Paul Stainthorp Schrödinger's cataloguer

Posts Tagged ‘how to’

How to fix the RefWorks accounts of staff whose employee IDs have changed

Posted on May 24th, 2013 by Paul Stainthorp

These instructions are for University of Lincoln library staff.

University of Lincoln staff users have two separate identifiers on our systems: an account ID (based on a user’s name – mine is “pstainthorp”), and a separate, six-digit internal University employee ID.

Normally, an internal employee ID number never changes. However in a small number of circumstances, an individual’s employment status changes to the extent that they are given a new, different employee ID by Human Resources.

Employee IDs are used ‘behind the scenes’ to persistently identify a user in a number of Library/ICT systems, including:

Athens (authentication system)
EPrints (the Lincoln Repository)
Horizon (Library Management System)
RefWorks
SafeCom (printing system)
Talis Aspire (reading lists)

[The user doesn't see their employee ID at work in these systems; they will log in using their normal account ID and password.]

If their employee ID changes, they may well lose access to their original profile on all of the above systems. This will seem mysterious to the user, because they will still be logging in to the system with an unchanged account ID (and being granted a new profile associated with their new employee ID).

In RefWorks, it’s possible to recover the contents of a user’s original profile (i.e. their stored references) like this:

N.B. this is a bit of a ‘nuclear option’ and should only be done if there’s no other way round the problem. If you don’t understand the instructions below then you definitely shouldn’t attempt it!

Log in to the RefWorks administrators’ site and go to Usage > Account Activity/Inactivity.
(You may need to change the drop-down list to view profiles that have not been accessed in a while).
Locate the user’s old, original profile by decoding the “Login” identifier (starts with PUID-…). It should decode to an employee ID that is no longer associated with the user. If you don’t know how to decode RefWorks PUIDs, please speak to me.
Click on the hyperlinked “# Logins” number to view the details of that RefWorks profile.
Hit the “Reset Password” button then click “OK”.
Make a note of the “Login” identifier (PUID-… etc.) and the new, reset password.
Go to http://lncn.eu/bgt3 and log in to the user’s old RefWorks profile using the PUID identifier and new password.
Within this RefWorks profile, go to Tools > Backup & Restore. Under “Backup”, make sure that all the “Backup Options” are ticked, and hit “Perform Backup”.
Once the backup is complete, download and save the resulting .rwb file.
Log out of RefWorks.
Now log in to RefWorks the ‘normal way’ via Athens, with the user’s login credentials – account ID and password (this will connect you to their new, replacement RefWorks profile associated with their new employee ID).
Go to Tools > Backup & Restore again. Under “Restore”, tick all the “Restore Options”, click the “Choose File” button and select the .rwb file you saved earlier.
RefWorks will warn you that everything in the current profile will be overwritten. If the user is happy with this, hit “OK”. The contents of the user’s new RefWorks profile will be entirely replaced with that of the old, redundant profile.
Now the user can continue to use RefWorks as normal.

Tags: admin, backup, employee ID, fix, how to, Human Resources, ID, identifiers, instructions, persistent ID, profile, recover, references, RefWorks, staff
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EZproxy crib sheet for Library staff

Posted on October 24th, 2012 by Paul Stainthorp

Recently Elif and I gave a workshop for our e-Library Services colleagues on EZproxy: what it is, how it works, and how we’re using it at Lincoln. Here are our workshop notes.

