Just a reminder that if you have any e-resource access issues/problems, you should email bmsers@umn.edu (instead of directly emailing individual tech services staff members). This helps HSL technical services expediently resolve any E-resource access issue/problems. Someone from tech services department will be checking this mail box; however, if it's an emergency feel free to call tech services staff members directly.
It has been reported that the access problems with PsycARTICLES have now been resolved. We can now access full text articles through Find It. Please let me know if you continue to experience any problems.
Amy Claussen
akla0002@umn.edu
Several access issues has been reported with journals in PsycARTICLES. If you go directly into the journal (for example, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) from the e-journals page or MNCAT and browse by issue you can access full text. However, if you link to an individual article through a FindIt link (PubMed, Ovid, etc...) you get asked to pay for the article.
If you come across one of these journals in PsycARTICLES, let the patron know that we are aware of the
problem and are working to resolve the issue. PsycARTICLES are handled by
Wilson Library so they will notify me when they have more information. If you have any questions, please let me know.
Amy
Hi all,
This has come across a few lists, but I wanted to post it to the reference blog so that the info is in a central place. In late January, some changes were made to the authentication method for the Aleph public catalogs. As a result, you may get questions from off-campus users who are unable to access MNCAT. It seems to be limited only to users who are behind a firewall - the question I got was from someone at the VA Hospital. Hospitals and corporations are likely candidates for this situation.
LEO is quite sure this is a port issue, and is continuing to work for a permanent fix. In the meantime, the users should request that their local IT staff open port 8991 on prime6.oit.umn.edu. LEO believe this will resolve the problem.
Obviously this is not an ideal solution, but hopefully a more permanent fix will happen soon.
Liz
Hello All,
There appears to be some problems with the LSI Quiz that refuse to be pinned down. Elaine has reported problems with accessing the quizzes and then having problems with the powerpoints once they start playing. I had Wayne test at the reference desk and Anne, Amy & Christopher test in Technical Services. Only Amy had problems with the powerpoint itself. It could be that occasionally a corrupted version of the powerpoint downloads. If patrons report this, we could try asking them to clear caches and their download temp files and then try again. If anyone else has suggestions, or has a clue to what the problem may be, please let me know.
Katherine
Hello all,
I ran across something interesting while trying to troubleshoot the PubMed/FindIt link troubles from off campus. I experienced the problem everyone else did initially, but for the last week or so have been able to get the FindIt links to work fine in PubMed. My husband was still running into the same problem from work (clicking a FindIt link and getting either a blank page or an error message).
With our laptops running side by side this evening, we did a bunch of testing and I figured out that the way you access PubMed makes a difference. I always connect to PubMed through the Bio-Medical Library's homepage by either entering a search query directly in the box, or by clicking the "Search PubMed" icon. When I do, I get the FindIt links and they work as they should.
Jared accesses PubMed by clicking the PubMed link on the "Articles, Books, Journals and More" section on the main Bio-Med page. When you access PubMed that way, you get the non-working FindIt links.
So, I don't know what this means (computer people? any ideas?), but this seems to be a viable solution we can give people who call the reference desk with the non-working FindIt link problem. Patrons should connect to PubMed using the icon in the middle of the Bio-Med page. At least, this worked in my series of tests.
Just thought I'd share. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. Let me know if you have questions, or need more information!
Liz
Informaworld has updated our IP ranges and off-campus access should now be restored. I tested a couple of journals last night from off-campus and was able to access full text articles. If you experience any further problems, please let me know. Thank you.
Amy
There have been several reports of patrons being unable to access online journals from Informaworlds off campus. I have updated the IP ranges. Now Informaworlds needs to verify the updated IP ranges. I have left a voice mail to find out when the IP ranges will be confirmed. If you have any questions please let me know. Thank you for your patience.
Amy Claussen, Technical Services
Bio-Medical Library, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities
505 Essex Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: 612-626-6587 Fax: 612-626-5260
akla0002@umn.edu
Hi all,
PubMed/Find It problems are still continuing, probably due to browser caching.
Chad has posted this on the web site:
PubMed LinkOut Error
Print Page Print Page
PubMed recently experienced and error with its "LinkOut" service, which connects users to library holdings. This manifested in an error (either a blank page or a "page not found" error) for users who attempted to connect to library holdings. In our case, users encountered this error in clicking on the Find It button to retrieve articles.
It appears that while the issue seems to have been resolved on the PubMed server, individual web browsers may have cached pages containing errors. If you continue to experience problems such as those listed above, we recommend that you delete your browser cache and try again. If this does not work, please contact us to further discuss your case.
Findit links in PubMed seem to be working again - it was a problem with the scripting on PubMed's end, and Chad rattled their cage so things seem to be back to normal now. Thanks Chad!
Liz
I got a MedRef question that alerted me to the fact that the FindIt links in PubMed are not working - they appear, but when clicked fire a blank window (in Firefox) or a "page not found" window in IE. I just submitted a helpdesk ticket, and will post any updates here.
FindIt links in Ovid seem to be working okay, so if you get questions from patrons let them know it's been reported, and cutting and pasting PMIDs from PubMed to Ovid can be a temporary workaround for quickly accessing FindIt links (the code for searching PMIDs in Ovid is .ui. - for example, 17426184.ui.)
Thanks!
Liz
Hi all,
Remote users of Ovid databases are being directed to the message about the website security certificate being invalid/expired.
I've sent in a helpdesk ticket about this problem. Some users may think that they cant' get into Ovid, but one of the options in the browser is to Continue to website. Users should just select this option even though it says that it "isn't recommended."
Lisa
I am pleased to announce that our stalwart IT team has fixed the Ovid remote access problem. I emailed one of the students who originally reported the problem and he says that he is able to gain access to Ovid MEDLINE from home.
If you do receive additional reports of any users who are still unable to get into Ovid remotely, please get their contact information, esp. their x.500 userids, and forward them to me. IT will need to troubleshoot each userid individually.
Thanks to all who worked so hard to get this fixed.
Martha
Despite the assiduous efforts of our IT staff, remote access to Ovid is still not functioning. So far as we can tell, this problem only affects new users. If anyone contacts you about the Ovid issue, please feel free to collect their email addresses and forward them to me. I am trying to stay in communication with affected users.
Also, Liz has identified the particular article that the new nursing students need to complete their orientation assignment. She has forwarded the article to the students we know about. Because the full text of the article is available to us only via Journals@Ovid, you have to forward the actual article, not just a SFX link. Here is the citation: American Journal of Nursing, February 2003, Vol. 103, No. 2, p. 13.
Please stay tuned for further updates.
Martha
Eric Forbis continues to work on solving the problems students are having accessing Ovid from off campus. Here is Eric's latest update:
We've pinned the Ovid problem down- corrupt database- and I've run a program that should clean it up, but there may be yet another issue to deal with. We have to download and import batches of ID/password combinations periodically, and the last batch of 6000 records appears to be invalid. I've tried removing them from the existing records, but can't tell whether this will be enough till someone actually tries logging in. I'll be contacting Ovid today to get a replacement file, and we should have things back to normal soon.
Please keep in mind this this problem only effects Ovid databases, so you can offer PubMed as a possible alternative to Ovid MEDLINE for remote users.
Martha
We think that the mystery of the Ovid MEDLINE remote access problem has been solved. It seems that the last batch of licenses sent to us from Ovid were delimited incorrectly. Dan Debertin is writing a script to fix this. So, hopefully, all will be well by tomorrow, if not earlier.
Many, many thanks to everyone involved in troubleshooting this issue.
Martha
Just wanted you all to be aware that we have received several email from new nursing students who say that they are unable to log into Ovid MEDLINE remotely. They are trying to complete an online orientation module via WebCT. I've contacted Eric Forbis and submitted a help desk ticket, but it seems that the effected students do have Ovid userids and also have all of the correct library flags. We are trying to collect more detailed information from the students, such as the name of their instructors, the url for the WebCT page, what operating systems and browsers they are using, the exact text of the error message (or, even better, screen captures), whether they are blocking cookies, etc. So, if you hear from any additional effected students, please try to collect as much information as possible and let me and Liz know. I am also suggesting to the students that they try accessing Ovid MEDLINE directly from our homepage rather than using the links from their WebCT page.
I'll post to this blog when we have more information.
Thanks,
Martha
I just received a phone call from Amy Claussen that the UMN Libraries ejournals functionality is down, along with anything else that resides on the same server. Looks like the FindIt links from indexes are also not working. I have been able to successfully link to some full text articles by looking them up in Google Scholar, so you can suggest that people try this workaround, especially if they are on campus.
Also, try the full text links in PubMed - these may work, especially if folks are on campus and thus will be IP authenticated.
Stay tuned for updates-
Martha
2:15 PM FIXED - hooray!
Hi,
As you all may or may not be aware, the UMPhysicians group has been experiencing library resource access issues. This is mainly because the UMP recently changed their IP provider to Qwest -- and some (or perhaps all) of their IP ranges that had for one reason or another had fallen into the "on campus" range, are now considered "off campus" by NTS. On the one hand, this should not be an issue, because as long as the person has library flags, they can always log in. However, we have be getting calls from UMP people who do not have these flags and may be unhappy that they can no longer access library resources and others that can log in, but are finding logging in a hassle and want it back to the way it was.
Linda, Peter and I (with help from Nicole) are looking into the bigger issue of what and where constitutes legitamite "on campus" IP ranges for the AHC. We have already discovered that UMP and Fairview have offices all over the AHC, as AHC offices themselves are scattered all around Fairview properties.
Below is a response that you can use when called on the Reference Desk, or are fielding a MedRef/InfoPoint question about the access issue. Feel free to adapt as needed, but try to keep to the basics outlined so that we are all saying the same thing.
Response to inquiries about access from UMPhysicians
-- We are aware of the situation
-- This occurred when the UMPhysicians switched their IP carrier over to Qwest.
-- If you are a University of Minnesota staff or faculty and your employment category has library privileges, you can still access the full range of Bio-Medical Library resources, with the exception of UpToDate, by logging in with your University Internet ID and password.
-- These employment categories include:
Regular and retirees (CS/BU, P&A, faculty), plus Faculty/P&A without salary, but with official academic appointments
-- If you are uncertain about your University of Minnesota employment category, contact your department or unit’s human resources administration for clarification. If it turns out that your employment category does not contain library privileges, you will have to talk to your department or unit HR about changing, the Libraries does not control this, your unit/department does.
And if there is a continuing question about non-University users accessing information
-- Remote/online access to library resources are limited to current University of Minnesota students, staff and faculty. This is due to publisher licensing restrictions. You are welcome to come to the library to use our resources there.
If you have further questions or comments, please contact Katherine Chew, chewx002@umn.edu.
We've recently discovered some problems with access to images.MD from buildings on campus. So far, the problem has shown up in the School of Nursing and in Vet Med. When patrons connect to images.MD they're brought into the non-subscriber version, with no way to get to the full content. Access works in the library and from off-campus, and Nicole has checked the IP ranges with the vendor, so why this is happening is a mystery.
A help ticket has been opened and this issue is being worked on. Nicole or Amy will post updates here as they occur. For now, if you get a question at the desk about on-campus access problems to images.MD, let people know we're aware of the problem and are working on a resolution. Also, find out what campus building they're in so we can add it to the list if it's not one we know about. Remind patrons they can come to the library to access images. MD, or get into the database from home.
Thanks!
Liz
Hi all,
I just found out that a Google roduct, Google Accelerator, can affect how our users are able to access our licensed content. This could be an issue for the future as more users experiment with new Google add-ons.
Google Accelerator is a product that makes web pages load faster by using the Google network. One caveat of using this is that if you are trying to get to our licensed links via Google Accelerator, your IP range is going to be a Google IP (since Google is proxying the connections), rather than through our proxy server Floyd.
This issue just came up in InfoPoint regarding a person on campus who was trying to get into something from PsychArticles via Google Accelerator and he was denied access due to his IP range being not part of the U's.
According to the Google Accelerator help page, there is a way to set it up so that Google will not proxy a certain site. This could be onerous if one has to do this for all of our licensed content so the best option may be to tell users not to use Google Accelerator to access library resources.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.
Lisa
We have had in increasing number of calls from our users regarding remote access to Up-To-Date; I suspect that they are new or returning medical students rotating through clerkships for the first time. After explaining to them why we are not able to allow remote access (i.e. vendor licensing issues & cost), please remind them of the resources that they DO have remote access to:
Harrison's
MDConsult Reference Books
Stat!Ref
ACP PIER
InfoPOEMS
Each of which may answer part or their entire question.
Jim
Hi all,
It appears that the email function within Ovid Medline (at least) isn't working. Dan has been notified and is in the process of contacting Ovid.
I had this problem last week and InfoPoint has received a few emails about this as well. Let Dan know if you experience this personally or have an interaction with a patron who is having this problem.
Lisa
If you're interested, here's some more information from Betsy about the e-journal links in MNCAT and the MarcIt load:
SFX people in the various areas are notified about when a MarcIt load is going to take place - Nicole gets the notice at Bio-Med.
MARCit is a service we buy from SFX/ExLibris in order to bring our e-journals into the catalog. We export our active titles from our SFX instance, as well as the titles from the other campus instances. The titles are sent to SFX and they return to us files of records. We have to do fresh exports each time because of the multiple instance situation, which means we have to overlay records in the system. There are 4 points in the process that cause reindexing (so the records disappear for a couple of minutes each time): record overlay, holdings replacement and then the appending of the 856/866 on the holdings, and the deletion of the 856/866 from the bib records.
We would actually like to be able to do this every couple of weeks, so that the catalog stays more current. We will not do this until we can perfect and shorten our loading method. We'd also like to be able to do the whole load at night, but that may be a while.
The A-Z list (e-journal) database is the most current record of our e-holdings.
Liz
Links to e-journals are now available in MNCAT again. A reminder - the e-journals database is the most up-to-date, so always check there if you're not finding an e-journal in MNCAT.
Nicole sent me some further explanation about the e-journals/MNCAT situation:
"Betsy is in the process of loading E-journal records from SFX into Aleph (these are the MarcIt records). This whole process requires her to strip out the "old" MarcIt records and then replace them with the new ones. This process should happen monthly, but does not always. It does take a while for these records to appear in MNCAT as Janet explained - I hope for Bio-Med that everything is up and running by the end of today, but in the past it has taken longer."
So, if you ever encounter the situation again, that's what's happening.
Liz
This morning we had a call from a patron looking for e-journals using the Journals catalog in MNCAT. She was looking up a journal she knew we had electronic access to (American Journal of Epidemiology). However, the MNCAT record listed the paper holding but did not have the link for the e-journal. We tried with a few other journal titles, using both the full MNCAT and the Journals catalog, and the same thing happened - paper holdings but no e-journal link.
I called Janet Arth, and she said that phenomenon is caused by the monthly Aleph update - something about a process that deletes the current links and puts in new ones, so we happened to catch it between those two steps. It's now almost 4 hours since we first noticed this situation and there are still no e-journal links, but apparently this is normal.
You can still access the e-journals by using the e-journals database, even when the links don't appear in MNCAT. So, if you go into MNCAT and notice that all the e-journal links are gone, don't panic - use the e-journals database, and the links will be back in MNCAT soon.
Let me know if you have questions. Thanks!
Liz
I had a call for the Internal Medicine Chief residents yesterday regarding their inability to use the FindIt tool from Ovid MEDLINE and PubMed. I made a house call (PWB-14-109) to try to help resolve the problem, which is an "Error on Page" message in the bottom left-hand corner of the browser (IE) window, and the FindIt page not loading. I wasn't and they only had IE on their machines, but I was able to get to the articles the chiefs wanted by going from the e-journals page and using FindIt, indicating that this isn't a FindIt issue.
Later in the day I had a patron come to the desk to ask about two journals and mentioned before leaving the desk that FindIt wasn't working for her. She was from Pediatric Endocrinology, which is on the 13th floor of PWB.
I spoke with Janet Arth about the problem and the information that I had, and she surmised that this might be an issue related to the Windows Update that was pushed out Wednesday afternoon - the fact that three computers in different places had the same problem is suspicious. The Update could affect the IE default settings or defaults in the XP Firewall, which might block how FindIt works within our Ovid databases and PubMed.
If you receive a call about this or a question at the desk have the requestor see if FindIt works in a more general source like Academic Search Premier, which might mean that the problem is related to our configuration of X.500 authentication for Ovid and PubMed. You might also ask if they have Firefox or safari and have them try these browsers, which would support Janet's suggestion.
I'll let you all know if there is a better solution, when one is found,
Jim
Keep an eye on UpToDate. Our link has intermittently been taking users, to a version (probably the default version) of the home page that demands a username and password, and requires a successful log in to get anywhere, as opposed to the "Click here to log in" page we should see. So essentially it prevents users from getting in.
It's happened on and off a couple times this afternoon so far, in the Bio-Med Library, so if it continues we may want to contact the vendor.
Kevin
Hello Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I have received three emails from Blackwell Synergy informing me that they have detected unusual spider activity from an IP address, 128.101.98.21, which is the proxy server.
I have reported all these instances to Jim Stemper who is waiting to hear back from Blackwell with details about the incident. Meanwhile, I wanted to make everyone aware of this incase there are calls to the reference desk from patrons who are unable to access Blackwell titles remotely.
