Proxy bookmarklet for off-campus access
Most online journals and databases require subscriptions (which the U of M Libraries pay for) to get access. This tool helps to convert a licensed resource URL you have viewed off campus into a UMN Libraries proxy URL.
On campus
If you are on campus, access can be relatively seamless since authentication is usually established by IP address (e.g. if you have a U of M IP address, the publisher recognizes it and lets you in).
Off campus
If you are off campus, then you need to be routed through the Libraries' "proxy server." One way to do this is to precede the URL you want with the prefix https://login.ezproxy.lib.umn.edu/login?url=
For example, the URL
http://www.jstor.org/stable/25599631
can be given the prefix and reentered as:
https://login.ezproxy.lib.umn.edu/login?url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/25599631
This will provide off-campus users with the same access as they would have if on-campus.
Proxy bookmarklet
However, many people like to just search for a journal using Google and go directly there. To get your browser to route you through the library proxy server, you can simply try the following:
Drag this button up to your bookmarks toolbar in your browser: (or right-click to save it to your favorites toolbar)
Now, when you're on a web page that you'd like to redirect through the Libraries' proxy server, clicking this button will automatically reload the web page.
Both the bookmarklet and the URL should work whether the user is on-campus or off. The scripts at the library will recognize if you're on-campus and if so, will send you directly to the resource. If you are off campus, the library's script sends you through the proxy server instead. This can be useful for bookmarking URL's on a laptop you may use both on and off campus, or if you want to share an article with a colleague or student.
Some sites, like JSTOR, may require you to locate a 'Stable URL' on the page. If you click on this link after applying the bookmarklet, you will be redirected to the full article, rather than a sample page.
While this will work for the vast majority of e-journals and e-books, there are a few resources that require a more intricate set-up to enable proxy access. Let us know if you have questions or any difficulties with this!
Mobile users
Installing bookmarklets in mobile browsers is tricky, and support on various browsers and platforms is subject to frequent change. If you'd like to try using this bookmarklet on your mobile device, your best bet is probably to bookmark this page, then edit the bookmark, pasting the following code in place of the bookmark's URL
javascript:void(location.href='https://login.ezproxy.lib.umn.edu/login?url='+location.href)