Skip to Main Content

Himmelfarb Headlines: OpenAthens and Durable Links

Himmelfarb Headlines Banner

OpenAthens and Durable Links

Director's Desk, Laura Abate

Since our migration from EZproxy to OpenAthens for remote access to our electronic resources in May 2024, Himmelfarb staff have been hard at work resolving issues and making sure you can still access all the resources you and your students need.

Issues that we’re currently troubleshooting include:

  • A small number of specific pages on ClinicalKey for Nursing are incompatible with OpenAthens. Use the GW VPN to visit pages labeled “View Skills and Access Checklist.”
  • Some links to ebooks on the Ovid platform are initially blocked with a login screen. Clicking the link a second time usually loads the ebook as expected.

If you encounter issues accessing Himmelfarb’s electronic resources, please report them to us either via our Web Access Problem form or by emailing us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu.

The process for generating durable links has changed. To generate a durable link, please follow the steps outlined in Himmelfarb’s Linking to Electronic Resources guide. Alternatively, Himmelfarb Library staff are happy to transform broken or non-durable links into working durable links for you. Please send your durable linking requests to us at himmelfarb@gwu.edu.

Himmelfarb can also help with outdated links in your old course materials that were designed for EZproxy. You can identify these links by “proxygw.wrlc.org” appearing in the URL, or the appearance of a “Redirect Needed” screen after clicking the link:

Example of a redirect of a old EZproxy link.

Most EZproxy links in Blackboard were updated automatically in mid-October, but you may still find them in PDFs or other materials. You can use the Quick Tool on the Linking to Electronic Resources guide to update these links, or reach out to Himmelfarb staff as needed.

As a reminder, the GW VPN is no longer the most reliable way to access Himmelfarb resources from off-campus devices.