If someone is reporting that they can’t log in to something, it’s essential to know precisely which system they are having trouble with before you offer any advice. The best strategy is to ask the patron to describe the login screen that they can’t get past. Get the patron to give you answers to one or more of these questions:
What is the web address of the login page that you can’t get past?
If it begins with…
- https://libsearch.cuny.edu, then that person is trying to log into their library account via the library catalog (see screenshot at bottom of this post)
- https://cuny-pds-lb.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com or with https://onesearch.cuny.edu, then that person is trying to log into their library account via OneSearch (see screenshot at bottom of this post)
- http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu, then that person is trying to log into a database or some other licensed resource (see screenshot at bottom of this post)
- words that sound like some database we subscribe to, then they may be trying to access content we haven’t subscribed to or they may be off campus trying go directly to a database instead of going via our links on the library website
- http://guides.newman.baruch.cuny.edu/er, then that person is trying to log into a course page in the e-reserves system (see screenshot at bottom of this post)
Can you describe the login page? What words do you see on it?
- Some patrons won’t be able to provide you with the web address of the login page, so a good strategy to try next is to ask them to describe as much of the page as they can
- If the patron says the page mentions a “library ID #” or “barcode” then it is likely they are trying to log into their library account via the library catalog or OneSearch (see screenshots at bottom of this post)
- If the patron says the page has the “Baruch College” logo on it and asks for a “Baruch Username” and “Baruch Password,” then they are on our remote access page (see screenshot at bottom of this post)
- If the patron says the page has the course number and course name and is asking for a “course password,” then they are in the e-reserves system trying to log into a course page. (see screenshot at bottom of this post)
In another blog post, I’ll outline what advice to offer based on what system is a problem for the patron.
Screenshots of login pages
Library Catalog
OneSearch
Remote Access (also known as EZproxy and the proxy server)
E-Reserves Course Page in the LibGuides System
