A computer-implemented directory access mechanism provides a directory service operable to access a network directory under a predetermined protocol by responding to an access request under the protocol for information available in a predetermined environment external to the directory. The directory service then uses the access method for the environment to access the information available in the environment. In this manner, data in the given environment can be accessed by a directory service operable under the given protocol by configuring an attribute access method and using this method to retrieve the information. The protocol can be the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. The information to be accessed could typically be an attribute of an entry in the directory. An access control list (for example the Directory Access Control Domain) can contain not only control access rights for directory objects, but also the access methods for attributes of the directory objects.