Talk:The Wikipedia Library

Archives 2015–2021 2022 2023

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No access to the journals of the "Royal Society of Chemistry" (RSC)

I should currently have access to the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Gold collection including several scientific journals - as also indicated on my Wikipedia Library landing page. When I attempted to access an article published in the RSC journal "Energy and Environmental Science" that should be included, I could not access the content, i.e., the content was beyond the paywall. Are there any known changes or problems? Kind regards, Espresso robusta (talk) 19:53, 8 February 2023 (UTC)

@Espresso robusta Thanks for the heads up, looks like our access has lapsed. Unfortunately we haven't heard from our contact there in a little while so I'm not sure how quickly this will be resolved, but we'll do what we can. I'll flag this access issue in the library for other users. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 15:05, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for your efforts! Best wishes, Espresso robusta (talk) 18:30, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

On the bright side, that journal has a 25 % open access preservation rate, vs. a 15 % average for RSC, so you might have good luck by using Unpaywall in your browser. :) Nemo 20:24, 11 February 2023 (UTC)

Samwalton9 (WMF) I set this up when I was Wikimedian in Residence there. Would you like me to reach out to my contacts? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:29, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

Access problem with De Gruyter

Access to the De Gruyter collection seems to be interrupted, since approx. 27. August 2023. De Gryuter indicates, that an "internal server error" did occur. This only happens when using EZProxy. So this seems to be related to an internal change at De Gruyter breaking access over EZProxy. Flyingfischer (talk) 07:18, 28 August 2023 (UTC)

Problem with FindMyPast

I have trouble with getting access to FindMyPast. I was approved in May, but did not get any access code for two months. Complaining in the application's discussion did not get any replies whatsoever. I finally made a renewal application in July and did get an access code, but it did not work. I did exactly as instructed: I created an account with FindMyPast, logged in, then went to https://www.findmypast.co.uk/voucher, entered the code as instructed and clicked Submit. As a result, I only got an error message saying "The voucher code entered doesn't seem to be working." Two more complaints, but no reply. So I made another renewal application. Got the code yesterday, tried to redeem it today, again did exactly as instructed (see above), and got the same error message "The voucher code entered doesn't seem to be working."

Something must be fundamentally wrong here. But what? Why does this not work? I've gained access to some other sites through the Wikipedia Library, and those always worked. Rosenzweig (talk) 16:59, 13 September 2023 (UTC)

@Rosenzweig We've been having a number of problems with BNA and Findmypast voucher codes unfortunately, including having them all revoked and reinstated with a new batch. You're not the only one facing issues with Findmypast at the moment, so we're in contact with them again to investigate. Apologies for the confusion, there's only so much we can do when Findmypast keep telling us things should be working! Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 14:48, 14 September 2023 (UTC)

Samwalton9 Any news about this? I just found out today that I can't access newspapers.com anymore as well, so the "Wikipedia Library" experience is rather negative for me at the moment :-( --Rosenzweig (talk) 22:23, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

@Rosenzweig I'm frustrated about all the problems at the moment too. In terms of Findmypast/BNA the situation is potentially turning out to be more complicated than anticipated so we're trying to sort through this to provide clear information to folks. The Newspapers.com issue is being tracked at T322916. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 11:38, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

The British Newspaper Archive

Applied for access to this and was just granted, thanks, but I'm having trouble accessing the collection; searches work ok but when I try to click on hits it redirects me to a page inviting me to make an account. Am I doing something wrong? Espresso Addict (talk) 23:58, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

@Espresso Addict Did you receive an email from us with instructions on how to redeem your voucher code? It seems a number of users have been either missing these or not receiving them for some reason. Could you check your spam folder if you don't see it in your inbox? Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 12:10, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

Thanks, Samwalton9 (WMF) -- Ah, found e-mail, activated voucher but it still seems to only be offering me the 3 free articles that go with its basic free login? Espresso Addict (talk) 17:51, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

@Espresso Addict Hm, that's odd. We're just trying to clarify how these codes should work with BNA because they recently told us they should be activated via the Subscribe page instead, but that seems to require entering payment information. We'll update when we know more. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 15:32, 21 September 2023 (UTC)

ProQuest

While searching the ProQuest database earlier today, I encountered the following error: "Available Product Permission Error. An error has been detected in the configuration of the account's product permissions. This is an error in the ProQuest account setup; please contact your library to report this error or contact ProQuest Customer Support to correct this issue." I also noticed that when I click "Access collection" from my Wikipedia Library home page, my browser no longer navigates to the ProQuest site; instead it says "This site can't be reached". Sunnya343 (talk) 06:07, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Now tracked at task T350303. Nikkimaria (talk) 22:49, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

I tried to reach a book digitized by the Royal Library Copenhagen and got We're sorry, your institution doesn't have access to this article through ProQuest. ProQuest seems the only way for non-residents of Denmark to access the digitized collections of the Royal Library. Could the ProQuest subscription be amended? --concord (talk) 14:38, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Library now available as a link in Google Scholar

A quick announcement that you can now add The Wikipedia Library as a link from Google Scholar results! This should match our holdings and send you through the library's proxy, so if you find a result in Scholar that's in the library, you can get quick and direct access to it.

1. Go to https://scholar.google.com/ while logged in to a Google account.
2. Click the hamburger menu in the top corner and click Settings
3. In the 'Library links' menu, search for Wikipedia
4. Check the box next to "The Wikipedia Library - The Wikipedia Library"
5. Click Save.
6. You should now see "The Wikipedia Library" links next to applicable search results.

