Links in eSearch to the Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts service have been updated to reflect the integration of the service in the InformaWorld platform. Access to the service is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus.
Category: eResources
New resource: WikiVet
Access to the WikiVet database has been enabled in eSearch. Access is unrestricted on-campus and off-campus, but registration is required on the site. The resource is described as follows:
Access to the WikiVet is free but you will need to register with a valid email address. Registration is free and is available to veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary nurses and academic staff at veterinary schools in any country
WikiVet is a collaborative initiative between the UK Vet Schools to develop a comprehensive online peer-reviewed knowledge database. It includes in-depth articles on the following subjects: anatomy and physiology; clinical diseases; haematology and immunology; pathology; pharmacology; parasitology. It also contains images and videos to support learning and teaching and revision aids such as quizzes and flashcards.
Elsevier Science Direct – issue affecting SFX linking
A minor upgrade to the Elsevier Science Direct platform has inadvertently led to all outbound SFX links generating an error. (The issue is affecting all SFX customers of Science Direct, globally).
When a vistor clicks on an SFX (Find it @ NTU) link on a Science Direct result page (see illustration below) an error message appears in the new browser window: Not found: The requested object does not exist on this server. The link you followed is either outdated, inaccurate, or the server has been instructed not to let you have it.
eServices is in contact with Elsevier technical support, and will advise once the problem has been resolved.
Temporary workaround
For any LLR colleagues urgently needing to send Elsevier citations to SFX in the meantime, please follow these technical steps. (This is only a temporary workaround pending a resolution of the problem by Elsevier):
* The error occurs because the Science Direct platform is currently generating a malformed OpenURL. To correct this and create a valid SFX URL copy-and-paste the URL from the pop-up SFX window into Notepad or other text editor. The URL will appear in this format:
* Remove this section of the URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/http%3A%2F%2Fsfx.ntu.ac.uk%2F
* Replace this section of the URL with: http://sfx.ntu.ac.uk/
* This will create a correctly formatted OpenURL:
* Copy-and-paste this URL back into the address bar of the pop-up browser window and hit Return on the keyboard
* A full SFX menu of services should load
* If you encounter any problems using this workaround, please send a copy of the affected OpenURL to Lib eServices
Network access to external web resources: IS report problem resolved
IS has confirmed that the network problems affecting on-campus access to external web resources (reported on 3 December and 10 December) have been resolved, following the implementation of several network management changes. Please report to Lib eServices details of any instances where remote access problems continue or reoccur.
Newton: solution agreed to secure on-campus
eServices have been able to agree with IS new configuration arrangements which will re-enable IP authentication from PCs in the newly re-opened Newton building. The solution requires LLR to register additional IP information with all providers offering IP-based authentication. While this work is being urgently undertaken, it is likely that the re-registration process will not be fully completed until the new year. The advice to NTU staff and students attempting to access electronic resources from locations within Newton continue to be to use the eSearch, SFX and Library Catalogue access routes to these resources (rather than using any previously stored bookmarks). This will ensure that such requests are automatically routed to the appropriate off-campus login screens (wherever necessary) on which staff can login in exactly the same ways as if they were off-site.
Newton – ‘on campus’ access issues
LLR is working with IS to resolve issues affecting on-campus access to electronic resources from the first staff offices to be occupied in the newly re-opened Newton building. Because of the way that Newton PCs have been registered on the NTU network, external web connections from these PCs are not recognised as coming from Nottingham Trent University locations. This is because the IPs of these PCs are outside the normal IP-range of the university. This means that academic staff accessing electronic library subscription services which use IP authentication are not automatically logged in, and are effectively treated as being ‘off-campus’.
While LLR works to secure a resolution to this problem, the advice to NTU staff attempting to access electronic resources from locations within Newton is to use the eSearch, SFX and Library Catalogue access routes to these resources (rather than using any previously stored bookmarks). This will ensure that such requests are automatically routed to the appropriate off-campus login screens (wherever possible) on which staff can login in exactly the same ways as if they were off-site.
Further updates will follow as a resolution to this issue is progressed.
Continuing problems with on-campus access to external web resources
Technical issues affecting on-campus access to external web resources, previously reported on 3 December, are continuing to cause significant intermittent problems. As IS’s attempts to isolate the cause of the technical difficulties continue, the advice from eServices remains unchanged:
“If you encounter problems with accessing external web sites, please report details of the issue to the eServices team for us to investigate. We may be able to suggest an alternative means of access to the resource, and will also need to confirm that the problem you are reporting is not caused by an unrelated service issue.”
Problems affecting on-campus access to external web resources
LLR staff and customers working on-campus may continue to experience intermittent problems accessing external databases and online services, pending the resolution of a technical issue affecting the NTU network which our colleagues in Information Systems are urgently investigating.
The problem results in the slow return of some web page requests, and often a time-out “Page cannot be displayed” error. In some instances, refreshing the page in the browser may result in the page loading correctly; but in other cases the site may remain inaccessible.
If you encounter problems with accessing external web sites, please report details of the issue to the eServices team for us to investigate. We may be able to suggest an alternative means of access to the resource, and will also need to confirm that the problem you are reporting is not caused by an unrelated service issue.
A further update will follow once IS has been able to identify and resolve the cause of these difficulties.
If you’ve any questions about this, please contact eServices for more information.
Problems with university web gateway – 23 October 2009
Performance problems affecting the university’s web gateway during the afternoon of 23 October 2009 (reported by IS as now resolved) did affect on-campus access to LLR electronic resources.
Problems were first identified with remote and metasearching in eSearch (when searches were either timing out unresolved or producing an error), but other issues were soon apparent as external web connections more generally were affected. Access to electronic resources within the university network (such at the Library Catalogue, IRep and and LLR web site) were not affected by the problem.
If you continue to experience any technical problems with connecting to external web services, please contact the eServices team with details of the issue.
Access to Ulrich’s Web restored
Access to the Ulrich’s Web service was restored on 14 September after a temporary interruption. Access is once again direct on-campus and by a resource-specific username and password from off-campus.
Resource trial: EBSCO Art and Architecture Complete
Trial access to the EBSCO Art and Architecture Complete database has been enabled in eSearch. The trial continues until 30 October 2009. Access is direct on-campus and by university username and password from off-campus. This new EBSCO resource remains in ‘beta’ – meaning that all of the content and possible functionality of the resource may not yet be available. The resource is described as follows:
Art & Architecture Complete – BETA is a bibliographic database that provides indexing and abstracts for more than 630 academic journals, magazines and trade publications with full text for over 240 periodicals and 140 books, as well as selective coverage for over 50 publications. The database has been designed for use by a diverse audience that includes art scholars, artists, designers, college students, and general viewers.
Please share feedback on this resource trial with ALT member Rachel Campbell.
Science Direct Off-Campus Access Restored
I’m pleased to announce that normal access to Science Direct off-campus via eSearch has now been restored.
Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
eResource updates 
You must be logged in to post a comment.