How do I access Library e-Resources from home (databases)?

Accessing E-Resources Remotely

You will be asked to enter your Library Account's login and PIN each time you access a library e-Resource from off campus. Click here for more information about your library account.

  1. My account has “expired”.
  2. The Login Box Does Not Accept Your Library ID (Bad ID or account blocked)
    • Students: (photo ID card) Have you entered your entire student number (ex. 341792837)? You need to make sure that you enter at least 9 digits. Your pin is the last 4 digits of your student number.
    • Faculty/Staff: (Photo card). Have you remembered to include 4 zeros before your employee number? (ex. 000035678) You need to make sure that you enter at least 9 digits .Your pin is the last 4 digits of your staff/faculty employee number.
    • (green or orange) Library card: Enter the barcode number from the card. Your PIN number is the last 4 numbers of your student/staff number.
  3. Other reasons why your login may not be accepted
    • Do you have any fines with the Library? Having unpaid fines could block your account.
    • Have you activated your account with the Library. If you have never visited the Library you may not be in our system. Please contact us and we can activate your account.
    • Are you a returning student or a student past first year? It is possible that your account has expired. Please contact us and we will update your account
  • If you want to contact the LRC main desk (via telephone or e-mail) please record the error message that you are receiving as well as the names of the databases that you have tried so that the staff person can identify your problem and resolve it quicker.
  • Try another database from the same company (ie: EBSCO) or a database from a different company (ie: Proquest) to see if either database is experiencing problems.
  • Close all browser windows and try again.
  • Clear your browser's cache and history and try again.
  • Try another browser for example if you are using Explorer try Firefox.
  • Are you seeing a login window from one of our vendors? You should be seeing the screen below.
    For example EBSCO? This indicates that something is blocking our login window. Please continue reading, as one of the items listed below might be the solution to your problem.

  • Do you have the security on your home computer set to not receive cookies? See below for more information.
  • Faculty, do you have VPN running on your computer at this moment?
  • Have you been accessing the City of Ottawa's Public Library databases online? We use a similar system for remote access. Re-setting your cookies should help with this problem.

Browser Cookies and Firewalls on your Home Computer.

If you have received a computer message that denies you database access that tells you to reset your cookies.

Remote Access requires that the user’s browser have cookies enabled. In addition, some personal firewalls, such as Norton Personal firewall or Internet security, implement their own security layer and block cookies and privacy information. If you are experiencing connection problems with accessing the login window for Remote Access, cookies may be your problem. Make sure your browser's security setting is set to medium or below. Anything above may not let the cookies across.  (Internet Options - Security and Privacy advanced settings)