Hi all,
Can someone remind me what the procedure is for reporting problems with indexes and databases? A student called this afternoon because she was unable to access the OECD Education Database from home–it didn’t work from the ref desk either. So far I’ve just been filling out the eResources comments/suggestions page when things like this come up. Is there anything else I can suggest for the student when indexes or ejournals don’t cooperate?
Karine
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Hi Karine,
You’re doing the right thing. If a database or ejournal is down (or there is some other problem with it), the procedure is to fill out the comments/suggestions form as you’ve been doing. This form gets sent to a bunch of folks including the eResources librarian, the eResources assistant, and a few folks in tech services. They respond very quickly.
One tip: if you are able to access the resource from the desk but the patron is not able to access from home, then have the patron fill out the form from their computer. The form collects the sender’s IP address – it may provide extra clues to the problem.
Finally, I notice there is a new technical assistance form linked from the comments form. This one goes to the systems help desk. Use this form if the person is having trouble with the VPN or proxy configuration or some other connection problem.
I hope this helps. Leave a comment if my post is unclear!
Also, OECD databases are sometimes down due to no fault at our end. We have had problems with them in the past, and sometimes waiting half a day resolves the problem as the problem is at their end in Paris.