Hello,

There are open-source proxies available. I would give squid a try. http://wiki.squid-cache.org/Features/Authentication

At such a library, public domain materials are awesome! I would look into calibre as an ebook server and mamager. http://calibre-ebook.com

Of course, project Gutenberg and the internet archive will supply calibre with thousands of free books. Also, look into drm free publishers. With squid active, many non-drm options can be realized for eBooks too. Do not allow access to databases without authentication. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 22, 2015, at 11:06 PM, Nicole Askin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> 1. We don't currently have such technology, though we are definitely
> looking at it beyond this project as well
> 2. Either. From my understanding there aren't many/any comprehensive free
> discovery products. We're currently making do with a Google custom search
> engine, which is a very suboptimal solution
> 3. Yes. I'm working on learning what I can, and we're working on tech
> support options.
> Thanks,
> Nicole
> 
> On Fri, Aug 21, 2015 at 2:11 PM, Kevin Hawkins <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> We should probably clarify you're needs a bit.
>> 
>> Will you need technology that manages authentication of authorized users,
>> or does your non-profit already have some tool (like a user login or proxy
>> server) that can decide which users should be able to get access to your
>> resources?
>> 
>> You mention "discovery options" ... are you thinking of a "discovery
>> product" or old-fashioned federated search that provides a single user
>> search interface that searches across many or all of your licensed
>> products?  And a link resolver?
>> 
>> As a general rule of thumb, you can either have limited tech support or
>> use open-source software but not both.  :(
>> 
>> Kevin
>> 
>> 
>>> On 8/20/15 5:04 PM, Nicole Askin wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hello all,
>>> I'm working with a non-profit that is offering access to research
>>> databases
>>> for patrons that do not otherwise have it. We are hoping to develop a
>>> library portal to support users, ideally including both article- and
>>> journal-level search. We'd like to do this as much as possible using
>>> *only*
>>> free and open source software, so I'm looking for recommendations on what
>>> to use and, crucially, what works well together.
>>> Some parameters:
>>> -We have no physical location or physical holdings - don't need
>>> circulation
>>> or anything in that category, although access stats would be nice
>>> -We do not have our own hosted materials - no need for a CMS
>>> -We have very limited tech support
>>> 
>>> Any thoughts? I've been playing around with VuFind and reSearcher so far
>>> but am definitely open to other possibilities, particularly if there are
>>> good discovery options available.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Nicole
>>> 
>>>