About this page
The tools on this page will help Villanova faculty, staff, and students access library-subscribed content from off campus.
- Install the bookmarklets into your browser so that you can instantly access subscribed content that you come across in your internet travels.
- Use the Link Builder tools to generate links to databases and other subscribed material that will function when you are off campus.
Note: In general, you will not need these tools if you access library-subscribed resources via links on the library's website. Our links will ask you to authenticate as a Villanova user, and once you've done that you will have full access to our subscriptions for the rest of your login session. Click here for troubleshooting tips.
Browser Bookmarklets for Off-Campus Use
Many of our resources recognize our on-campus users automatically by the IP address of their connection. When these same pages are viewed from off-campus, they may restrict your access unless you authenticate as a Villanova user.
To make this process easier we have created "bookmarklets" for your browser that re-direct your connection through our authentication system and then give you full access. Find your browser below and follow the directions to add this enhancement to your bookmarks toolbar.
Google Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge:
Click and drag the link into your bookmarks toolbar: VU Proxy
Firefox:
Right-click this link: VU Proxy and select the "Bookmark This Link"
Internet Explorer:
Right-click this link: VU Proxy and select "Add to Favorites..."
You may see an warning that "This link may be unsafe." We have vetted the link and vouch that it is safe to add.
The bookmarklet will appear like this:
Then, when you find an article that asks you to pay for access, simply click the bookmarklet. This will rewrite the URL and ask you to authenticate through the library’s proxy. If our subscriptions allow access to the item, you’ll get right in!
(If that doesn’t work, you can search for the article’s title from the library’s main search box; we may have access to the same item through a third party database rather than directly through the publisher’s website.)
Library Proxy Link Builder
This tool allows Villanova users to create links to library-subscribed resources that they can use from computers that are not on the campus network. For example, the on-campus link to JSTOR is https://www.jstor.org/ while the off-campus link is http://ezproxy.villanova.edu/login?URL=http://www.jstor.org/.
Please be sure to test your link before distributing. If the resulting link gives the error message:
"To allow link.com to be used in a starting point URL, your EZproxy administrator must first authorize the hostname of this URL in the config.txt file."
please contact ref@villanova.edu or your librarian for further assistance.
To use the tool, copy and paste the URL of an article, database, or other resource into the box. Click the button below; the tool will append our EZProxy codes to the front of the URL, creating a link that off-campus users can access with their Villanova username and password.
PubMed
Link to single article record, copy string below but change PMID # (in yellow):
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov?otool=paucqvlib&term=32342469
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov?otool=paucqvlib&term=
Link to search strategy, copy string but change terms (in yellow):
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?otool=paucqvlib&format=abstract&term=
DOI Proxy Links
Use this tool to create a proxied link to an article from the DOI (Digital Object Identifier). This tool will only work if the library subscribes to the content via the original publisher. If you are unsure, please use the DOI box on the Journal Finder page to access the article
To use the tool, enter the DOI only (example: 10.123/12131) in the box. Click the button to receive a correctly formatted and proxied link that can be used anywhere to access the article with a Villanova username and password.
