Can't log in? Can't access full text? Try the following:
If you are having problems accessing library resources, contact UAB Libraries. You can also report resource and full-text access problems here.
image: Getty Images
For a link to work from off campus, it has to be proxied. This means that an additional snippet of text has to be applied by UAB Libraries to a library resource's URL (website address) so that UAB library users who are off campus can authenticate (sign in with BlazerID and password) and be recognized as being affiliated with UAB so as to be able to gain access to online resources through UAB Libraries.
Adding a proxy snippet to a library resource URL creates a PURL, or a Persistent Uniform Resource Locator, a URL which redirects the user to a requested UAB Libraries online resource. Our PURLs allow students and faculty to locate the specific article owned by UAB and to access them from off-campus..
Proxied links contain the text "ezproxy" and will prompt you to log in with your BlazerID and password.
To proxy any link to a UAB Libraries resource (article, database, ebook, etc.), add this to the beginning of a url:
http://uab.idm.oclc.org/login?url=
The following is an example of an unproxied link to an article in the EBSCO CINAHL database:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=63897885&site=ehost-live
(will not work from off campus)
This is a UAB proxied link to the EBSCO CINAHL article built with the UAB Libraries proxy snippet and the article URL from above:
http://uab.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=63897885&site=ehost-live
(will work off campus)
Peggy Kain (Head of Resource Acquisition and Discovery)
Rank: Associate Professor
Phone: 205.934.6364
Email: pkain@uab.edu
Kevin M. Hébert (Associate Dean for Technology & Technical Services)
Rank: Associate Professor
Phone: 205.934.6357
Email: kmhebert@uab.edu
Or Contact UAB Libraries via our Help Page
It's always a good idea to have more than one browser on your computer, because different resources work differently in different browsers, and login errors can get saved in your cache even if they are just temporary. Many login errors are resolved by trying a different browser. If you can't use a different browser, try clearing your cache and search history.
If you find you cannot access an article or book using the link provided in a library database/resource, see if there is an alternate access link you might try in the Online Library Catalog (catalog search box is in the top, middle of the page here).
To access the full-text of a specific article held by UAB Libraries, enter the article title, and, if it proves necessary, other article details (author's last name, etc.) into the catalog search box.
After running the search for the article or other resource, to access the full-text, click on the "Available Online" link located at the bottom of your resource's record. Note that if you are off campus you might be prompted to enter your BlazerID and password.
If UAB Libraries has the full-text available online, the steps above should get you to it.
If you are failing to access an online article from within th library's catalog, and you have not yet tried to access the article from within one of the library's databases, try searching from within a database (such as PubMed), and then clicking on the 
button located next to the citation. Click here for more information on using the UAB Full Text button from within databases.
If you are unable to log in to a reosurce which the library posseses, a firewall in your network may be blocking EZProxy. This most frequently happens in:
Please contact us at https://library.uab.edu/help for more assistance.
Sometimes the link to a resource you are trying to use is a session (or temporary) url and not a persistent url.
This often happens with EBSCO databases (exs. CINAHL), because the url in the browser bar is not a url you can save and use later to return to an item in that database. Instead of copying the URL for an article from the browser's address bar, look for the permanent or persistent link within the database (not all databases provide this), and save it.
Once you have the permalink for an article, you can take the permalink:
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=70093317&site=ehost-live
And add the UAB Libraries proxy to the front of it, and then you will have created a URL that you can use both on and off campus to return to the article:
Note: If you cannot connect to a resource because you have a non-peristent URL, usually the only thing you can do is try to find the item again in the database and then retrieve the permalink.
When using databases, look for the "permalink" or "persistent link" label to make sure you can get to something later. This guide contains more information on creating permanent links that include the UAB proxy
Some databases require you to set up a special account to use the database or certain features. Others are limited to just a few or only one user at a time (exs. AccessAnesthesiology). Use the Databases list to check for special access notes about the resource you are trying to use.
Likewise, some of our ebooks are limited to just a few, or only one, user(s) at a time. Notes about number of concurrent users permitted per ebook are often found in the ebook record on the ebook platform/vendor/database page (see image below for example).
This LibGuide is based on one originally created by the Bowling Green State University Libraries. We are supremely grateful that they allowed us to use their content and guide as a template.