Reference at Newman Library

Tag: EZproxy

Server Providing Remote Access to Databases & Journals Is Down [UPDATED]

[SEE UPDATE BELOW]
The EZproxy server has just stopped working. I’ve asked BCTC to look at it ASAP. This means that the links to databases and journals won’t work on campus unless you manually remove the http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url= prefix from the address you’re trying to go to. Example:

Academic OneFile

http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/cuny_baruch?db=AONE

Use this instead:

http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/cuny_baruch?db=AONE

For on campus access only. Off campus access won’t be possible until the EZproxy server is brought back up.

Updates to follow as needed.

[UPDATE 30 June 2015, 1:15 pm] The problem has been fixed.

Problems with Off Campus Access to SAGE Journals and SAGE Research Methods Online [UPDATED]

[SEE UPDATE BELOW}

Our EZproxy system that handles authentication for off campus access isn’t working right for SAGE Journals and for SAGE Research Methods Online. While I await on support from SAGE, I’ve temporarily turned off the feature in LibGuides that runs the links to SAGE resources through the proxy server. This means that if you click the links on campus, they’ll work as expected, but if you click them from off campus, you’ll get a page from SAGE asking you to login (instead of getting our usual  Baruch remote access login page).

As soon as I can get off campus access working again with EZproxy, I’ll send an update out on this blog and change the links in LibGuides back to their normal settings. I suspect that the problem will be resolved today or tomorrow at the latest.

UPDATE (30 June 2015, 1:22 pm) Off campus access is once again working for all SAGE resources.

Books24x7 Does Not Work with OneSearch

If you have found an ebook from Books24x7 in OneSearch and try to view it online, you’ll be unable to open that ebook. There is not a problem, though, with connecting to these same books from within the library catalog or from the main Books24x7 page that is linked to on the Databases page. It’s also important to note that ebooks from other vendors can be found and accessed via OneSearch with no problem.

When you click the “View Online” tab for a Books24x7 title in OneSearch, you’ll first get our EZproxy login page (as expected). Then after you enter your credentials to get past our Baruch login, you get an error page from Books24x7 that says

You must log-in through your library.

If you already have, please check your browser’s Privacy settings to make sure cookies are being accepted.

Here’s what that error page looks like (note that it is embedded within the OneSearch page frame):

OneSearch--Books24x7 error page

I’ve got support tickets out with the CUNY Office of Library Services, Books24x7, and to OCLC (who provide the EZproxy software we use for authentication). As soon as this is fixed, I’ll post about it here.

Remote Access Anomaly with Factiva (update: fixed on 9 May 2014)

Update: 9 May 2014 This problem is now fixed.

A number of libraries that use EZproxy (like us) for remote login authentication are finding that when you go to Factiva, you get a somewhat scary looking warning message from your browser. Here’s the exact behavior:

  1. User who is off campus clicks on link on library website for Factiva
  2. User gets the usual remote authentication page that asks for Baruch username and password
  3. After successfully entering login info, the browser starts to go to Factiva but then shows a page with a scary looking warning. Depending on your browser, the warning message will look like this:

Chrome

Factiva--browser warning message in Chrome

Firefox

Factiva--browser warning message in Firefox

It is perfectly OK for users to ignore this warning and click the relevant button(s) that let them move on. In Chrome, you click “Proceed Anyway.” In Firefox, you click “I Understand the Risks.” I have contacted tech support at ProQuest (which provides us access to Factiva) for assistance with this and am also looking into possible solutions on the EZproxy mailing list, where this problem has in the last week been raised by a number of other libraries.

Google Scholar Now Lets You Save Citations

If you are logged into your Google account when you are searching in Google Scholar, you can now save your citations in the new “My Library” feature. Details on this new feature can be found on the Google Scholar Blog.

If you do happen to use Google Scholar or recommend it to students and faculty, make sure you go to the link on our Databases page for it, as that one is set up so that our “Find It” links will appear next to citations that we have full text for and so that our remote login system is activated if the user is off campus (see this 2012 blog post for details on our setup).

Remote Access to Course Reserves Is Not Working

Over the weekend, remote access to the course reserve system stopped working (on campus access seems to be fine). When you try to connect to course reserves right now, you get the usual Baruch login page, and then, once you’re past that, get an error page from Docutek that looks like this:

Docutek--Remote access error message

We’re contacting vendors (Docutek for the course reserves system and OCLC for the EZproxy software that manages remote access to library resources) to find a way to fix this.

UPDATE (10/28/2013, 3:30 pm): The system is now available again from off campus.