HighWire and Google co-developed CASA (Campus Activated Subscriber Access) as an authentication enhancement that improves the authentication for off-campus users of Google Scholar.  CASA is free and is automatically enabled for all HighWire-hosted Journals that are indexed in Google Scholar.

How does it work?

When a user is on-campus, they often connect to a University network. When connected, if they visit Google Scholar, Google automatically creates an affiliation between that user and their institution.  This affiliation allows Google Scholar to record that the user has subscription privileges granted by that institution. With Google CASA, this same seamless authentication follows the user when they take their device to any off-campus location.   Once the affiliation is created, it grants them immediate access to the articles and Journals that their institution subscribes to even when the user is off campus.

What does it cost?

There is no charge for Google Scholar CASA.

Information for Users:

 

Q1: As a reader/researcher, how can I take advantage of CASA?

A: Visit your campus and read some journals at least once a month. You do NOT need to use Google Scholar, but doing a Scholar search is an easy way to do this. Alternatively, if you are traveling far from campus, you can connect monthly via your campus VPN/proxy.

 

Q2: Do I need a Google Account to use CASA?

A: No, a Google Account is not needed to use CASA. If you have a Google account and have signed in to that account on campus, then your CASA access is “portable” across multiple signed-in devices. In other words, you can use an office machine in campus, a mobile device in transit, and then a laptop at home and if they are all signed in to the same Google account CASA will enable the same access across all of them.

 

Q3: Sometimes the article I want to access isn’t available via CASA. What do I do then?

A: The article may be so new (a day or less old), that it is not yet indexed by Scholar. Wait a couple of days and try again. Or follow the next Answer:

A: It may be that your CASA access has expired. You can renew your CASA access by returning to campus.

 

Information for Librarians

 

Q4: Is CASA-enabled access going to show up in my COUNTER reports?

A: Yes, just like any institutional access, because it IS institutional access.

 

Q5: Can I tell how much of my usage is through CASA?

A: No.

 

Q6: To enable CASA for a particular publisher, would the user have to visit that specific publisher while on campus?

A: No. Once the CASA association is built for a user, it is applicable to all CASA enabled publishers.

 

Q7: What data is being collected? Is it GDPR compliant?

A: CASA uses only institutional subscription information. No individual private information is used. So CASA is GDPR compliant as it does not capture, convey or store any personal data about the researcher. Google’s privacy policy covers CASA as well.

 

Q8: Can I turn CASA off for my journals?

A: Not for your institution. But individuals can turn it off. See the Help page at Google:

https://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/help.html#access