Remote Access (RA) is an EZproxy service tailored specifically to the needs of the Ontario colleges and their library users. EZproxy is an access and authentication software produced by OCLC that uses existing library/institutional user credentials to enable off-campus access to the institution's licensed online resources. Participation in the RA service is available to all of the Ontario colleges on a cost recovery basis.
In the new RA Hybrid Model (implemented June 15th, 2021), OCLS has partnered with OCLC who hosts the colleges’ individual EZproxy server and provides SSO capabilities. OCLS continues to centrally manage off campus access for colleges’ eResources. Participating colleges save on IT and human resource costs and take advantage of personalized features such as customized login pages and dedicated tech support through the OCLS Help Desk. Using a combination of custom web applications, the RA system maintains a separate profile for each participating college, which ensures that each college's users can only access their own library's licensed resources.