|url=http://www.oclc.org/us/en/ezproxy/about/default.htm|title=EZproxy|website=Oclc.org|accessdate=17 April 2018}}</ref> Previous proxy solutions were complex and difficult to maintain, and when EZproxy was created, authentication systems like [Shibboleth](/source/Shibboleth_(Internet2)) were still far in the future.<ref name=butleraward/>

The software is sometimes confused with generic proxy server software designed to control web access. It is sometimes referred to as a "proxy referral" server to distinguish it.{{fact|date=February 2024}}

The software has been purchased by more than thousands of institutions in over 100 countries.<ref name=ezproxyhome>{{cite web|url=http://www.oclc.org/en/ezproxy.html/|title=EZproxy|website=Oclc.org|accessdate=17 April 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.oclc.org/en/ezproxy.html EZproxy authentication and access software], official webpages at OCLC

{{Authority control}}

Category:Federated identity
Category:Internet access
Category:Library 2.0
Category:OCLC

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [EZproxy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZproxy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZproxy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.