EZproxy is e-resource authentication software, provided by OCLC, which we host on a server here at Lincoln. It’s very cheap (small annual subscription cost + maintenance of the server). Our EZproxy service is at: http://proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/
It works by rewriting the URLs of e-resources, so that they go through a *.lincoln.ac.uk domain – see examples of this below. This ‘tricks’ the e-resource provider into thinking that the user is on campus (i.e. that they are within the University’s IP range). So, it only works with e-resources that are IP-authenticated.
EZproxy has nothing to do with OpenAthens or other kinds of federated authentication. It’s an entirely separate method of access, useful when it’s difficult or impossible to make OpenAthens work properly and consistently (e.g. via the Electronic Journals A-to-Z). However it doesn’t offer the same flexibility/personalisation as federated authentication.
Our EZproxy service is protected by a University secure sign-in screen. Currently this piggybacks off Blackboard authentication. It can also inherit authentication from the University Portal, as well as its own local login screen, which we’re not using. Users sign in with their standard University of Lincoln accountID and password. If the user is already logged in to Blackboard or the Portal, they will be passed through to the resource automatically and won’t have to log in again.
Once you have signed in to http://proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/, you’ll see a list of all the e-resource platforms that are currently set up to use EZproxy. All of these resources currently set up to use IP authentication (solely, or in addition to another method). Users won’t generally see this menu screen as they’ll usually be clicking on a link directly to a specific e-resource.
When we update the IP ranges that a resource provider holds on file for us, we need to include the IP address of EZproxy. Before we disclose our IP ranges to a provider, we ask them for written assurance that they will only use our IP ranges for user authentication. These details are held on file in a Portal site shared with ICT services.
URLs for authentication via EZproxy (from Blackboard, the A-to-Z, etc.) are generally in the form:
- http://proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/login?url={URL}
However there’s a special URL format for links from the University Portal:
- https://login.proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/login?url={URL}
Publishers’ URLs to e-resources which are stored in the A-to-Z/LinkSource knowledgebase are rewritten to go through EZproxy using the A-to-Z’s “proxy mask” feature (which is like a template for re-formatting URLs). Find it at Lincoln also re-formats a number of internal URLs so that users are routed via EZproxy.
EZproxy resolves the above URL formats into final URLs like these:
There is an admin site for maintaining EZproxy. Access to this admin site is restricted to only a few people (EV, PS, DM, TS), and the site is available on campus only. To configure EZproxy to work with each additional e-resource, we have to download a configuration text file from the admin site, and edit it to add a new database “stanza” (a short piece of configuration text).
There’s a general format for writing stanzas for electronic resources – in addition, some databases have additional weird requirements for stanzas (OCLC maintain a list of oddities). If all else fails, we can ask on an EZproxy mailing list, or on Twitter!
Once we’ve added a new stanza (or changed an existing one), we re-upload the config file, and re-start the EZproxy software from within the admin site. Then we test the new resource from off campus before creating links from the A-to-Z, etc. The admin site provides an archive of previous versions of config.txt in case we need to roll back a mistake.
EZproxy stores usage data (in the form server logs) – we’re not doing anything with this data at the moment, but we are looking at archiving it off to a ‘Data Warehouse’ and analysing/reporting on it within the Library. RAPTOR is a JISC-funded, free-to-use, open source software toolkit for collecting and reporting on authentication usage – Elif is writing up a report on RAPTOR.
Our own JISC-funded Linkey project is looking at streamlining all authentication systems including EZproxy under a joint OAuth-Microsoft UAG (Unified Access Gateway”) framework. Alex Bilbie blogs regularly about how authentication to Library resources could be served in such a framework.
If you have any questions about EZproxy please contact Elif or me!

Tags: admin, Alex Bilbie, authentication, e-Library Services, EZProxy, how to, IP authentication, Linkey, notes, OAuth, OCLC, proxy mask, RAPTOR, UAG, URL rewriting, URL structure, usage data, workshops
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How to allow multiple lecturers to work on the same reading list

Posted on September 14th, 2012 by Paul Stainthorp

Here’s how multiple lecturers can collaborate on a single reading list at the University of Lincoln.

Warning – to avoid conflicts, we advise that multiple lecturers don’t work knowingly on the same list at the same time, but agree amongst themselves that one lecturer will edit the list and submit it for review before a second lecturer makes changes of their own. For basic operations, two users working concurrently might not trip over each other, but for more complex operations they most likely will.

