| Frequently Asked Questions
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How do I access information provided by Holman Library? |
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The library uses a proxy server to authenticate McKendree students, faculty and staff for off campus access to the electronic subscription databases. By doing so, we are in compliance with our licensing agreements.
The proxy server accepts the McKendree Username and password.
It also allows the student/faculty/staff ID number as the password.
Access to the resources of the library are all available from the library homepage at: www.mckendree.edu/library. Choose Off Campus Access to get to the log in page. Once authenticated, password prompts within individual databases should not occur.
For instance, try out the EBSCO Databases Searching the EBSCO databases can be as simple or as elaborate as desired. The result lists from searches include a brief record of titles, authors, sources, etc., and can include a link to:
- Citation only (The articles would then need to be retrieved from our library or some other lending library.);
- PDF document (exact ?replicas? of the journal article which take longer to load and can only be opened using the Adobe Reader. When using a dialup connection, the HTML version should be selected);
- HTML document (Internet versions of the article that operate like a webpage); or
- Linked full text document (the article provided by another electronic resource).
By clicking on the article titles, you will often be provided with an abstract or summary of the article. This should provide enough information to determine whether the article is relevant enough to read. It will also include the subject headings that describe the article. When the ?perfect? article is retrieved, others like it can be found by clicking on the subject heading that seems the most pertinent in the perfect article citation. If an article is available in full text, there will be a hyperlink with the citation that leads to one or more of the above file types. The McK purple button will act as the final check to see if the full text is available immediately.
Remember: In order to print an article, the print command within the database is used, rather than the print command on the browser toolbar.
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| Q: |
What is my username? |
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Your username is a combination of your first, middle, and last names.
Username: First initial, Middle Initial, Last name
Example:
Name: John Adam Doe
Username: jadoe
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| Q: |
What is my password? |
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There are 2 different passwords that can work for you.
- Your McKendree password that Information Technology (IT)
provides for you. See there support page for more details.
support.mckendree.edu
- Your student id number.
This is a seven digit number. If you do not know this id,
you may contact the library circulation desk.
McK. Phone #: (618)-537-6950
librarycirculation@mckendree.edu
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| Q: |
I am an alumni and would like to be able to use the library.
How would I go about that? |
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Thanks for contacting us. You may come into the Library and use almost
any resources we have, both printed and electronic. You will not have any interlibrary loan privileges, however. You are not allowed access to our electronic services from home. Only currently registered students, staff and faculty have that ability.
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| Q: |
I am a McKendree faculty member teaching off campus classes.
How do I (and what should I tell my students) about gaining access
to the Library's databases? |
| A: |
We have now completely switched over to using the proxy server for off campus access to the databases and by doing so, we are now in compliance with our licensing agreements.
For the Louisville/Radcliff Kentucky students, we instituted a username and datatel ID protocol for the username and password. It seemed much easier than dealing with the parallel password situation that would have been necessary if we'd stuck with the MCK username/password convention AND it also means we can look up in the intranet student usernames and Datatel IDs.
For the Southern Illinois/Paducah students, we're forced, for the moment, to continue with an MCK username/password access which means we must do
a lot of referring to the IT Helpdesk to have Username and password resets. We're trying to get an automatic redirect to the datatel ID number for those students which should be operational before the summer is over.
Access to the resources of the library are all available from the library homepage at: www.mckendree.edu/library
The homepage currently has a sidebar on the left which is quite extensive and includes links to library services and resources including guides and tutorials along with links to Interlibrary Loan forms, library faculty names and contact information.
On the right of the sidebar is the list of databases in alphabetical order along with a link to provide access to those McKendree constituents who are located off campus. From either the sidebar or the alphabetical list, choose off-campus access. A McKendree Username and password are required (as described above).
Searching EBSCO databases is straightforward and can be as simple or as elaborate as is desired. Results of searches provide a brief record of titles, authors, sources, etc. and can include:
1. citations only which would then need to be retrieved from our library
or some other library
2. PDF (exact replicas of the journal article) files (these take longer to load
so when using a dialup connection, the HTML version should be selected)
3. HTML (web versions of the article) files; and
4. linked (the article from some other source) files.
Choosing to look at the citations will provide the searcher with an abstract of the article that will provide enough information to determine whether it is relevant enough to read the entire article. It will also include the subject headings that describe the article. If "the perfect article" is retrieved, others can be found by clicking on the subject heading that seems the most pertinent in the perfect article citation. If an article is available in full text there will be an icon with the citation that leads to one or more of the above types of files when clicked on.
Remember that to print an article the print command within the database is to be used rather than the print command on the browser toolbar.
I hope we're able to have a session/discussion/demonstration in the library on the first day of the semester to go over some of the issues we have with providing resources to our faculty and students.
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| Q: |
How does the proxy server work and why is my connection slower than usual? |
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Back to Top
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| Q: |
What ports does the proxy use? |
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The proxy server uses ports 2048 through 2248 inclusive. While the proxy is used over a browser, it does not use the more common port 80 that web applications use.
Some ISPs or network administrators block traffic that originates from nonstandard ports. If you find that you cannot access the login page, you may wish to contact your ISP and make sure that they are not blocking access to ports 2048 through 2248 at other sites.
If your ISP needs confirmation that the use of these ports is for academic purposes, they may contact Interim Director, Liz Vogt, of Holman Library.
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Connection Problems?
In general, the two quickest solutions to solving the majority of difficulties are 1) try the same
operation or procedure again after a couple of minutes have passed and 2) close out of the
program you are using, reopen it and repeat the desired procedure. Please complete this
form if that doesn't work.
The more detail you can provide, the better I am able to troubleshoot your problem. If I am
unable to solve the problem or it lies outside of my responsibilities, I will forward your request
to the appropriate campus person.
We welcome all of your comments and constructive suggestions on improving this service.
Thank you.