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Home > Frequently Asked Questions for the Public

Frequently Asked Questions for the Public

Using MARVEL!

1. I am a first time user of MARVEL! . Are there tutorials to help me?

All of the resources in MARVEL! include a Help link, or sometimes "Search Tips". Be sure to look for these to find answers to many of your questions.

Guided tours or tutorials are found within:

The EBSCO databases have online virtual tours, listed below.

There are also possible handouts, tips and guides available on sites created by various vendors. These include:

Most of the University of Maine campuses offer an online chat reference service.

The reference librarians who staff these E-Ref lines can help you and often can show you how to use these databases while you watch on your computer. This service can be found by going to the URSUS page ( http://ursus.maine.edu ) and clicking on the Ask a Librarian link. You may also use "Ask a Librarian" service at the three Maine Reference and Resource Centers :

Your public or school librarian will also be able to help you with MARVEL!, and may even offer individual instruction or classes on using these resources.

2. How can I find out what publications are offered and what time periods are covered by each resource?

3. How do I know if a particular journal is included in MARVEL!? If I can't find this journal in MARVEL!, what are my options?

There is no single definitive list of all the journals available from all the vendors.

4. How do I cite my resources from MARVEL!?

Some of the databases such as Britannica provide citations and others give examples. There are many different types of sources in MARVEL! such as images, video clips and magazine and newspaper articles.

5. How do I find the full text of an article when only the abstract is offered?

6. Can I add a link to MARVEL! on my web site? If so, how do I accomplish this?

Yes you may put a link anywhere you like with certain requirements:

Location:

Requirements:

Directions to add icon to a web page:

  1. To save MARVEL! for your web page or computer desktop, right click on it or control-click and then choose "Save Picture As" or "Save Image as" to your computer. Navigate to a location on your computer to save this image. It's best to save your images in an image folder inside your web site folder.
  2. Please follow the directions for your web editor since "inserting an image" can be different for software.
  3. General: Align cursor where you want the image placed.
  4. Select the "Insert" or "Insert Image".
  5. Browse to the location on your computer where you saved the MARVEL! image and select it.
  6. Be sure to upload this image to your web server so the image will show.
  7. Add alternative or "alt" text for any image on your web pages. "ALT" text makes information about the image available to visually-impaired users. Follow directions for ALT for your web editor or add alt="MARVEL! logo" or alt="MARVEL! Maine's Virtual Library" within the image tag of the HTML code.
  8. To use MARVEL! as a link, choose the image and follow the directions of your web editor.
  9. Need to remove the blue border around "MARVEL!" image when it is a link? Set the image tag attribute border to zero. Example: <a href=http://www.maine.gov/marvel"><img src="marvel3.gif" alt=MARVEL! logo" border="0"> </a>.

7. What is a persistent link?

A persistent link is a permanent URL to a particular article within an electronic resource, like EBSCOhost, that can be saved and used for future reference. Persistent links are also referred to as PURLs, durable links, or stable links.

8. What does this allow me to do?

The directions provided below in question 9 allow you to set up direct links, on an article level from within a course web or course reserve management system like Blackboard, Docutek Eres, Web CT etc or from a web site. It also allows access to the resource from both local and remote locations, provided they are a registered and an authorized user to MARVEL!

9. How do I set up or use persistent links in our course web or E-reserve management system?

Persistent links that are provided on most vendor web sites accessed via MARVEL! do not work because the link bypasses the MARVEL! authentication system. To modify an existing persistent link, for future use, follow these steps:
  1. Edit the existing URL (web address) by deleting this section: "prxy#.ursus.maine.edu"
  2. Append the persistent URL in step one to the URL: http://libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/authmaine.asp?url=
For example, if an article's persistent link from EBSCO host is:
http://search.epnet.com.prxy1.ursus.maine.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=16793723

You would edit the URL to the following (from step1):
http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=16793723

Append the edited persistent link to the URL provided in step 2 above. The resulting URL is:
http://libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/authmaine.asp?url=http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=16793723

A PDF version is available to print for future reference at: http://libraries.maine.edu/mainedatabases/marvel_plinks.pdf

10. If I have a question and it is not listed here, where can I submit my question?

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Security and Privacy

1. What information will MARVEL! collect or retain from me as a result of using MARVEL!?

The MARVEL! server log does record some information such as originating IP address, domain accessing, type of browser, date and time visited, and any information to prevent unauthorized uses of the site.

Our server log records personal information of a remote user registering for a MARVEL! account. This information is not made available to any third party. It is used to periodically ensure security for our license agreements which authorize access for Maine residents only and to compile usage statistics.

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Troubleshooting

1. Who do I contact, if I have a problem accessing or using MARVEL!?

Please look through the FAQ section where common questions are listed.

If you don't find the help you need:

2. Can I access MARVEL! with any browser? Are any special settings required?

MARVEL! works best with more recent versions of web browsers (Internet Explorer, Netscape and Mac's Safari).

Your browser must be set to accept cookies or you will not be able to access the databases.

Older browsers:

AOL, Compuserve, Earthlink and similar proprietary browsers:

Dial-Up:

If you are using Internet Explorer (IE) make sure your security settings are set to medium or medium-low.

When in doubt, use the browser configuration guide to properly adjust your browser.

3. Are there any issues if I use a Macintosh (Apple) computer?

Macintosh (Apple) users may get error messages like 'Authentication failed due to insufficient credentials' when accessing an EBSCO database with a non-compatible browser.

Also, Mac users may experience difficulty opening PDFs automatically. The PDF file appears in .asp format and the user receives an error message saying that the file can not be opened. One solution is to download as .asp, open Acrobat Reader, do a file open and navigate to the document or to rename the .asp file to .pdf.
There is a shorter, easier alternative: Now, documents will open automatically without having to go through all the steps each time.

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