Login-Free Remote Access

BookBrowse now offers login-free access for patrons outside the library (for libraries authenticated by BookBrowse).

Previously, as is the case for most electronic resources, patrons outside the library had to login before being able to access content. Now, remote patrons are free to browse with one click and are only presented with a login screen when they attempt to access premium content. After logging in they are redirected back to where they left off.

Within the library, patrons and librarians already enjoy login-free access to all of BookBrowse’s content through automatic IP recognition.

Benefits of Login-Free Remote Access

Logging in can be a barrier to use, particularly among first time users—now patrons can get a good taste of what BookBrowse offers without the hassle of needing to login first.

Login-free remote access makes it possible for librarians to link directly from the library's website or newsletters to any page on BookBrowse and have the page display with the library's branding. More on this below.

Patrons accessing BookBrowse login-free enjoy the same library-branded experience as those who are logged in, including one-click links to your library’s OPAC. Page views are also tracked in your library statistics.

How to Set Up Login-Free Remote Access

For libraries whose login is authenticated by BookBrowse
If your library links to BookBrowse via a “quicklink” - e.g. https://www.bookbrowse.com/abc ("abc" being replaced with your library's code) your library has either already been moved to login-free access or will be shortly.

If your library’s link has "lcd" in it, for example: bookbrowse.com/libweb/?lcd=[6-digit code], contact us for your new link and simply replace your old link with the new one.

For libraries that self-authenticate
Login-free remote access is only available when BookBrowse handles the authentication. It does not work for libraries that self-authenticate (e.g. with EZ Proxy). If your library currently self-authenticates and you would like to change to BookBrowse authentication contact us and we can have you set up in minutes!

Alternatively, if your library wishes to keep its authentication process in place but would like the option of being able to occasionally link to specific content pages without the need to login, contact us and we will set this up for you.

Login-Free Links to Specific BookBrowse Pages

Login-free remote access makes it possible for librarians to link directly from the library's website or newsletters to any page on BookBrowse and have the page display with the library's branding, e.g. among other pages, your library can create a direct link to BookBrowse's Book Club Central, to our Read-Alikes section, or to any individual book or article. If the page you link to is considered premium content, visitors will be taken to the login page and, afterwards, returned directly to the relevant page.

The easiest way to create a link to a specific page is to tell us the pages you want to link to and we will provide you with the URLs and a simple code snippet so you can create future links yourself. Contact us to get started!

Alternatively, if BookBrowse already authenticates your library and you know the 6-digit code BookBrowse uses to identify your library, you can do it yourself: Simply take any BookBrowse URL and insert
/libweb/?nylip=[6-digit-code]&rel= between https://www.bookbrowse.com and the rest of the URL.

For example, the standard link for BookBrowse's Book Club Central page is:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/bookclubs

So,the link for "MyTown Library" is:
https://www.bookbrowse.com/libweb/?nylip=429438&rel=bookclubs

(Make sure to use https, not http.)

Reports and Tracking

Libraries changing to login-free remote access may see an increase in the ratio of page views to logins. This is because, while every page view of a visit is tracked and reported in your library's stats, a remote "login" is only recorded when a person logs in to premium content.