When you are at the university, you automatically have access to most of USN's e-resources. Here you will find answers to common questions about access from home or off-campus.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get access from home?
Directly from Oria: Log in at the top right corner with Feide (your USN username and password).
- This is a Feide login with "single sign-on," so you will automatically also be logged into the EZproxy access solution, which is used for access outside the USN network.
- To check that the Feide login itself is working properly, log in to innsyn.feide.no with the University of South-Eastern Norway as your affiliation. Use a newly opened browser.
- External users without an account at USN will not have access to e-resources via Oria and USN-EZproxy due to licensing reasons.
Why can't I see the entire article or e-book? Where is the full-text?
- Are you logged in at usn.oria.no? Check that your name appears in the top right corner of Oria.
- Read carefully what Oria states about the article or book. Some e-books require you to create a separate user account to access them. Some article links lead to the journal in which the article is published. Note the article's publication year, number, and page number, and open the list of issues on the journal's main page.
What should I do when I can't access the entire document?
1. First, try a seach in Oria to see if there is still a link to the full-text: Expand the search in the menu to the right of the results list, and check the box include material your institution doesn't have access to.
2. Use a regular search engine! Sometimes entire articles or books are freely available. You can also use Google Scholar or Google Books.
3. There are sometimes manuscript versions of articles published in subscription journals, known as 'green open access'. These are publications available to everyone at no cost via an open archive or institutional repository. You can find them with tools like Unpaywall and Open Access Button, which are browser extensions that automatically link to manuscript versions when available.
4. Ask the authors! Researchers can usually share articles with each other (depending on the agreement they have with publishers) even if the articles are not openly available—this is known as ‘scholarly sharing’. Send an email to the author, or ask through networks you are a member of—most are happy to share articles with others.
5. Ask the library for help! If you can't find what you're looking for, you can ask the university library to obtain it by filling out this order form, or by contacting us. Articles that are not available in USN's collections or openly accessible will be sourced from partners in Norway or abroad. This is free for USN students and staff.
Why can't I get access when it says available online or read online?
Simple solutions:
- Restart the browser. If that doesn't help, check the following points:
- Try again later: Websites can be temporarily unavailable.
- Try another browser.
- Safari's security settings make it difficult to open certain applications.
- Check the network connection:
- Make sure you are connected to the internet.
- On campus, use Eduroam and not a guest network.
- Deleting cookies in the browser can solve many problems:
- Delete cookies by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Delete when you are in the browser (Command-Shift-Delete on Mac).
- Choose to delete all cookies and cached pages for all dates.
- Finally, restart the browser.
Special cases:
- For full access, your browser and system must accept cookies from EZproxy.
- If you have adjusted privacy settings in your browser, or in other security or privacy software on your system, necessary cookies from EZproxy may be blocked.
- In that case, you need to allow cookies from EZproxy (ezproxy1.usn.no and ezproxy2.usn.no). Instructions vary, so Google for example your browser's name + accept cookies/allow cookies, e.g.: Firefox accept cookies.
- Are you using a work computer with special security settings ?
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Work computers belonging to a company, county, etc., may have their own firewall and proxy setups that do not allow multiple access solutions. If this is the case, you should use another computer or mobile device for remote access to USN's e-resources.
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- Are you using the "SetProxy" function on an employee computer belonging to USN?
- USN offers access for employees outside the campus to administrative systems via "SetProxy". However, this should be turned off for other internet use, and when you are back on campus. See info about SetProxy at min.usn.no.
- Turn off "SetProxy", wait a bit, and restart the browser .
- In rare cases, turning on "SetProxy" from home helps.
- USN offers access for employees outside the campus to administrative systems via "SetProxy". However, this should be turned off for other internet use, and when you are back on campus. See info about SetProxy at min.usn.no.
- Other things that may interfere with access:
- Some databases use pop-ups. Change settings for the relevant website in the browser to allow pop-ups (click on the padlock in front of the address bar).
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Many databases use JavaScript. Change settings for the relevant website in the browser to allow JavaScript. Turn off any browser plugins that block JavaScript.
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Are you using VPN? Turn off VPN and try again.
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Change the language in the browser settings to English. Then restart the browser and try again. This can have an effect in rare cases.
Why should I use Oria to access e-resources?
Oria is USN's main library search system with updated links to full-text articles, e-books, and databases. Oria gives you an overview regardless of which external database provides the actual content.
Did you access Oria from another database? Search directly in Oria:
- Many external databases have buttons/links to Oria. These are often labeled Oria, OpenURL, or BIBSYSx. Unfortunately, this type of linking between systems can be somewhat inaccurate.
- If you access Oria from such a link and don't see any full-text links, it might be useful to perform a manual search for the title in Oria. Sometimes we may still have access to the article you are looking for.
- It is also normal that we occasionally do not have any other access.
How do I share stable links?
Do you copy the URL from the browser address bar? It doesn't always work. Below is an explanation of how to create links that can be shared with others.
If you want to share pages from home or while traveling, it's recommended to open them from Oria:
- Start by clicking on the e-book/article in Oria. Under Send to, copy the link under Permalink. This will always go through Oria, giving you access from home and letting you know if the e-book/article is available from multiple suppliers.
- An alternative to the permanent link is to paste this prefix before the URL of the resource:
https://ezproxy.usn.no/login?url=
(This provides access to what USN subscribes to/has purchased. The prefix is not necessary for e-books/articles freely available on the internet.)
Example:
If you want access to an e-book with this persistent URL/link address:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1466933&site=ehost-live
... the full address including the prefix would be:
Ensure there are no spaces between the prefix and the link address! There should also be no line breaks in the address.
Remember, the URL following the prefix must be a permanent address as stated on the page where you found the article/e-book.
Tip: In practice, it's easiest to open a notepad on the screen and copy-paste to assemble a working link with the prefix. A correctly formatted link with such a prefix will work for all USN users, whether they are on the USN network or not. A login prompt will appear if necessary.
- Another option is to use the Zotero Connector browser extension (works with Chrome). You can easily add the USN proxy: Open one of USN's full-text links, e.g., this article in Idunn. You will be asked to activate our proxy - answer yes to that, and you are then ready to read full text that USN has acquired for students and staff.
More about stable links
When you have a document you want to link to, first look for "permalink," "persistent link," "document URL," or similar somewhere on the article/e-book webpage. It may also be a DOI-based link (more about DOI links below).
When sharing such a stable link with others or placing it in a bibliography, it will provide direct access to full text for those on the USN network (or online at another institution that also subscribes) for prepaid e-resources.
Links to open and free articles and e-books (Open Access) work regardless of where you are.
DOI links
Most articles and e-books have a unique ID called a DOI (digital object identifier).
- Example of a DOI: 10.1007/s12599-018-0550-4
- Example of a DOI link: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0550-4
- Example of a DOI link with a prefix for home access: https://ezproxy.usn.no/login?url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12599-018-0550-4
DOI links via doi.org lead to articles and e-books on publishers' own platforms. However, it's not always where USN has full-text access. In that case, you should find a link as explained above.
None of the boxes provides an answer. How can I get help?
- If you are logged into Oria, you will find a feedback button on many pages. Use it to report issues. If not, you can:
- Contact the e-resource team at e-ressurser@usn.no
Briefly describe the issue:- What are you trying to access, and in which database?
- Where did you start? Which service did you search in, or which link did you follow?
- Did you receive any error messages? Please send us a copy, preferably a screenshot.
- Optionally, provide the IP address of your machine. Look it up using an external service that shows both IPv4 and possibly IPv6, such as https://www.whatismyip.com or https://whatismyipaddress.com/ds-check