Off-Campus Access

Access to Electronic Resources

Access to certain electronic resources (databases and websites) may be restricted to the Purdue University community (currently enrolled students, faculty and staff) due to licensing and copyright agreements with vendors and publishers.

• On-Campus Access
• Off-Campus Access
• Note regarding VPN
• EZproxy

On-Campus Access

If you are using a computer on campus that is connected to the Purdue campus network, you will be connected automatically to library electronic resources; no log-in is required. Campus computers are granted automatic access to library electronic resources because they have a Purdue IP address.

Off-Campus Access

In order to access our resources from off-campus, you will need to sign-in to the libraries EZProxy server. The method you use to sign-in will vary based upon the type of resource you are trying to access.

BoilerKey: When accessing library electronic resources off-campus, you will be asked to use BoilerKey. If you have issues with your BoilerKey, please contact ITaP for assistance (itap@purdue.edu or (765) 494-4000) or refer to this page for more information.

The surest option (especially for phone or tablet browsers) is to link to electronic resources directly from Library Search or other Purdue Libraries web pages.

• Off-Campus Database Access
  • Click on the Database from the Database List
  • Login with your Purdue Career Account and Password
  • Use the database just as you would on campus.
• Off-Campus Journal Access
  • Navigate to the Journals Search page located under FIND > Journals
  • Select the journal you want in the results list.
  • Click on the vendor that provides the title.
  • Login with your career account and password.
  • You should be taken to the requested journal as if you were on-campus.
• Google Scholar
  • You can access Purdue University Library materials from off-campus using Google Scholar through EZProzy (What is this?). EZProxy will be initiated once you click on the "Full Text at Purdue" link and attempt to access a resource.
  • You must set up your library links to display the "Full Text at Purdue" link when off-campus. On campus users are recognized by their IP and no configuration is needed.
    • Go to Google Scholar.
    • Click on the 'Menu' 3 line icon that is located on the top left hand side of the screen.
    • Click on the Settings link in the menu
    • Click on the Library links settings option
    • Type "Purdue University" into the "Library Links" box. Click on "Find Library." Search for Purdue University, and select "Purdue University Libraries - Full Text at Purdue".
    • Click on "Save."
    • Now the Full Text at Purdue link should appear in Google Scholar each time you run a search from off campus.
  • When you click the Full Text at Purdue link you will see vendors that provide the item through the Purdue Universtiy Libraries.
  • Click on a vendor to access the article. Note the date of coverage on each.
  • You will then need to login with your Career Account and Password.
  • Then you will be taken to the article or journal just as if you were on-campus. Sometimes you may be required to browse for the specific article in an archive or table of contents. Look for a PDF link to the article.
• Browser Plugin for Off-Campus Access
  • You can install the bookmarklet based on the instructions found on the Purdue Libraries Bookmarklet instruction page. Once installed you will be able to click on the bookmarklet when you have arrived at an electronic resource page from off campus without using any of the methods mentioned in the other sections. After clicking the link, the page you are currently on will then be re-loaded through the proxy server and you will have access to the resource as if you were on campus.

Note regarding VPN

Due to the split tunnel nature of the VPN, you will still need to use the libraries links to access electronic resources when connecting through the campus VPN. Please use the methods outlined in the section below to access electronic resources off-campus. Note: You may have to disconnect your VPN if you are experiencing difficulties accessing electronic resources when off campus.  This should be a rare occurence and only necessary when the split tunnel VPN might be conflicting with the proxy server.  Please contact the Libraries eResources support if you have further questions.

EZProxy

When you’re not using the Purdue network to connect to the Internet (e.g., you’re off-campus or using a different network for other reasons), you must access our electronic resources through a proxy server in order to identify your Purdue affiliation.

What is EZproxy?

EZproxy is a service that identifies you as a Purdue user to electronic resource providers when you are outside the Purdue network.

When do I need to use EZproxy?

You must use EZproxy from areas outside the Purdue network, including:

• on-campus, but using Purdue Visitor wi-fi or Eduroam wi-fi
• off-campus using your home internet connection
• off-campus using a VPN client
• using a cellular connection

How do I use EZproxy?

Link directly from Library Search or other Libraries web pages

The surest option (especially for phone or tablet browsers) is to link to electronic resources directly from Library Search or other Purdue Libraries web pages. These links automatically go through the proxy server.

Manually append the EZproxy prefix

You can manually change the web address (URL) of an electronic resource web page to route it through the proxy server. Prepend the the following proxy server prefix to the electronic resource web address:

https://login.ezproxy.lib.purdue.edu/login?url=
(e.g., https://login.ezproxy.lib.purdue.edu/login?url=http://www.nature.com)

You can also add the Purdue Libraries Bookmarklet to your browser to append the EZproxy prefix using a browser shortcut.

Note about possible issues with EZProxy and clearing cookies

When a provider's site wants to set one or more cookies and you're accessing through EZProxy, the proxy server makes one cookie to hold all of the required data.  When you go to a different provider that cookie also contains the new provider's data. Eventually, if you visit enough different sites, the cookie EZProxy is using will grow larger than the max allowed size, so new data cannot be added to that cookie. For many providers, you'll then see weird server errors, because they expect to be able to write and read to their cookies, but on your browser, it's just that now-oversized cookie that can't accept any more data. So clearing your cookies resets it back to zero, ready to start accepting new data again.