N.B. while multiple lecturers can all work on a list in this way, only one person can be named as the list owner (and have their name and photo appear at the top of the list).

The first lecturer logs in to the reading lists system and creates a new list. When they have finished working on the list, they submit it for review by the Library.
A subject librarian will review the list, publish it, and associate it with a module in Blackboard. Note that none of the following stages are possible until the list has been published.
Once the list has been published, the first lecturer then logs back in to the reading lists system and returns to the list in question. From the list of options at the top of the list, they click on “Invite List Publishers“.
They then enter the email address(es) of the other lecturers whom they want to be able to edit the list, separating multiple email addresses with commas. They then hit “Send”.
The other lecturers will receive an email inviting them to become list publishers for this list. They must each click on the link to accept the invitation, log into the reading lists system, then click on “Accept”.
Now, each lecturer will see a link to “Edit” the list. They will be able to add new resources and make changes to the list, then submit it for review by the Library.
To repeat the warning – to avoid conflicts, we advise that multiple lecturers don’t work knowingly on the same list at the same time – for basic operations, two users working concurrently might not trip over each other, but for more complex operations they most likely will.

Tags: help guides, how to, instructions, lecturers, list publisher, lists, multiple, permissions, reading lists, Talis Aspire
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Searching for dissertations & theses in Find it at Lincoln

Posted on September 7th, 2012 by Paul Stainthorp

I’m slightly excited because we’ve had what I think is our first “real world” student query about how to do something specific in our new search/discovery service, Find it at Lincoln.

Here’s how to use Find it at Lincoln to look for student dissertations and theses that are held in our library collections, matching a particular subject.

Go to the Library’s website at: http://library.lincoln.ac.uk/
In the Find it at Lincoln search box (top right), enter your subject search term – e.g. engineering
Find it at Lincoln will return more than 22 million results(!) for this single word. To narrow the search down to dissertations, look in the bottom left-hand corner of the Find it at Lincoln screen for the “Location” options.
Open up the “Location” options. Tick the box marked “Dissertations (All Campuses)“, and hit “Update”.
Find it at Lincoln will narrow the search down to only dissertations/theses in our collection matching the search term “engineering” – 10 results. You can click on the title of an individual search result to see the details, and to check the location/availability of the dissertation (N.B. in the University Library, dissertations are held in the “Presentations/Reservations/Dissertations” area on the ground floor).

Tags: dissertations, engineering, Find it at Lincoln, help, how to, instructions, search, theses
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How to link from Blackboard to BoB

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 by Paul Stainthorp

BoB (Box of Broadcasts) National is a shared off-air TV/radio recording and media archive service.

Students and staff at the University of Lincoln can use BoB to record forthcoming television and radio programmes as well as retrieving programmes from the previous week. There’s a help guide for BoB, as well as these instructions on scheduling your own recordings.

Warning: provision of access to off-air recordings (via BoB or otherwise) is governed by the terms of the ERA Plus Licence. This licence allows the University to stream certain TV/radio programmes to students, via Blackboard, for the purposes of learning, teaching, and academic research: but only to computers within the UK. This means that links from Blackboard to programmes on BoB will not be accessible to students who live, or are travelling, overseas.

Here’s how to create links for your students from within a Blackboard Site to individual TV/radio programmes in BoB:

Log in to BoB. This in itself is a somewhat involved process. Here are some instructions.
Locate the programme you want to link to, by searching the BoB archive (or by selecting a programme you have already saved to ‘My Bob‘). Click on the title of the programme in the search results to view the page for that programme.
Copy the URL (web address) of the programme page, by selecting the address bar and holding down Ctrl+C. The URL will be in the format: http://bobnational.net/programme.php?archive=xxxxx&view=flash_player (…where “xxxxx” is BoB’s internal archive ID number for the programme.)
Log in to Blackboard. Go to the point in your Blackboard Site where you want to link to the programme. Use the Blackboard ‘Build Content’ menu to add a URL.
In the Blackboard ‘Create URL’ page, fill the the following information: give the link a Name (this is the text that will appear to students). Paste in the URL (web address) of the programme that you copied from BoB in step 3. Also, under the terms of the ERA Plus Licence you must paste the following HTML code into the Description:

