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Using Electronic Resources

Accessing Electronic Resources (On and Off Campus / EZproxy)

Use of Penn Libraries licensed resources is generally restricted to current students, faculty, and staff.  

Access: To access licensed resources, you must be able to authenticate yourself with your PennKey and password AND have an affiliation with Penn that permits access to licensed resources.

Problems: If you cannot authenticate, you do not have access to licensed resources. Access is determined by your school or department at Penn.  Please contact the Head of Circulation Services at vpcircdk@pobox.upenn.edu for additional help.

Alumni: If you are a Penn alum, see Alumni Services.

On Campus  

If you are on-campus and using a wireless network, you must use AirPennNet to access Library e-resources.

Off Campus / EZproxy

The Penn Libraries use EZproxy to allow Penn students, faculty, and staff to access subscription databases, ejournals, and ebooks from off-campus.  To use EZproxy:

  1. You need to be able to authenticate yourself with your PennKey/password and be authorized to use licensed resources. Test your access through EZproxy now by following this link. When you login with your PennKey and password, the library proxy server provides a campus IP address to the requested resource so that access is enabled. You should only have to entered your information once per session.
  2. Your browser must accept cookies. The EZproxy cookie is not used to track your use, but only to let the proxy server monitor your authenticated status. This cookie will disappear when you exit your browser. If you share a computer, it is important that you exit the browser so the authentication cookie expires. See Optimal Browser Settings.
  3. Access from behind firewalls can be a problem. EZproxy uses IP ports in the range of 2048 - 13000. If you are accessing restricted resources from behind a firewall that does not allow access to these IP ports, you will NOT be able to use EZproxy.

See also:  Commonly Reported Problems and Solutions and Three Steps that Resolve Many Problems.

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