Resources FAQ

Questions

If these questions do not solve your problem, please contact us for help.

I haven't got a University of Wolverhampton IT username and password.

If you have not yet registered for an IT account, or you need to check the details, please go to http://register.wlv.ac.uk/register.asp and follow the instructions on screen.

I cannot log in to electronic resources.

Can you log on to Wolf or your University email?

If not, there may be a problem with your University IT account – please contact the IT Service Desk on 01902 322000.

If you can access Wolf and your University email, check that you have authenticated correctly. Most of our webpages will indicate if you have logged in successfully, in the Find Resources box at the top. If you see the following message, click log in:

Authentication message

If you are prompted for your IT account username and password, enter these in the login box.

A message should then appear briefly: "Athens Authentication – Passing your credentials to the Athens system …"

You will then be returned to the original web page. From there, you should be able to go directly to the resources that you want to use, without any further need to enter your login details.

I have logged in successfully from off-campus – but I cannot access any of the resources that I need to use.

If you go to a resource and it claims that you need to log in to view the content, or that you need to purchase the article, look for an "Athens Login" link on the page. Clicking on this should authenticate you without requiring you to enter your username and password again.

If that does not work, have you been able to access these resources successfully when logged on to a University computer on campus with your IT account details?

If so, this may indicate that there is a problem with the set up of your own computer.

In particular, please note that you will only be able to access Athens resources if your PC has cookies enabled. The settings vary from browser to browser, but for Internet Explorer:

Go to Tools, then Internet Options
Select the Privacy tab and click on the Advanced button.
Click on the box which says Override automatic cookie handling so that a tick appears
You should ensure that you Accept First-party cookies and Third-party cookies.

If there is a firewall on your PC, this should not prevent access to electronic resources, provided that you have cookies enabled.

Unfortunately we are not able to give detailed help on the configuration of your own computer.

I cannot access a particular resource.

Have you checked the Databases A-Z page to find out if there are any special notes about this resource ?

For example, some resources require a separate password ( obtainable by clicking on the "P" icon ). Others are only available on campus, or have a specific procedure for off-campus access.

If there are any temporary problems with accessing a resource, these will also be noted on this page.

If there seems to be no obvious reason for the problems that you are experiencing, please contact Learning Centre Direct on 0845 408 1631 (UK local call rate), or email Learning Centre Direct.

I am not sure about how to use a particular resource.

Some databases have tipsheets available from the Databases A-Z page - click on the "i" icon to display this information.

If you are using an electronic journal, the holdings information on the Electronic Journals A-Z list should indicate whether the particular issues that you need are available.

If you are still having problems, staff at Learning Centre Enquiry Desks should be able to advise you on how to use specific resources.

Are there any restrictions on what I can use electronic resources for?

Yes. You must respect copyright law and the licences that the University has signed with the relevant publisher or information provider. Therefore, you must not download a substantial part of a database or e-journal, or make multiple copies of items, or use the information for commercial purposes. Further advice is available on our copyright pages

Can Mac and Linux users access electronic resources?

Yes - our resources should work on these operating systems with a modern browser.

The recommended browsers are Safari if you are using OS X, or Mozilla or Firefox otherwise.

What should I do if an Athens login prompt appears when I am trying to access a resource from off-campus?

This may occur with certain resources which require the authentication of users via the Athens system. Provided you have logged in to our website, you will not be required to enter an Athens username or password again.

Simply click on the "Athens login" link (some resources may have "Log in" or "Authenticate" instead).

You may then be asked which institution you belong to. Find "University of Wolverhampton" in the drop down list, or start typing the name in the search box. If you follow this procedure, you should be authenticated and taken to the resource.

I cannot open a PDF from ScienceDirect

Elsevier has told us that there may be problems opening PDF files from ScienceDirect using the latest browsers with the Adobe X plugin. They currently only support Internet Explorer up to version 7. Their technical team is aware of this, but cannot give us a timescale for a fix.

In the meantime they suggest the following workaround:

Right click on the PDF link of the article you require and select "Save Target As"
Save the file to your documents
Open the file directly from your documents

This will load this article in the "offline" version, instead of the "online/browser" version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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