<p>This recording is to be used only for non-commercial educational purposes under the terms of an <a href=’http://www.era.org.uk/’ target=’_blank’>ERA Licence</a>. For terms of use and to find and record more programmes please visit <a href=’http://bobnational.net’ target=’_blank’>BoB National</a>.</p>

(Use the <> button on the Blackboard text editor to switch to the ‘HTML Source mode’ before you paste the code in.) You might—especially if your course has a significant number of distance learners or overseas students—want to add a line about the programme only being available to view in the UK. You can add any additional descriptive text you want, underneath the non-commercial educational purposes disclaimer.
Still within the Blackboard ‘Create URL’ page, scroll down to the option marked ‘Open in New Window’ and select ‘Yes‘. If you don’t do this, your students may not be able to log in to BoB. Finally, hit ‘Submit’.

Your students will now be able to see a link to the programme in Blackboard. When they click on the link, BoB National will open in a new window. If they’re not already logged in, they will be asked to log in by typing the name of their university, and clicking a ‘Go to login’ button. They will then be able to view/listen to the programme.

That’s it! For help with this process, please contact your subject librarian, or email: blackboard@lincoln.ac.uk

(P.S. You may spot that BoB National also provides an iframe ‘embed’ code, designed to embed the video within the web page directly. Don’t use this code. It won’t work properly in Blackboard.)

Tags: audio, Blackboard, BoB National, Box of Broadcasts, ERA, geolocation, how to, HTML, licence, linking, off-air recording, radio, television, video
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How to send emails to your Outlook contacts and distribution lists via ‘Select Names’

Posted on September 22nd, 2011 by Paul Stainthorp

These instructions hold true for MS Outlook 2003, as provided on the corporate desktop at the University of Lincoln.

If you store contacts or distribution lists in the Outlook ‘Contacts’ pane, you might find that they are not available to choose from the ‘Select Names’ window. (They ought to appear under ‘Outlook Address Book’ in the drop-down list under the heading ‘Show Names from the:‘.)

If you can’t see that option, here’s how to make it appear:

On the ‘Tools’ menu, click ‘E-mail Accounts’.
Under ‘Directory’, select ‘View or change existing directories or address books’, then ‘Next >’.
Under ‘Directories and Address Books’, click ‘Add…’.
Select ‘Additional Address Books’, then ‘Next >’.
Click ‘Outlook Address Book’, then ‘Next >’.
Click ‘OK’, then ‘Finish’, and finally close/restart Outlook.

Now, when you go to the ‘Select Names’ window, your contacts will appear in the ’Show Names from the:‘ menu, under ‘Outlook Address Book’ > ‘Contacts’.

Tags: 2003, address book, contacts, corporate desktop, distribution lists, email, how to, Microsoft, Outlook
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How to export citations from Google Scholar into RefWorks

Posted on September 15th, 2011 by Paul Stainthorp

Now that Google Scholar is no longer in Beta, and as Google standardises on the black navigation bar for all of its applications, the method for configuring Scholar to export citations to RefWorks has changed, ever so slightly.

The difference between exporting from Google Scholar and most academic/library databases is that unfortunately you can only export one result from Google at a time. It’s also worth checking carefully the details of the citation as it’s imported into RefWorks – Google Scholar gets results from all sorts of “scholarly” websites, some of which seem to provide only partial information for each citation. Garbage in, garbage out.

Any problems, please email RefWorks@lincoln.ac.uk

Here’s how you can set up Scholar to export citations to your RefWorks account:

Go to Google Scholar at http://scholar.google.com/
Click on the ‘cog’ icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
Then select ‘Scholar Preferences’ (alternatively, go straight to http://scholar.google.com/scholar_preferences).
Scroll down the ‘Preferences’ page until you get to the ‘Bibliography Manager’ option at the bottom of the page. Select the option marked ‘Show links to import citation into’, and choose ‘RefWorks’ from the drop-down menu. Then hit ‘Save Preferences’.

