This summer, the library updated the proxy, a technical aspect of how we handle access to electronic resources from off-campus.
Despite extensive testing before the proxy update, we have recently received numerous reports from people having problems reaching our resources when working off-campus – these could be ebooks, databases, journals, or articles.
We know how frustrating it is to encounter a problem like this, and we all feel the start of the semester looming. We want to make sure you can access every electronic resource you need!
If you are experiencing issues, please try these common fixes:
Starting from a Bookmark
If you are starting from a bookmark in your browser, that bookmark may have old proxy information in it. To resolve this, try to reach the desired resource through our database A-Z list or through a catalog search, then create a new bookmark and delete the old one.
If you cannot reach the desired resource by any means, please report it to our help queue by emailing er-problem-report[at]reed.edu.
Starting from the Catalog
If you are starting from a catalog search, and you get an error when you try to open a link, it may be that the URL does not have the updated proxy prefix.
If you see the old prefix https://login.proxy.library.reed.edu/login?url= in front of the address, try to paste the new prefix in its place: https://reed.idm.oclc.org/login?url=
Whether that works or not, it would be very helpful if you could report the access problem to our help queue by emailing er-problem-report[at]reed.edu. We will work with the vendor and the proxy company to make sure that resource link is updated.
Reporting a Problem
If you do have to email a report to our help queue, please include the following details:
if you were on or off campus at the time
what operating system you use
what browser(s) you use
where you started (bookmark, A-Z list, catalog search, etc.)
what kind of problem you encountered
the name of the resource you wanted to reach
