Q: Common problems accessing library e-journals

I'm having trouble accessing one of the MIT Libraries e-subscriptions. What's wrong?

Answer

1. Do you have MIT web certificates properly installed?

No: See Information Services & Technology's Obtaining Certificates for Accessing Secure Web Services at MIT
Yes: Please test on a non-library resource: https://nic.mit.edu/postoffice/quota. If you can get into that site to check your Athena quota, your MIT web certificates are working fine. If you can't, please contact IST's Computing Help Desk or your local IT support for help in properly installing your certificates.

2. Have you tried restarting your browser?

Close all instances of your browser and restart. Sometimes this is necessary, especially if you have just installed or reinstalled your certificates.

3. Are you being asked for a "master password"?

Firefox (Mozilla, Netscape) may require a master password to protect your certificates (Internet Explorer does not). Consult the Computing Help Desk or your local IT support if you have forgotten your master password.

4. Are you accessing the subscription through the Vera interface?

Only Vera: E-journals + Databases provides reliable off-campus access. Links through Barton (MIT Libraries' catalog), personal bookmarks, or going directly to the publisher's site do not always work reliably.

5. Do you have cookies and javascript fully enabled in your browser?

Sometimes one or both of these are required for a resource to work at all.

6. Can you try another browser?

Try using a different browser; remember, you must have certificates on each browser you use, even different versions of the same browser. If you are using Internet Explorer or Safari, try using Firefox; if you are using Firefox, try using Internet Explorer or Safari. See Web Browsers at MIT for more information. If you can get access with a different browser, then probably there are either some security settings (usually involving cookies or javascript) on your other browser that are set too strictly (see #5) or the e-subscription may not be compatible with the browser you are using.

7. Are you having trouble with Mac certificates using Safari?

See Safari 3 for Mac OS X 10.5.x: Obtaining MIT Certificates

You may want to try VPN (Virtual Private Network), an alternative off-campus access option.

If you still can't get off-campus access, please Ask Us! (MIT only) and we will do our best to help you quickly resolve the problem.