Troubleshooting Access to Online Resources from the EMU Library

Transcription

1 Troubleshooting Access to Online Resources from the EMU Library Table of Contents General Information: Where to find links to resources: Potential technical problems and best ways to solve them: 1. The page titled Remote Access to Subscription Databases from Eastern Michigan University won t accept my password. 2. I can t access the Research Guides at 3. I can t access the Eastern Michigan University site at 4. The database is asking me for a password other than the my.emich login. 5. Alternative stop-gap solution: Michigan Electronic Library General Information: The EMU Library subscribes to many databases and electronic subscriptions that can be accessed from off campus. Because we contract for these for current EMU students and faculty, access requires authentication with the user s my.emich login and password via a proxy server. When the user clicks on an electronic resource requiring authentication, the user will first get a login screen that asks for the users my.emich login and password. Occasionally you will encounter problems with accessing databases. This can happen due to issues with the status of your my.emich login, technical problems or maintenance downtime at EMU or the EMU Library, technical problems or maintenance downtime with a particular database vendor, or incompatibility with your personal computer settings. This FAQ offers some troubleshooting suggestions that you may be able to use to correct a problem. If you can t quickly solve the problem yourself, call the EMU Library Reference Desk and the librarian on duty will help you diagnose the problem. [Note: It is a waste of time to try calling a particular database company directly, as they usually will only work with an official contact from the university. If a call to the database company is necessary, an EMU Librarian will call.] For the quickest help call the EMU Library Reference Desk. EMU Library Reference Desk Hours during Fall/Winter 2007/2008 are: Mon- Thurs 9am-9pm Fri 9-5 Sat 10-5 Sun dial 1 then x2100 You can also contact the EMU Library via or instant messaging:

2 Where to find links to resources: Many resources are linked from the EMU Library web site at: A full list of databases can be found here: Electronic journals, magazines, and newspapers can be found using the Periodicals Locator: Lists of selected resources arranged by subject (Research Guides) are created by our subject specialist librarians and can be found here: Potential technical problems and best ways to solve them: 1. The page titled Remote Access to Subscription Databases from Eastern Michigan University won t accept my password. The database login (proxy login) is dependent on your my.emich login. EMU s Information, Communications & Technology Division (ICT) wants students and faculty to regularly change passwords. If your password hasn't been changed in a while, one of the first problems you encounter is trouble using your my.emich password for accessing databases remotely. The solution is usually: a. Go to and log in. (* If You can t log in to my.emich, see below.) b. Click on tab for my.emich c. Look down the lefthand column for link "Change your password" d. Follow instructions to change password e. Log out of my.emich, then log back into my.emich with new password After this the remote login for databases, should work. If that doesn t solve the problem, contact the EMU Library dial 1 then x2100 *If you can t log in to : 1. Follow instructions to reset your my.emich account found here: 2. Contact the ICT Help Desk at or via 3. ICT reports that a bug in the browser Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista can also cause problems with your my.emich password. The solution to this problem is to use the Firefox browser, which can be downloaded for free from See also Alternative Stop Gap Solution below.

3 2. I can t access the Research Guides at 1. Call the Library Reference Desk at dial 1 then x2100 If the desk is closed, leave a message about the problem. To contact EMU Librarians via or IM: 2. If the Librarians at the Reference Desk can t immediately solve the problem, try alternative ways to access resources below: EMU Library Databases EMU Periodicals Locator EMU Library Catalog Etraining / Books24x7 (a resource from EMU s ICT) 3. I can t access the Eastern Michigan University site at Even if the main campus server is down, you might be able to access some EMU Library resources by using the web addresses below: EMU Library Databases EMU Library Research Guides EMU Library Catalog EMU Periodicals Locator Etraining / Books24x7 (a resource from EMU Computing)

