University of Tasmania, Australia

How to access Library Resources from a remote (off campus) computer.

Which Library resources do I have remote access to?

Access to the following library resources are freely available to all (regardless of location) and do not require authentication, only that you have internet access:

• the Library web pages
• the Library web catalogue
• Library Research Skills - teach yourself online

All other electronic resources are available to current UTas staff and students by way of your UTAS username and password. These resources include:

• Library web databases
• Library e-journals
• Library Reading Lists
• Past exams (access from the the catalogue)

Off-Campus Access

Access to online databases and electronic journals subscribed to by the Library is restricted to current University of Tasmania students and staff. Many of these electronic resources are now held off-campus on vendor servers/systems. Authentication to these vendor systems often relies on IP addresses or IP ranges which are registered as belonging to the University of Tasmania. This means that users on-campus and coming from a campus IP address are allowed access to the database but those using computers with a different IP number are refused access.

We use software called EZproxy (pronounced Easy Proxy) to facilitate off-campus access. EZproxy is a utility that enables access to sites requiring IP authentication by serving as an on-campus intermediary and providing a valid IP address; passing information between off-campus users and restricted online resources. So EZproxy makes a request to the vendor system appear to come from on-campus.

EZproxy authenticates users as University of Tasmania students or staff by requiring a login, thus ensuring compliance with vendor restrictions. The login used is your UTAS username and password. For databases and electronic journals, you will only be required to authenticate against EZproxy when accessing resources from off-campus IP addresses although on-campus users will still have to authenticate against the university proxy servers for internet access.

EZproxy normally requires no configuration on your part. From wherever you are, just click on a link to an online library resource (eg. database, and electronic journals) from our web site.

EZproxy should work with standard browsers using any Internet Service Provider.

Almost all databases are now available to remote users however there are still a few that are restricted to on campus use only by their license conditions, so these are not set up to go though the EZproxy server. Also, some database vendors do not use IP authentication, so in these instances vendor-specific passwords are still required.

EZproxy is only being used for library resources and some copyright functions. Other electronic resources you wish to access on the University web site may still require the Virtual Private Network (VPN) software. Please contact the Service Desk on +613 6226 1818 if you require help with VPN use or installation.