Reference at Newman Library

Author: Stephen Francoeur

New Interface in June for All EBSCO Databases

The new interface for EBSCO databases that was first launched last year will be live for Baruch in June (exact date isn’t determined yet but it will probably be late in the month). With this new UI, anyone who has done a instructional video demonstrating an EBSCO database, embedded screenshots in a research guide, or built a custom search box to an EBSCO database will need to revise what they have.

If you’d like to take a peek at what the new interface looks like, we have ready and easy access to it here:

https://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=https://research.ebsco.com/c/kusd2j?db=a9h

Once we officially switch over, the existing database links on the library website and any permalinks we’ve shared should redirect. As is our usual procedure when there is a new set of URLs for an existing database collection, though, we will still update the database links on our website so we don’t have to count on EBSCO’s redirect to work.

Printing Credit Kiosk Workaround

While the kiosk for adding printing credits is currently out of service, BCTC has offered a temporary workaround. Baruch students, Baruch alumni, and visitors to the library from other CUNY schools may go to the BCTC Help Desk to get 100 credits added to an existing account or, for visitors, added to a new one. A request for credits can only be done once per semester.

While Baruch students can easily go up to the 6th floor to the BCTC Help Desk, visitors from other CUNY schools will need to stop by the Public Safety desk by the 1st floor turnstiles to explain why they need access. All folks headed up to the BCTC Help Desk will need to have their Baruch ID card or EMPLID number handy before making the request at the desk.

No Way for Guests to Print with Guest Printing Accounts

I’ve submitted a ticket to BCTC asking them to look into what happened to the link that used to appear on the PaperCut printing portal login page that gave users with guest accounts a way to log in and submit print jobs. For now, there is no way for guests to use their guest account to print.

In the Library Services wiki on the “Guest Printing” page there are detailed instructions showing how we used to have guests print. Until this issue is resolved, those instructions are now unusable. As a workaround, we can use our judgment to decide if and when to use our own printing accounts to help out our visitors.

Most Desktop Computers Available Again

Following up on last Friday’s announcement that BCTC was replacing the desktop computers on the 2nd floor, I can report that the new computers are now available.

There are, though, quite a few carrels in that 2nd floor location that still have just a monitor and no CPU, keyboard, and mouse. It’s not clear if BCTC intends to put desktops back in these carrels.

Ensuring GlobalProtect VPN Works with Off Campus Access to E-Resources

If you have a Baruch-issued laptop (this applies just to Baruch faculty and staff) and are working from off campus, you’ll want to be aware of how the GlobalProtect VPN might interfere with remote access to library e-resources (databases, articles, ebooks, etc.) If you are not fully connected to the VPN, you will be unable to log into library resources; when you click a link to a resource and would normally see first our EZproxy page asking you to click to use your CUNY Login and see next the usual CUNY Login page but if the VPN is not fully connected then the whole EZproxy/CUNY Login page steps will be bypassed and the link will take you to some side door on the database’s website that you’ll be unable to get past (you’re knocking on a door that you won’t be able to use).

If you have fully connected to the VPN, you will have already been prompted by the VPN to enter your Baruch username and password into the program on your laptop AND you will have received a multifactor push request on your phone in the Duo app. When you are fully connected, the VPN display on your laptop should look like this:

Screenshot of GlobalProtect VPN showing "Managed-Prod" below the word "Connected"

But, if you haven’t done those two steps of logging in and responding to the Duo multifactor authentication request on your phone, you will not see “Managed-Prod…” below the word “Connected” in the VPN program. Instead it will say “pre-logon” just below the word “Connected.”

Screenshot of VPN display when it says "pre-logon"

If the VPN is in this “pre-logon” state, it will stymie your attempts to connect to library e-resources. As a fix, you can either finish logging into GlobalProtect or you can sign out of the GlobalProtect program on your laptop.

If you need help with GlobalProtect, you will need to stop by the BCTC HelpDesk or submit a help ticket to them.