Reference at Newman Library

Tag: Remote Access

WestlawNext Is Now Available from Off Campus

Thanks to new EZproxy settings from OCLC, we can finally connect to WestlawNext from off campus.

It is important to note that we don’t subscribe to all content that you can find in this database. There doesn’t seem to be a way to limit your search just the content we have access to. To see a list of content we do have access to, click the “Tools” tab in the Browse menu and then click “My Content” on the page that appears.

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.

What To Do When You Get the “Oops” Message on the Library Web Site

Sometimes when you are searching for a journal on our A-Z journals page, you’ll click on a database link on the search results page and then find yourself facing an “Oops” page that looks like this:

EZproxy--Oops page

 

There are two things to do every time you see this page:

  1. Click the “Submit” button, which will send me and Mike Waldman a notification that there is a problem with this journal or database.
  2. Try copying the part of the URL for the resource that is in the address bar and pasting it in a new tab or window to see if you can get to the journal directly.

Here’s a 30-second video I made showing how to do the second thing.

The important thing to note is that the URL that appears in the address bar on the Oops page is something you only want to copy part of and paste in a new browser. For example, if this is the URL:

http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=http://www.ajhs.org/reference/adaje.cfm

…you’d only want to copy and paste the part at the end:

http://www.ajhs.org/reference/adaje.cfm

Why Do I See These Oops Pages Anyway?

There are three commons reasons why this error page pops up:

  1. This is an open access resource that our A-Z journals page (powered by Serials Solutions) is mistakenly sending through our proxy server. Mike and I can fix this easily in the admin options for Serials Solutions.
  2. The resource or database hasn’t been properly set up in our proxy server. Mike and I can look into it and make any needed changes.
  3. You got to the Oops page after starting out with an article record in OneSearch that you tried to view online. Mike and I just need to update our proxy server to let it know that this resource is open access and shouldn’t be proxied.

Remote Access to Databases Interruptions Today [UPDATED]

[SEE UPDATE BELOW]

This morning, BCTC is upgrading our EZproxy software, which we use to authenticate off campus users, and moving it to a new server. Remote access may be down briefly here and there during the morning. This may affect OneSearch and the catalog. If you find trouble searching the catalog or OneSearch, these links should work:

Catalog

https://libsearch.cuny.edu/F/

OneSearch

http://onesearch.cuny.edu/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=bb

When work is finished this morning, I’ll update this post and send out an announcement post.

UPDATE: As of 10 am, work is complete and the new server is working fine. Remote access should again be available.

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.