Registered staff and students of DCU can access all of the Library's electronic databases and e-journals off-campus. To take advantage of this facility, simply click on the database you wish to consult, and enter your network username and password when prompted. This is the username and password you got when you registered with DCU.

If you experience any problems accessing our resources from home please contact us during Library opening hours at: 01 7005418 or email: library@dcu.ie
If your need help outside of these hours, see our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ below and your query may be answered.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is my network username/password?
I received an "Authentication Failed" error
My username/password is accepted, but I can't get any further
I've checked my browser settings, what else could be the problem?
I'm able to search for items in an electronic index, but I'm having problems viewing or printing Adobe Acrobat files
My username/password works with WebMail but I'm still getting "Authentication Failed"
I was able to sign in and use the database, but after a while it gave me a message that I had timed out

I am asked for a network username/password

In the case of students, this is the username and password you got when you registered. For staff, it is the username and password  you use to log on to your PC on-campus.
If you have lost/forgotten your username or password:
Students:   present your student ID card in person at the ISS Service Desk in the Deirdre Thornton room
Staff:        Phone the ISS Service Desk

I received an "Authentication Failed" error

Check that Caps Lock key is not on. Another common mistake is using your email address as your username. Remember to drop the @dcu.ie at the end of your username (e.g. type smithj2 not smithj2@dcu.ie).
If you have lost/forgotten your username or password:
Students: present your student ID card in person at the ISS Service Desk in the Deirdre Thornton room
Staff: Phone the ISS Service Desk

My username/password is accepted, but I can't get any further

Please note that the instructions below relate to the most common configurations for Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox for Windows computers.
Deleting the cache
Your browser might be caching a failed access attempt. If so, you need to delete the offline content stored by your browser. The steps are as follows: 

• Internet Explorer 6.x: Go to Tools menu and select Internet Options. Select the General Tab. Click on Delete Cookies button and the Delete Files button.


• Internet Explorer 7.x: : Go to Tools menu and select Internet Options. Select the General Tab and find Browsing History. Click on Delete Cookies button and the Delete Files button.


• Internet Explorer 8.x: : Go to Tools menu and select Delete Browsing History.


• Firefox 3.x: Open the Tools menu and select Clear Private Data. Click the checkbox beside Cache and select the button Clear Private Data Now. You can also go to Tools - Internet Options and select the Privacy Tab. Select the checkbox beside Always clear my private data when i close Firefox. Click on Settings and make sure that the cache checkbox is selected.

Enabling cookies
Another possibility is that you need to enable cookies on your browser. LexisNexis, for example, only works with browsers that accept cookies. The procedure is as follows: 

• Internet Explorer 6.x: Go to the Tools menu and select Internet Options. Click on the Privacy Tab and move the slider to enable accept cookies. Click OK. You can also select Advanced and click the checkbox beside Override cookie handling. Then click the radio button beside Accept and click OK.


• Internet Explorer 7.x: Go to the Tools menu and select Internet Options. Click on the Privacy Tab and move the slider to enable ie accept cookies. Click OK. You can also select Advanced and click the checkbox beside Override cookie handling. Then click the radio button beside Accept and click OK.


• Internet Explorer 8.x: Go to the Tools menu and select Internet Options. Click on the Privacy Tab and move the slider to enable ie accept cookies. Click OK.


• Firefox 3.x: Go to the Tools menu and choose Options. Click on the Privacy tab. Click on the checkbox beside Accept cookies from sites and Accept third -party cookies.

Please note that enabling cookies involves some risk in terms of privacy and security. You may wish to re-adjust your settings after completing your search.

Enabling JavaScript
A third possibility is that JavaScript has been turned off on your browser. This can affect some databases. To enable Javascript in your browser:

• Internet Explorer 6.x: Go to the Tools menu and select Internet Options. Click on the Security tab. Click on Internet. Click on the Custom Level button. Scroll down to the Scripting section. Click in the Enable radio button under Active Scripting if this is not selected. Click OK.


• Internet Explorer 7.x: Go to the Tools menu and choose Internet Options. Click on the Security tab. Click on Internet. Click on the Custom Level button.  Scroll down to the Scripting section. Click in the Enable radio button under Active Scripting if this is not selected. Click OK.


• Internet Explorer 8.x: Go to the Tools menu and choose Internet Options. Click on the Security tab. Click on Internet. Click on the Custom Level button.  Scroll down to the Scripting section. Click in the Enable radio button under Active Scripting if this is not selected. Click OK.


• Firefox 3.x: Open Tools and select Options. Click on the Content tab and click on the checkbox beside Enable Javascript. Click OK. You can also select the Advanced button to select Advanced javascript settings.

I've checked my browser settings. What else could be the problem?

Do you have a personal firewall/virus protection installed on your PC?
Many corporate or government systems use a firewall for security purposes. If you are trying to log in from home your personal firewall can also cause problems. Norton Personal Firewall is a common offender. Temporarily disable your firewall/virus protection and see if that allows you to connect properly. You will need to consult your software manual and/or contact the software company's technical support for help in setting your security software so that you can access our library resources. 
Is the SSL facility disabled on your browser?
This can prevent you from logging onto LexisNexis. For further information, see the LexisNexis page. 

I'm able to search for items in an electronic index but I'm having problems viewing or printing Adobe Acrobat files

Adobe Acrobat documents are also known as PDF (Portable Document Format) files. PDF documents are now widely used to publish full-text articles on the Web. You need a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in to view and print a PDF document. In most cases, this presents no problem, as a copy of this plug-in was almost certainly installed with your browser. If you don't have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can obtain it from the Adobe site.
Many Adobe Acrobat documents are quite large: their size is often measured in Megabytes (millions of bytes) rather than Kilobytes (thousands of bytes) as is the case with most HTML files. This can cause problems when you are on a slow connection. A common symptom is that nothing happens after you click on a link to an Adobe Acrobat file. The Adobe Acrobat window comes up, but the document remains blank. In such cases, your solution might be to download the file onto your hard drive and view or print it from there. The process is as follows: 

• Hold your mouse over the link to the PDF file


• Right click on the link


• Choose Save Target As in the pop-up menu which appears


• Select a location on your hard drive in the Save As dialog box


• Click on the Save button


• The file is now saved onto your hard drive. You can open this file just by double-clicking on its icon.

If you can view an Adobe Acrobat file, but have trouble printing it (receiving reports such as PostScript errors or out-of-memory errors), there are a number of things you can do. You can try to: 

• save the file to your hard drive first (see above)


• print it on a different printer, preferably one with more memory


• print it one page at a time

My username/password works with WebMail but I'm still getting "Authentication Failed"

The answer might be that your network account has been disabled. This would happen if:

• You entered your username and password incorrectly several times. If you are staff, your password needs to be changed every 90 days. If it happens that you are trying to access remotely at the point when you should be prompted to change it, your account will be disabled.


• To have your password reset:
  Students:    present your student ID card in person at the ISS Service Desk  in the Deirdre Thornton room
  Staff:          phone the ISS Service Desk

I was able to sign in and use the database, but after a while it gave me a message that I had timed out

Many databases have a timeout feature that automatically logs you out of the database if you haven't interacted with it for a certain amount of time. You will need to return to the page where you originally clicked on the link for that database, and log in again. Note: time spent reading an article or composing a message to accompany citations you are mailing to someone does not count as time spent interacting with the database, and may trigger the timeout even though you are still "using" the database.

Questions or queries relating to library databases should be directed to the Library Information Desk or your Subject Librarian