One minor issue with this is that the first screen you'll end up on from the results page will usually error, and you need to click the "open the page in a new window" link at the top. We're looking into this to see if we can resolve the problem. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 16:50, 20 November 2023 (UTC)

Do those links take precedence over open access links like scholar.archive.org? If so this sounds like a regression. Nemo 07:09, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

Ok, I've checked myself: in at least one case, they didn't (before and after). Nemo 07:15, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

It looks like the error I noted in my first message has now been fixed. Please let me know if it reoccurs. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 17:14, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

OCLC Classify is being discontinued

I have been using the OCLC Classify service to add OCLC work identifiers to books on Wikidata. Today I read at https://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ that "Classify is being discontinued on 31 January 2024." Is there any plan to give Wikidata editors access to one of the replacement services to find OCLC work identifiers? Daask (talk) 18:18, 20 November 2023 (UTC)

@Daask Thanks for bringing this up - we'll look into it. Has this been discussed anywhere on Wikidata in a way that I could get a sense of how important this is? Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 12:30, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

May need a bot

I found out that when we use newspapers.com as a source we should create a clipping and link to it. However, when I did that, JPxG corrected my link. I asked this person what the procedure was and got no response. But if I copy the link to the clipping directly, I am asked to sign in, and I guess the objective is to allow anyone, signed in or not, to see the clipping.Vchimpanzee (talk) 22:24, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

See en:w:Wikipedia:NEWSPAPERSDESCHMUTZ; www-newspapers-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org should be changed to newspapers.com. The proxy link doesn't let people view the clippings unless they're logged into TWL and have active n.com subscriptions, so while it's still possible to cite them, it's far less helpful. The browser extension I wrote to cite these pages fixes these URLs automatically, and otherwise there's an AWB script (at the deschmutz link). JPxG (talk) 22:33, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

I'm getting "syntax error". Also, what do I do with the script?Vchimpanzee (talk) 23:03, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

Generally speaking you should never use any of the links coming from The Wikipedia Library, unless you suspect the URL itself is citable (as opposed to the work it carries). See also, for the English Wikipedia, w:en:Wikipedia:Citing sources#Convenience links and w:en:Wikipedia:Citing_sources#Say where you read it. Nemo 07:01, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

But we are asked to provide a link to the clipping.Vchimpanzee (talk) 17:06, 24 November 2023 (UTC)

If you cite a proxied link on the English Wikipedia I believe Citation bot should come along and correct it - elsewhere you should ideally cite non-proxied links in the first place. I appreciate that's unfortunately a cumbersome process. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 12:32, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

How exactly do I do that once I create a clipping?Vchimpanzee (talk) 17:18, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Two options:

1. After making clippings within the library, navigate to newspapers.com outside of the library, log in to your Newspapers.com account, and go to your clippings and copy the URL(s) from there.
2. As JPxG explained above - change www-newspapers-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org in the URL to newspapers.com.

Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 10:46, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

TLS

I'd hoped to be able to access the TLS (formerly the Times Literary Supplement) via Gale, but apparently it's not available there. Or am I missing something? Muzilon (talk) 03:14, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

@Muzilon We're not sure on this one - I believe we do have some TLS content in Gale, but it's possible that they don't aggregate recent content due to an embargo. Often times these aggregators only have content up to some number of years ago. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 12:13, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Wikipedia Library emails are currently broken

Tracked in Phabricator:
Task T347512

This is a quick notice to let you know that Wikipedia Library email notifications are not currently working as intended. You may not receive emails such as application approvals or access instructions until the issue is resolved. We will endeavour to manually re-send emails on a regular basis but apologise if the service isn't reliable over the coming weeks. We're exploring some other options for notifying users, such as using Echo notifications and directing users towards information in the library, and we'll let you know when we have opportunities for input into those potential solutions.

If you have any questions or expected to receive an email that you didn't, please let me know. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 12:36, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

Unable to validate login credentials

When I try to search the library, I get the error message:

We are unable to validate your login credentials. Please contact your institution for assistance. Please note, Referring URL authentication may have been prevented by antivirus or privacy control software. [Authentication Error Code 103]

at https://search-ebscohost-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?bquery=Foo&lang=en&custid=ns253359&groupid=main&profid=eds&scope=site&site=eds-live&direct=true&authtype=url

I have tried disabling Privacy Badger, to no effect. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:22, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

@Pigsonthewing Sorry you're facing this issue. Just to understand fully - are you navigating to https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/, then searching in the bar at the top? If not could you tell me the steps you're going through to search. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 12:12, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

{{Ping|Samwalton9 (WMF)} Highlighting text on page (say "Foo") and using a browser plugin that opens a tab with the URL https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/search/?q=Foo Manually opening a tab end entering the same URL gives an identical result.

However, if I use the method you describe, I am redirected to https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/users/my_library/ and if I search using the field there I get the same error, albeit at https://search-ebscohost-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?custid=ns253359&groupid=main&profid=eds&scope=site&site=eds-live&direct=true&authtype=url&lang=en-gb&bquery=Foo Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:22, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

@Pigsonthewing Do you have any other privacy extensions installed? The software checks the referring URL (i.e. what page you came from) to verify you are able to use search, but some privacy extensions block this information. Samwalton9 (WMF) (talk) 16:27, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

{{Ping|Samwalton9 (WMF)} I do (I'm using Firefox) but neither whitelisting the sites nor disabling the add-ons makes any difference. I've also tried deleting cookies. I can search without issue in a different browser. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 19:35, 14 December 2023 (UTC)