Common Access Card portals now available in Anschutz and Watson Libraries

Military-affiliated students at the University of Kansas now have additional options when accessing certain secure websites and documents thanks to a partnership between KU Libraries and the Lt. Gen. William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center (MASC) to bring Common Access Card (CAC) readers to two campus library locations. The libraries purchased four CAC readers, available for timed check out to military-affiliated students, and made available two secure computing terminals as part of the effort to promote inclusion and increase convenience for a special population. 

A CAC is a chip-enabled identification card for active-duty military, Guard and Reserve members, Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees and eligible contractor personnel. Much like a KU ID card, the CAC card provides physical access to government buildings and controlled spaces, but it additionally grants access to select DoD computer networks and systems when used on computer terminals enabled with CAC readers.  

“The more things that KU can do to be inclusive of all students, the more welcomed students feel in all spaces, not just military,” said April Blackmon Strange, director of MASC. “It sends a message that, ‘They’re thinking about me from this perspective, and I don’t necessarily have to trek all the way across campus. I can have something that’s convenient.’” 

Although spurred into use some two decades ago by a Homeland Security Presidential Directive, KU student CAC usage is far less likely to resemble secret agents receiving confidential messages from home base and will be typically used for more mundane activities like accessing DoD financial aid information such as tuition assistance for college, military pay stubs, e-signing documents and checking official military email accounts when on campus. Like a chip-enabled debit card, a CAC also requires a user’s unique PIN. 

Military-affiliated students can check out a CAC reader for up to four hours at a time from the Watson and Anschutz libraries’ service desks. Both library locations have a designated computer terminal with proper DoD certificates in order to authenticate and access military resources or patrons may use their personal computers. 

The libraries’ interest in CAC readers was sparked by L. Marie Avila, former undergraduate engagement librarian who championed equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives. Though not a veteran herself, Avila’s family has military connections, and she’s a descendant of a member of the First Michigan Sharpshooters Volunteer Regiment, Company K – an indigenous group of soldiers who fought for the Union Army during the American Civil War. Conversations with family members led to an increased awareness for the special needs of veterans and military-connected patrons.  

Through conversations with the MASC - KU’s centralized resource enabling military-affiliated students to achieve their academic, personal and professional goals – Avila learned that the student lounge in Summerfield 345 was thought to be the only current space on campus with CAC readers for active duty, Guard and Reserve members and DoD civilians. She then began investigating how KU Libraries can better serve the university’s population of more than 1,500 self-identified military-affiliated students.  

Avila investigated other libraries that adopted CAC readers as a service and made valuable connections that helped more easily turn the possibility into a reality. She wrote a Mary McCorison Rosenbloom Special Initiatives Fund proposal for the purchase and implementation of four CAC readers. Upon approval, the Libraries’ User Services team began the work of procuring the readers, working with IT to meet DoD security requirements and tested the functionality with a military-affiliated libraries’ student worker. On Jan. 17, the first day of the spring semester, CAC readers were ready for check out.  

“It helps make the libraries more inclusive and opens the space up,” Avila, who left KU in January to become a librarian at Haskell Indian Nations University’s Tommaney Library, said. “Hopefully it’s an opportunity to build on service to this group beyond what’s available to our traditional students. I wanted to support military-affiliated students and their access to KU Libraries increases with these user services. It sends a message that we know you have unique need and working to serve those needs.” 

The CAC reader initiative is just the latest in a string of military-affiliated student focused efforts by the university community. Last April, KU was ranked fifth nationally among Tier 1 research institutions in the 2022-23 “Military Friendly Schools” survey and has been designated a gold school since 2017.  

“This was one of several ideas we started brainstorming and to us it was the quickest and easiest one to implement," Blackmon Strange said. “Here’s a great start, a tangible thing we can produce with a low cost and quick turnaround. I’m very excited to see what happens in the future with our partnership with the libraries. Another benefit of having the CAC readers at the libraries is it helps students to think of the libraries as an additional resource. They may also go in and see all the other great things the libraries have and that’s another win.” 

More information on KU’s military-affiliated students and the resources available to them are available at masc.ku.edu, while additional information about CAC readers at KU Libraries can be found on lib.ku.edu/cac.