Reference at Newman Library

Tag: Technical Problems

Books24x7 Links In Catalog Still Not Working

Just a reminder that the links to Books24x7 titles in the catalog still don’t work. If someone needs to get to a book in Books24x7, they can still do so by going through the main link to Books24x7 on the Databases page and then search by title for the book they need. One thing that you may notice when you are in the Books24x7 database is that the feature that lets users create their own accounts to save books in folders is overridden with a “CUNY Baruch College” account (click the annotated screenshot below for a larger image showing places where this personal account info can be seen).

There isn’t a way for users to create their own accounts right now, as this setup we have is just a workaround that the vendor came up with recently to meet our request that users not have to create personal accounts just to get into the database in the first place (users should be able to click right into a book or launch a search and then decide later if they want to create a personal account where they might save things).

We have been working hard with the vendor, BCTC, and the CUNY Office of Library Services to troubleshoot the problem with the links in the catalog. We’ve also reached out for assistance on several relevant mailing lists and gotten lots of solutions that haven’t quite fixed the problem. As soon as it is fixed, expect to see a new blog post about it (and sighs of relief from Mike and me).

Catalog down August 3rd 6am -12pm EST.

As announced by OLS on July 30, 2012, CIS will be migrating the Aleph application to new hardware on Friday August 3rd, 2012 from 6:00 A.M to 12:00 P.M.. For the duration of this maintenance Aleph client services, CUNY+, and all centrally hosted EZproxy instances will be unavailable. The CIS Service Desk will send an announcement when the work is complete.  Thank you for your patience.

Status of Books24x7 Login Issue

We are still seeing problems with access to Books24x7, especially when the point of connection is a link in a catalog record. From both on and off campus, you may still see odd Books24x7 pages requiring that you login with a Books24x7 account or create one. Since I first reported this problem a month ago, the library and now BCTC have been working with the vendor to identify what is the source of the problem. As soon as the problem is fixed, expect to see an update here on this blog.

In the meanwhile, it is still possible to access the ebooks in the collection; all you need to do is create a Books24x7 account and then use that login when you get the Books24x7 page asking for those credentials.

Baruch Campus Network Outage June 15-16

From Arthur Downing, Chief Librarian and Chief Information Officer:

Due to unexpected necessary work by Con Edison on the main power feeder to the  Library/Technology Building, the campus network and all local Baruch College computer systems will be unavailable from 6:00 p.m. on June 15 until 11:00 a.m. on June 16.  There will be no access to faculty/staff e-mail, Baruch College web pages, the wireless network, or Degreeworks from on-site or off-site.   The computers in the labs and library will not be available during this period.

From off campus there will be access to systems that are hosted outside the Baruch network, such as Blackboard®, eSIMS, BOSS, and student e-mail.

Blackboard, eSIMS, and  ePermit are available via the CUNY Portal http://www.cuny.edu/

Student Email –  Live @ Baruch http://mail.live.com

Problems with Books24x7 Logins

For a few weeks now, we have been working with Books24x7 support to figure out why direct access to that resource requires a user to login with a Books24x7 account first. This problem has cropped up in the past and been solved; it appears to have returned again. Since this is taking longer than expected to get fixed, here are some workarounds.

Accessing a book via the link for it in a catalog record

If you try to click on the link in a catalog record to an item in the Books24x7 collection (the link is usually labeled “Click here for the electronic version”), you’ll get this dead end page from Books24x7:

To get around this, you’ll need to go back to our “Databases” page, use the link there to go in the front door of Books24x7. When you do, though, you’ll see a Books24x7 page requiring you to login with your Books24x7 login or register for a login. You must login or register/login to get past this page:

Once you have logged in, you can either use the search box in the main Books24x7 interface to find that book from the catalog you wanted to access or you can go back to the catalog record (as long as it is the same browser) and click the link there to go direct to the book (it should work once you’ve logged in to Books24x7 in that browser).

Accessing the main Books24x7 interface via the Databases page link

If you haven’t logged in with a Books24x7 login yet, you’ll need to do so with your existing Books24x7 login or one that can create via the “Register” link on this page: