Month: February 2007

eSearch unavailable

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

A problem has arisen on the Tolstoy server this evening which is preventing users from accessing eSearch. Although the eSearch login screen loads and allows the user to submit U/P details, the web browser then loops before timing out.

Our support colleagues in IS will be able to investigate the issue first thing on Wednesday morning, and I’ll update as soon as the issue has been resolved.

SFX and Citation Linker is unaffected by this problem.

Alternative off-campus U/P for Westlaw

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Athens authentication for off-campus users of Westlaw is currently not working for any UK university – off-campus visitors are being redirected to the standard commerical log-in screen for the service.

While Westlaw work on a solution for this problem, a temporary alternative U/P has been provided for NTU staff and students – which can be entered in the standard commerical log-in screen that off-campus users will be presented with. Contact eServices for details.

Westlaw are hopeful of a resolution shortly – as soon as this is in place, the standard Athens log-in screen will present as normal.

Westlaw have agreed that these temporary U/P details can be forwarded by email as appropriate to authorised NTU staff and students.

As soon as Westlaw have confirmed the resolution of this issue, a further update will be circulated.

Verdict Research – simultaneous login issue

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

An intermittent problem is affecting the Verdict Research database, which is sometimes causing login requests to fail when another user is already logged in to the service. When this happens, the following error message displays:

The login was unsuccessful: The user name given is in use elsewhere

Technicians at Verdict Research are working on a permanent solution to the problem, which they hope to have in place in the next few weeks. In the meantime additional usernames are being created for LLR (using the same password) which can be used as alternatives when the original username is rejected. These will be available on the Other Passwords page as soon as possible, and – ahead of that – on direct request from eServices.

Networked CD-ROMs and eZproxy – brief service interruption

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

There will be a brief interruption in service for both the networked CD-ROMs and eZproxy (used for those resources which require domain, username and password for off-campus access) some time between 11am-12noon on Sunday 18 February, to allow necessary software patching. Testing will be carried out first thing on Monday to ensure that all services are working normally.

Informaworld – article level SFX linking coming soon

Head of Discovery and Digital Futures

Ex Libris and Informaworld are completing technical updates which should enable article-level linking via SFX to be activated in the coming weeks. As previously advised, links to Informaworld titles via SFX resolve only to the journal level at present. Ex Libris indicate that the enhanced article-level links should be available in March.