4 4. The database is asking me for a password other than the my.emich login. In almost every case, we do not use separate logins and passwords for databases: Remote access uses authentication with a my.emich password. However, it can happen that a database will ask you for a different password (when it s a database with limited numbers of users or when you are automatically logged out of a database due to inactivity). Yes, this is really confusing! There is a main solution below, followed by explanations of why you can be plagued by requests for login/passwords that we don t have and don t need, followed by a list of some databases which are exceptions to the rule. Solution: 1. Locate a link to the resource on the EMU Library web site. In most cases, you need to link from the Library web site and you can t bookmark the database directly. Depending on the type of resource, you might find the link you need in one of these places: EMU Library Databases EMU Library Research Guides EMU Library Catalog EMU Periodicals Locator EMU Library Web Site Etraining / Books24x7 (a resource from EMU s ICT) If you can t find the resource in these places, it might be something that EMU doesn t have a subscription for. If you are unsure, contact the EMU Library to check. 2. Click on the link, then log in with your my.emich login/password.

5 Explanations: You might be asked for a password other than your my.emich login because: 1. You tried to access the database directly, rather than linking from an EMU page. 2. The database you were using logged you out due to inactivity. 3. Your request for access exceeded the number of simultaneous users allowed under our contract for that database. 4. You received an update from Books24x7 with links to books and you haven t logged in to Books24x7 for awhile, so your cookie has expired. Go to log in and follow the links to Books 24x7. After that, the links in the update messages will work again (for a while). If we don t have these separate login/passwords, why does the database ask me for them? With Business databases, we are often in a situation where the vendor has designed the database first for business users who are purchasing an individual password. University libraries are a secondary customer and are not the vendors main source of profits. Often the help screens are designed with the individual business users in mind so the screens will mention logins/passwords and sometimes other options that are not relevant to the university clients. Exceptions and databases with limited number of simultaneous users: Advertising Redbooks, Corporate Affiliations, or Dun & Bradstreet Million Dollar Directory --These reference sources are limited to one or two users at a time. If you happen to be the second or third person trying to get on, you might be asked for a login and password. Just try again in about 15 minutes. Users don t tend to spend a long time in these sources. Be sure to log out when you are done, so it is available for the next student. Factiva -- We are limited to six users at a time under our Factiva contract. If you happen to be the seventh person trying to get on, Factiva won t let you in and might ask you for a login and password. Just try again later. This doesn t happen often and not often enough to justify buying access for more simultaneous users. Mintel -- For Mintel there are two layers of login--the usual my.emich login and a second login for your personal profile. You need to set up your personal profile using your my.emich address the first time you access the database. From the first Mintel page, use the link create a personal profile to set up your profile. NetLibrary -- Although many students can use the NetLibrary system at the same time, only one student at a time may use a particular book in NetLibrary. In that case you will have to try logging in later. Be sure to use the logout link when you are finished with a NetLibrary book, so another student can get in (otherwise it will eventually time out). Safari (online computing books) -- We are limited to three users at a time under our Safari contract. If you happen to be the fourth person trying to get on, Safari won t let you in and might ask you for a login and password. Just try again later. This doesn t happen often and not often enough to justify buying access for more simultaneous users.

6 5. Alternative stop-gap solution: Michigan Electronic Library Michigan citizens can access some databases through the Michigan Electronic Library. This is only a subset of the resources available to you through the EMU Library, but it may help out in a pinch. These are also very useful for after you have graduated! 1. Go to 2. Under MeL Databases, click See databases from home. 3. You can log in to these databases with your MI Drivers License number. (Other states may have similar programs, such as Ohio s OPLIN - ) The most useful MeL databases for Business students are: Business & Company Resource Center (business articles, company & industry info) Academic OneFile (articles from scholarly journals and other periodicals on many subjects) ECO Electronic Collections Online (social sciences journals including Business) Computer Database (articles on IT topics) InfoTrac Custom Newspapers WilsonSelectPlus (articles on many topics) LegalTrac (articles on legal topics) Newsbank Michigan Newspapers NetLibrary (online books, all subjects) KP 12/2007