Trent University Library : Accessing Online Databases : Technical Help

Technical Help : Accessing Online Databases

Library Databases

The databases that the Library subscribes to are restricted to Trent Users Only according to our licensing agreements. You cannot access them directly when accessing from home. To access them from a computer outside of the campus network you need to use the Proxy Server. Follow the steps to the Proxy Server carefully and you will NEVER be asked for a username and password when connecting to one of these databases. We do not have passwords for individual databases.

About Passwords and Accounts for Trent Students

Article or Item Not Found--

not working

There are various reasons why a linked item cannot be found in a database. It often means that there has been an error in a field such as title or article year. Unfortunately, if there’s an error in the citation the Locator will be unable to retrieve the article. Try searching just the author or title while logged into the database in question. Should the article still remain unfound it’s possible that the source has changed, or our subscription expired; try any other sources listed. If time permits, request an ILL (Interlibrary Loan). Please see Resource Linking -FAQs for more answers to questions regarding resource linking.

Browser Error

Most databases contain advanced features that are not compatible with older web browsers. Using older web browsers may cause different error messages depending on which browser you are using. We recommend the following browsers: Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher, Firefox 2.0 or higher, Safari 3.0 or higher and Opera 8.0 or higher.

In some cases you will be asked to change the Settings or Preferences in your browser to Enable or Turn on Pop-ups, Cookies, or JavaScript.

Certificate Error

This error appears when the security certificate does not match the URL produced to access the content. The Trent proxy server rewrites the URL to something like https://www.somewebsite.com.cat1.lib.trentu.ca and this does not match the security certificate for our server. To the browser it appears as if a different site is using the certificate (in this case, www.somewebsite.com rather than cat1.lib.trentu.ca).

Depending on the browser, the user may encounter warnings such as:

- Problem with website's security certificate
- Secure connection failed
- Security error: Domain name mismatch
- Can't verify the identity of the website

In these cases, the user will need to Add an Exception or Accept the certificate. If the URL was accessed from our library pages, and it contains our server address, then it is safe to assume that we sent it.

Login Error

What do I do if I receive a message that says: "Login Error"?

You could be entering a username/password that are not recognized by our system, such as a university ID, or you may be trying to access our service remotely from an unapproved IP address. If you are having trouble accessing resources from home please see the Access from Home Help page.

Links to online resources from the library website have the proxy access already built into them, to provide seamless access. When you click on these links from on-campus, the proxy server will ignore you because it's not needed. If you are off-campus, it will prompt you to login. For this process to work each time, you must always links from the library website to resources, rather than create bookmarks.

Proxy Error

Most links already have the proxy connection built into them. Click on the red button if you experience a connection problem. Go to the Proxy Server Help page if problems persist.

404 Error -- URL or Page Not Found

The page no longer exists, the site is experiencing technical difficulties, or you have typed the URL incorrectly. Check your spelling and try again. Please report any databases which are not functioning properly.