Skip to main content

Troubleshooting Common Access Problems with Electronic Resources

The most frequently reported problem with eBooks and eJournals is the users’ inability to access the online full text of the University of California’s licensed titles. Common examples include when:

  • The user is prompted for a User Name and Password or to purchase the article or book
  • A message indicates that “your subscription has expired” or “you do not have an electronic subscription for this resource”
  • No full text option (button or icon) is provided
  • A database such as PubMed has a link to the article, but the article or book chapter is not available on the publisher’s website.

Follow the steps below to troubleshoot the problem.

Note: The troubleshooting steps below do not take into consideration off-campus access.  If online content cannot be accessed through off-campus mechanisms but is available on campus, refer users to your campus remote access service desk for assistance.

eBooks

Look up the title in UC Library Search at your campus. If your campus should have access to the online content of the eBook, the title record in the catalog will have an active link to a vendor’s platform.

If the link to the vendor site is on the catalog record but the access does not work or if you are unsure, report to CDL.

If you have access at the vendor site but you cannot find a record in your campus catalog, report to CDL.

eJournals

Step 1

Check to see if your campus should have access to the online content.

Check the catalog

Look up the title in UC Library Search at your campus. If there is a matching record in your campus catalog and there is a link to access at the vendor’s platform, verify that the desired article falls within the coverage dates specified in the record.

  • Action: If you determine that you should have access to the online content and do not, continue to Step 2.
Title change

If the title for the journal is NOT listed in your campus’s catalog, the title of the journal could have changed over time. Most publishers and aggregators only recognize the later title; earlier titles are often hidden.

Freely Available Content

It may be that a freely available eJournal or eBook needs to be removed from the catalog because the content is no longer freely available or it has been removed from a publisher’s website.

  • Action: Continue to Step 3 to report the problem. 
Missing from Catalog

You have access to the material at the vendor site, but it is not available in the catalog.

  • Action: If you believe this is a CDL resource or if you are unsure, continue to Step 3 to report this to CDL. 

Step 2

Occasionally, a database has a link to the article, but the article is not available on the publisher’s web site. Most often, this occurs with the PubMed database because PubMed includes “e-pub ahead of print” citations. Some vendors, like Wiley Online Library, do not allow access to pre-published online content from valid IP addresses.

Additionally, some resources (like CINAHL) are slower at making the latest content available online. Other possibilities include embargoes to current content are in place and/or vendors that provide “selected full text” only.

  • If the article has a pre-publication status and access to the article is unavailable…
    • Action: Notify your user to check again in a few days to see if the article has actually been published in an online issue.
  • If the article has been published in a very recent issue of the journal but is not available online, check a few issues back to see if full text is available in older issues of the journal. If so…
    • Action: Notify your user to check again in a few days to see if the article has been made available online or notify your user to obtain a paper copy of the article from a library at your campus (if available) or via Request (Interlibrary Loan [ILL]) services.
  • If an embargo is in place… (Usually, you can locate embargo information in the catalog holdings on the publisher’s web site.)
    • Action: Notify your user to obtain a paper copy of the article from a library at your campus (if available) or via Request (Interlibrary Loan [ILL]) services.
  • Aggregator databases (e.g., EBSCOhost, LexisNexis) often offer “selected full text” only. So even if the article falls into the licensed dates of coverage, it may not be available. 
    • Action: Search UC Library Search by ISSN or Title to see if the journal is available from a vendor providing complete full text. If not, notify your user to obtain a paper copy of the article from a library at your campus (if available) or via Request (Interlibrary Loan [ILL]) services.
  • If none of the situations above apply, continue to Step 3.

Step 3

For systemwide or multi-campus subscriptions: if your campus should have access to the online content (within the licensed dates of coverage) and does not, notify CDL through the CDL Helpline Website; see How to Use the CDL Helpline Website for instructions.