Iowa Valley Proxy
Quickly access resources off-campus through the Iowa Valley Community College District proxy.
Proxy Bookmarklet
Whenever you are on a site that requires licensed access, click on the "Iowa Valley proxy" bookmarklet. You will be asked to login, and then redirected to the "proxified" version of the site.
What is OpenAthens?
OpenAthens provides a simple and secure way for students, faculty, and staff at Iowa Valley Community College District to connect to academic resources from anywhere in the world. After signing in with your Iowa Valley account, you’ll have full access to the university’s licensed content—without needing to use a VPN or change device settings.
Why use OpenAthens?
Due to licensing agreements with publishers, most of Iowa Valley Community College District’s online academic content is limited to authorized users. OpenAthens bridges the gap by verifying your identity and granting access from anywhere, without requiring you to connect through the university’s internal network.
What’s the difference between EZproxy, OpenAthens, and VPN?
EZproxy, OpenAthens, and VPNs all offer ways to access restricted academic resources off-campus, but they work in very different ways. EZproxy uses IP-based authentication, rerouting your connection so it appears as though you're on the university network. OpenAthens, on the other hand, uses identity-based authentication—meaning you log in once with your institutional credentials, and it grants access based on who you are, not where you're connecting from. VPNs simulate a campus environment by creating a secure tunnel to the university’s internal network, which can be more resource-intensive and less user-friendly.
Quick access to popular databases and journals
- NCBI PubMed
- SCOPUS
- Web of Science
- Nature
- Science
- IEEE Xplore Digital Library
- Wiley Online Library
- APA PsycNET
- JSTOR
- ScienceDirect