Open Athens

How do you link to licensed resources inside the HCC Library databases?

In order to reach the OpenAthens login screen for access off-campus, the links that you use for our licensed electronic resources (full-text articles or eBooks, for example) must be correctly configured. If your existing links do not go to the OpenAthens login screen as shown in the box above when you are off-campus, then you will need to change them. If your link was created before 10/15/2025, then it may need to be changed. For example, here is an old link to an eBook that needs to be changed so that users can access it via OpenAthens. These old links often contain "0-" and "librus.hccs.edu."

Essentially, you are editing some parts of your old link out and then adding a prefix to it that directs the link to OpenAthens. This is our OpenAthens prefix -https://go.openathens.net/redirector/hccs.edu?url=

What is an easy way to change my links to licensed resources?

We provide the OpenAthens Link Generator tool below that you can use to easily create new links. Just enter your existing link or list of links and the tool will generate new links that will work with OpenAthens.

Certain vendors, known as "Go-Live" vendors, will not be active on OpenAthens until our "Go-Live" date. This means that you can't definitively test these links on OpenAthens until that date. More than likely, if your original link works with WAM, a converted one will work with OpenAthens.

• These "Go-Live" vendors include Alexander Street, Credo/Infobase, Ebsco, Gale, Kanopy, and ProQuest.

• "Already-Live" vendors include Ambrose Video, Books In Print, NewsBank, Mometrix, Project Muse, Oxford, eHRAF, JSTOR/ArtSTOR, Bloomsbury/Berg, Chronicle of Higher Education, Salem Press, SIRS Issues Researcher, Docuseek, SpringerLink, AAAS/Science.org, WGSN (in progress), WorldTrade Press, Teaching Books, and ACS Publications (Journal of Chemical Education).

• Check your original link before proceeding. Does it still work? If not, check the database for a new link. Converting a broken link will not fix it.

• There will certainly be some databases and some links that may not work on "Go-Live" day. We will do our best to expedite these issues! Email Digital Resources Librarian, Jennifer Stidham at jennifer.stidham@hccs.edu and let her know if you encounter any issues.

• We will likely go live on OpenAthens before our current login method (Web Access Management or WAM) is turned off, so in effect, there will be a period of time when your old links and your new converted links will both work.

What Can I Do Before Go-Live on Wednesday, October 15, 2025?

• Go through your links (Canvas, etc.) and check them. If they don't work, correct them with the current correct version. 
• Go ahead and convert any of the "Already-Live" vendor links using the OpenAthens Link Generator and replace the older links with them.
• If you want to, you can go ahead and convert your "Go-Live" vendor links and have them ready to replace the old links after the "Go-Live" date.
• Links from the "Go-Live" vendors above may not work until our "Go-Live" date and can't be definitively tested until then. We suggest that you provide both your original, WAM links (0-. .librus.hccs.edu) AND the new converted links for this semester and then go forward into 2026 with just the new links. This way, one of the two link choices should work this semester, whether before or after the Go-Live date.

What Can I Do After Go-Live on Wednesday, October 15, 2025?

• Convert your "Go-Live" vendor links using the OpenAthens Link Generator if you haven't already and put them in place.

Please reach out to Digital Resources Librarian, Jenn Stidham at jennifer.stidham@hccs.edu for any assistance that you might need.