If the 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://search.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 X (Twitter) account for updates about outages and restoration of access.
As always, if you're having trouble accessing library resources, just Ask a Librarian for help.
