Access to many library e-resources from the Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) network has improved following a change to the library’s EZproxy service. Our initial testing shows that most resource links on the medical library website are now working.
What caused the access problem?
YNHH has implemented network restrictions, which blocked direct connections to many external websites. This affected journals, databases, clinical tools, and other resources licensed by the library.
What has changed?
Most links on the medical library website are EZproxy links. Before this change, when someone on the YNHH network clicked one of those links, EZproxy recognized the hospital network as authorized and redirected the browser to access the publisher’s website directly. The connection did not remain within EZproxy. If the publisher’s site was blocked by YNHH network restrictions, the resource would not load.
Now, the same EZproxy link keeps the connection routed through Yale’s EZproxy service. This restores access to a much broader range of library content and reduces the need to address blocked publisher websites one at a time. Most links worked in our initial test, although we will continue to monitor access and troubleshoot exceptions.
What has not changed?
This solution works only when you use an EZproxy link. It does not change how direct links to publisher or content vendor websites behave. If a direct link was blocked before, it will still be blocked unless you route it through EZproxy. For the most reliable access, please start from the medical library website, where resource links use EZproxy wherever possible.
One extra step: sign in to EZproxy
The tradeoff is that users must now sign in through the EZproxy service, even when they are working on the YNHH network. Depending on your affiliation, you can authenticate through Yale CAS or with EPIC credentials. You should be asked to sign in only once per browser session.
Please note that this change affects users on the YNHH network only. Users on the Yale University network will continue to be redirected automatically to publisher or content vendor websites, just as they were before, and will not be prompted to sign into EZproxy because of this change.
Troubleshooting tip: add the EZproxy prefix
If a direct link to a journal, database, or other resource does not work, try adding the EZproxy prefix to the beginning of the URL:
https://yale.idm.oclc.org/login?URL=
For example, the direct link:
https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/basic-search
will become:
https://yale.idm.oclc.org/login?URL=https://www.webofscience.com/wos/woscc/basic-search
Adding the prefix routes the direct URL through EZproxy. You can usually avoid doing this manually by starting from the medical library website, where links to licensed resources use EZproxy wherever possible. For more information on EZproxy, visit Off-Campus Access.
If you continue to have issues accessing library resources from the YNHH network, please do not hesitate to let us know: AskYaleMedicalLibrary@yale.edu.