Distance Education

This is one of the more common problems that off-campus students encounter and, unfortunately, there are several possible explanations and solutions and often the best strategy is to contact the librarian for troubleshooting help.

Dan the Librarian (for students in Distance Education programs)
lib-disted@uiowa.edu or 877-807-9587

Main Library Information Desk
319-335-5299 or http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/contact/ask

Here are some troubleshooting ideas that might also help.

Links to online articles and books need to have a section in their web address or URL that triggers the library’s proxy server, which asks for your HawkID and password and makes the target database think you are on campus.

• Check to see if the link starts with http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu… or http://purl… The rest of the web address can be quite long and varied. If the web address does not start one of those ways, try adding “http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=” before the rest of the web address so that it looks like http://proxy.lib.uiowa.edu/login?url=http://www.your.web.address.edu/yadda/yadda.
• If that does not work, try looking up the electronic book in the library’s InfoHawk Catalog or try looking for online journal articles in our Article Locator.

You can always call us for help, too.

Have any of you had problems with access to databases or found good ways to overcome problems accessing library resources? Tell us about it in a comment.

Dan the Librarian

Let’s face it. There is a lot of information out there and the University of Iowa Libraries has an overwhelming variety of books, journals databases, collections and other sources of information. You’re often busy and it can be a bewildering experience just learning where to start.

Here are some suggestions to save you some time.

1. Ask a Librarian.
We know the resources available here and can guide you to the best sources for your topic or question.

• Try the Getting Help pages on the distance learning library services webpage. You can chat, send a message or call for help.
• Call Dan the Librarian at 877-807-9587.
• If I’m not available, use the Ask a Librarian links for the Main, Business, Health Sciences or other libraries.

2. You can search this blog to see what other students have asked.

3. Look for tutorials
The Research Guides & Tutorials page of our website also provides a wealth of helpful information.

Dan the Librarian