Answered By: Darcy Gervasio
Last Updated: Aug 01, 2023     Views: 328

If college and/or library website is down, don't panic!  As long as the Internet is still working, there are work-arounds to access the Library's resources.

Depending on the extent of the technological problem, some of these options may not always work, but it's worth a try!  Usually, even if the homepage (www.purchase.edu/library) is not functioning, you still have access to individual databases, the Discovery Search (including the books/media catalog), and research guides (libguides), as well as Brightspace.

 

Try these troubleshooting tips:
 

  • Discovery Search (Catalog):  Access the Discovery Search directly.
     
    • If Discovery Search is down, you can use Worldcat (https://www.worldcat.org/) to find books, dvds, cds, and scores.
    • Pro tip: Enter zip code 10577 to see items held at Purchase and neighboring libraries.
       
  • Databases:  Go directly to the alphabetical Databases List at http://purchase.libguides.com/az.php or use a Research By Subject Guide appropriate to your topic.
     
    • Pro tip If you are using a computer on campus and a database fails to open when you click on it, there's a work-around! Copy/drag the link into a new browser window and delete the ezprozy prefix from the front of the URL, everything before the second http. Delete this part: "http://ezproxy.purchase.edu:2048/login?url="   (This does not work if you are off campus.)
       
    • If none of the Library's databases are working, try Google Scholar at scholar.google.com.
       
    • Remember to save any useful citations so you can use the Library's Citation Lookup feature later on to get the full text of the article for free.
       
  • eJournals/articles: To find a specific article, go directly to the Journals search or the Citation Lookup tool within Discovery.
     
  • FAQs: For general questions about library services, you can search our FAQs even if the library homepage is down. Just go to http://purchase.libanswers.com. FAQs are also searchable via the "Ask Us" page in every subject guide or at http://purchase.libguides.com/askus
  • Email: To get to your Purchase email, go directly to https://mail.purchase.edu.  The "s" is required!
     
  • Brightspace: To get to D2L Brightspace, go directly to https://brightspace.purchase.edu/ 
     
  • Get Updates: Check the Library's Twitter for updates about outages and restoration of access.

     

As always, if you're having trouble accessing library resources, just Ask a Librarian for help.