Now, when you perform a search on Google Scholar, you will see that each one of the search results has a link below it marked ‘Import into RefWorks’. If you click on one of those links it will export that citation into your RefWorks account.

N.B. If you’re not already logged in to your RefWorks account, you’ll probably see a ‘RefWorks login center’ screen at this point. Here’s how to log in to RefWorks from that screen.

Tags: citation, export, Google Scholar, how to, preferences, RefWorks
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Inter-library loans straight to your desktop

Posted on February 1st, 2011 by Paul Stainthorp

From today, the Library will be introducing Secure Electronic Delivery of all inter-library loan articles (journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters). Instead of a photocopy through the post, most inter-library loan articles will be sent to you via email as a PDF file to download.

(Books requested via inter-library loan will continue to be loaned as normal.)

You can order an inter-library loan using the usual online request system, at:

http://visit.lincoln.ac.uk/C4/C9/ILL/

When your inter-library loan is ready to be delivered, you will receive an email (from ‘archie@bl.uk‘). The email will contain a link to your document, which you can then download from the British Library’s secure servers. Your document will be available to download for 30 days.

Here’s how to download your document both on campus and off campus:

On campus

Click on the link in the document delivery email to download your inter-library loan document.

The document will open in Adobe Reader, using a plugin called FileOpen. FileOpen is already installed on the University’s networked PCs on campus: you do not need to install it.

N.B. Your web browser software may block the document from opening. If this happens, you will see a message toward the top of your browser. Right-click on the message, and select ‘Download file…’

Please note that you can activate the link and print the article only once, but that you can view the document in Adobe Reader for up to 14 days from the date of download.

Please contact us if you have any problems or questions about Secure Electronic Delivery or inter-library loans. If you are experiencing problems with the FileOpen plugin or with Adobe Reader software, please contact ICT services.

Off campus

Before you can download your inter-library loan document on your own computer, you will need to:

Download and install the FileOpen plugin on your own computer, by visiting: http://plugin.fileopen.com/
Download the test document, by visiting: http://fileopen.bl.uk/

Once you have installed the plugin and downloaded the test document, go to the document delivery email (from ‘archie@bl.uk‘) and click on the link to download your inter-library loan document. The document will open in Adobe Reader, using the FileOpen plugin you have installed on your computer.

N.B. Your web browser software may block the document from opening. If this happens, you will see a message toward the top of your browser. Right-click on the message, and select ‘Download file…’

Please note that you can activate the link and print the article only once, but that you can view the document in Adobe Reader for up to 14 days from the date of download.

Please contact us if you have any problems or questions about Secure Electronic Delivery or inter-library loans. If you are experiencing problems with the FileOpen plugin or with Adobe Reader software, please contact ICT services.

Tags: Adobe Reader, blocked, browser, FileOpen, help guides, how to, inter-library loans, Library news blog, off campus, on campus, PDF, plugin, Secure Electronic Delivery, SED
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Deleting references from your RefWorks account

Posted on January 13th, 2011 by Paul Stainthorp

Here’s how to delete a number of references at a time from your RefWorks account.

Select the references you want to delete by ticking the box next to each reference.
In the middle of the RefWorks screen, click on the ‘Delete’ button.
A confirmation message will appear. If you are sure you have selected the right references to delete, click ‘OK’.
A ‘user prompt’ window should now appear. Your web browser may block this user prompt, and you may need to click on an ‘allow scripted windows’ message (which will probably appear at the top of the screen) before you can move to the next stage.
Type the random text into the ‘user prompt’ window, then click ‘OK’.
Your references will have been deleted and should no longer appear in your RefWorks account. You can view references you have deleted in a special folder, where they will remain for 30 days before disappearing for good. (More information about deleted references.)