Feel free to contact me if there are any other questions.
Nicole
Hello Everyone,
The link for ACP's PIER is now working in both MNCAT and Biomedsearch. We should not have problems accessing PIER remotely or from within the library. As always let me know if you run into access problems.
Nicole
Hello Everyone,
As many of you may know we are having problems accessing ACP's PIER. We are able the access PIER from within the library using the vendor supplied URLs (these are the URLs in BioMedSearch) but unable to access PIER with the proxy URL that is in MNCAT which sends you to the StatRef! logon page. I am keeping the vendor supplied URL in BioMedSearch so we can access this resource from within the library until we have the problems with the proxy URL figured out. I have been in contact with StatRef! and Shane since this first occurred and now Shane will be contacting StatRef! to talk with their IT department to see where the problem lies.
An@tomy.tv. should be up and running, hopefully. I had Chad put the proxy URL in BioMedSearch so you should be able to access it remotely; I have not tested this yet please let me know ASAP if it does not work. Also remember that you can access ACP's PIER through An@tomy.tv which may be a solution in accessing this resource for Morning Report.
I hope that we can have a functional proxy URL soon for ACP's PIER and please let me know if you run into any more problems with either of these resources.
Nicole
I just got a message from the folks at Wilson and SFX is down; it was sent out late yesterday. When you click on a link to an E-journal through MNCAT or the E-journal page it says that we do not have the item in an electronic format even though we should. As soon as I hear that SFX is up again I will let you know.
For now you can still access some of our E-journals through MNCAT. Use the records without [electronic resource], but have a TC Internet Resource link along with the print holdings. If you have any questions please let me know.
Nicole
ISI is up and running again or it should be. I was able to access it from my computer, at Bio-Med, this morning. Let me know if you hear of any more problems with this database.
Nicole
Access to ISI Web of Science is currently down, even though we're paid up (through CIC). Our friends at Wilson are looking into this and we'll let you know when things clear up.
Thanks,
Bob
FYI -- this announcement was in my email box this morning:
Ovid recommends upgrading your browser to ensure that displays are optimal in the newest release of the Ovid Web Gateway.
Ovid web applications require the following minimum browsers:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
Netscape Navigator 7.0
Mozilla Firefox 1.0
The Ovid applications that are covered by these standards are: Ovid Web Gateway, SilverPlatter, WebSPIRS 5.0 and 5.1, Ovid LinkSolver, and Ovid SearchSolver. Ovid products require that JavaScript and Cookies are enabled.
The current browser versions are available from the following websites for download by PC and MAC users:
For Microsoft Internet Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ (PC only*)
For Netscape Navigator: http://browser.netscape.com (PC and MAC)
For Mozilla Firefox: http://www.getfirefox.com (PC and MAC)
*Additional Information for Mac users: Microsoft no longer supports Internet Explorer for the Mac, therefore Ovid is unable to provide support for their browser. You will need to choose either Netscape Navigator or Mozilla Firefox.
Ovid is committed to providing full support for Safari on the Ovid Online platform, to meet the needs of our MAC users. At this time, we have not been able to confirm compatibility with current versions of Safari. We will continue to update our requirements as appropriate on http://www.ovid.com/site/support/web_config.jsp.
For assistance, please contact Ovid Technical Support at support@ovid.com.
Deb discovered an SFX glitch today. Cecilia Genereaux at Wilson thinks that SFX and/or Science Direct may not be able to easily handle page numbers with non-numerical elements, which leads to false 'article is not available' messages from Science Direct. To see this problem in action, try to link to the article below using the Find It button.
Gook, D.A. Cryopreservation of human ovarian tissue. European Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology. v.113, suppl.1: S41-4 (2004).
If you remove the page numbers from the Find It menu, you will be linked to an issue list. If you do not remove the page numbers, you will receive an error message. If you think this might be a problem you or a patron is experiencing, remove the possibly offending fields from the Find It menu.
Any questions, please ask me. If Cecilia figures anything else out about the problem, I will let you know.
Ashley
Below is an email I received from Nature about possible access issues this weekend.
Dear site license administrator
I would like to inform you that Nature Publishing Group will be
carrying out technical work on the www.nature.com and www.palgrave.com
websites. The two sites will be unavailable and/or intermittent to
users from Friday 3rd September (6pm EST) until Sunday 5th September.
We are upgrading our infrastructure to provide a better service for
our customers.
We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
SLBU Customer Services
Nature Publishing Group