CRIV CONNECTION

Guest Author: Hannah Freeman, Technology & Reference Librarian, Brooklyn Law School Library

Brooklyn Law School (BLS) Library began to use OpenAthens as our authentication provider in August 2025. After a few months, we learned that our subscription with Wolters Kluwer (WK) products, VitalLaw and Kluwer Arbitration, were incompatible with OpenAthens. Initially, OpenAthens authentication worked with both products, but later broke down.

BLS patrons use VitalLaw to access legal treatises such as Farnsworth on Contracts, Goldstein on Copyright, Kohn on Music Licensing, and New Wigmore: A Treatise on Evidence. The BLS Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Team relies on access to Kluwer Arbitration to search international arbitration treatises and journals. 

To maintain access to VitalLaw and Kluwer Arbitration, we worked with a Brooklyn Law School IT technician and a WK rep to set up single sign-on access via our institutional Microsoft email accounts. Users simply enter their Brooklyn Law School email on the VitalLaw or Kluwer Arbitration login screen. Idp domain-based discovery then recognizes our institutional domain and triggers login via BLS email account. Though the set up took several weeks, access via SSO has been very smooth so far. SSO via Microsoft is an effective and straightforward workaround for any institution using OpenAthens who subscribes to VitalLaw and/or Kluwer Arbitration. 

Note: Hannah Freeman is willing to discuss this solution with other library teams who might be transitioning to OpenAthens. Contact her at hannah.freeman@brooklaw.edu.