Western Carolina Proxy
Quickly access resources off-campus through the Western Carolina University proxy.
Proxy Bookmarklet
Whenever you are on a site that requires licensed access, click on the "Western Carolina 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 Western Carolina University to connect to academic resources from anywhere in the world. After signing in with your Western Carolina 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?
Because of publisher restrictions, online academic resources at Western Carolina University often require users to be on the university network. OpenAthens bypasses that limitation by using your Western Carolina credentials to authenticate access—so whether you're on campus or not, your access stays the same.
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
- Engineering Village
- Oxford Academic Journals
- JSTOR
- Ovid