Off Campus? Login Here
1. All of our online resources should be available from on or off campus to all Tulane University affiliates - those with an active Tulane username and password. This includes resources such as online journals, databases, indexes, newspapers, ebooks, etc.
Watch a short instructional video about off-campus access.
2. There are several ways you can get access to the Library's resources from off campus.
You can use any other Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as AOL, BellSouth, a cable modem, or a DSL provider. If you use one of these methods to access the Library's web site, you will have to login to our proxy server in order to authenticate that you are affiliated with Tulane University.
Faculty and Staff can request a VPN account, which will give you a virtual Tulane IP address and therefore access to all resources as if you were on campus.
Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) client to connect to the University's VPN server. The VPN makes your network traffic appear to originate from on campus. This is the most reliable method for remote authentication and is your best choice if you have a broadband Internet connection, such as through a cable modem or direct subscriber line (DSL).
Certain electronic resources may require additional authentication through EZProxy, even if you are already connected via VPN. Simply click on the "Off Campus? Login Here" link so that VPN can authenticate.
You may not be able to use VPN if you are using a computer where you can not install or configure local software, such as on a corporate network. You may also have difficulty if the network that your computer is on is behind an existing firewall (e.g.: corporate networks; other educational institutions; etc.) that prohibits VPN traffic.
3. You can log on to the proxy server at http://ezproxy.tis.tulane.edu:2048
4. If you have tried your username and password and it doesn't seem to be working, you can test your logon information to make sure you are using the correct username/password. Try to access your email account by going to: http://owa.tulane.edu. If you can't get in, you need to contact Technology Services to check on your account. If you can get into email, but are getting an invalid account/password error from the proxy server, or if you don't know your Tulane username and password, you also need to contact TS - the help desk number is: (504) 862-8888.
5. The link to the proxy server is also available at the top of all of the various database resource list pages. (Since you don't need them while using an on-campus computer, the links should never appear while you are using a computer in the Library or elsewhere on campus.)
6. Once you have logged on to the proxy server, you should not need to login again to use other resources. However, if you do encounter problems accessing additional resources, try re-logging on to the proxy server. There are several reasons you may have to log in again. A few of them are:
7. If you are logged on, but still having problems finding or accessing the needed resource, some possible scenarios are listed below.
8. While our library catalog is a wonderful resource for finding materials in the library, don't try to access online journals through it - use the e-journal title list, available from the Research section of the homepage, instead. The catalog is not proxied - so those links only work if you are on campus or dialing in through the Tulane dial-up connection. However, if you go through the e-journals list, all of those pages are proxied, so you can authenticate prior to accessing e-journal title you are interested in.
9. We do not have complete full text runs for all journals - so double-check to make sure that we really are supposed to have access to a particular journal. You can do this by looking at the years of access in the e-journal title list and also looking in the library catalog. Several vendors will list all of their online journals in their database, even though we don't own access to all of those journals. This understandably leads to confusion, so check both the catalog and the e-journals list to see if we truly should have access to the full text of the journal.
10. The login page for the proxy server is a Tulane-branded white page with a box for a username and a box for a password, with instructions on what to use for each. If you are getting a login page that is brand specific - for example, "Please enter your ProQuest password." - this indicates that you are not going through the proxy server. Make sure you are going through the library web site and authenticating before you get to the digital resource. Since we pay (quite a bit of money) for these digital resources, they are not available to everyone with Internet access. You have access to them strictly because you are affiliated with Tulane University. While you can get to a resource directly if you are on campus, this is because you are automatically being authenticated by Tulane University's IP range. If you try to go directly to JSTOR for example, using your own Internet Service Provider, JSTOR will have no way to verify that you are affiliated with Tulane University and will not give you access. If you go through the library web site, and authenticate, this tells the vendor that you belong to the Tulane license agreement.
11. Many of our resources have a limited number of simultaneous users - when all of the available "seats" are being used, sometimes you will get an error message and other times the product will forward you to a login screen. If this appears to be the problem, try the resource again in a few minutes for one of the available seats to open.
12. The NetLibrary interface is a bit different from our other online resources. In order to access an ebook, you need to create a personal account. This is an account only recognized by NetLibrary; it is NOT your Tulane University username/password. This account information can be any username and password that you want to use. If you forget your username/password, you can request a reminder from NetLibrary - the Howard-Tilton Library does not have access to this information, so we are unable to access/reset your NetLibrary account. Even after authenticating through the proxy server, you will still need to use your NetLibrary account information in order to check out ebooks. We recommend that you set up your NetLibrary account while you are on campus. If you are off-campus and having difficulty setting up a NetLibrary account, you can come in to the Library, or anywhere on campus to set up your NetLibrary account or you can call the Information & Reference Desk (504) 865-5605 for assistance in setting up your account. (Please have your Tulane ID with Library barcode ready for verification that you are a Tulane University affiliate.)
13. Sometimes our online resources experience a technical problem. There might be a problem with the server, or even scheduled upgrades when a database might be unavailable for a short time. To verify a resource is not functioning, you can contact the Information and Reference Desk (504) 865-5605 to have them test whether the resource is functioning on campus. Since we have so many resources available, we rely on our patrons to let us know when they experience a problem with any of our resources. This helps us get started on restoring access as soon as possible.
To report a problem:
Please contact Kate Montgomery (kmontgom@tulane.edu) in the
Digital Services Department for assistance, to report a problem, or to request an addition to this
FAQ at (504) 865-5686. If Kate is unavailable, you can also contact the Information and Reference
Desk at (504) 865-5605 for assistance.
