Troubleshooting Our 24-Hour Research Databases & Tools
The Internet is a great place and is full of free information but sometimes you get what you pay for. Information on the Internet can be hard to find, incomplete, or just plain wrong. That is why BCPL provides these online tools for our customers. Any customer with a BCPL library card can access almost all of these authoritative and targeted resources from your home computer via the Internet 24/7.
BCPL's librarians can help you learn how to use any of these resources and they can confirm whether a resource is up and running. However, these are complex tools developed by other companies and our staff are not trained nor able to support the extensive range of computer platforms and software versions that our customers use to access these sites. Customers will need to independently review the support information on this page, on those provided by these companies, and may need to contact them directly in order to troubleshoot your own independent and various computer setups.
"I can't get to the database because it won't accept my library card information ..."
These products are licensed exclusively for BCPL customers and require a BCPL library card in order to be accessed remotely. You will need to type your library barcode and your library PIN number. Although you can change them, PINs are initially set to be the same as the last four digits of the phone number that we have on file in your library record. You will not be able to access these resources if your library card has expired, or if you enter the wrong barcode/PIN.
"I get a message that the page cannot be found or displayed ..."
It is possible that the service is down if you get this message but most of the time it means that there is either a problem with your own Internet connection or you may be linking to a bad address or URL.
You should not bookmark links directly within these databases (unless the resource offers you a "permalink") since -depending on the resource- it may not be possible to deep link to them or these links can be sporatic or subject to change. You should always access them through the library's website links at http://www.bcpl.info/find-info/databases.
"I can get to the resource but it keeps asking me for additional login or password information ..."
This problem occurs after you successfully enter your library card number but when the remote services still doesn't trust that you are an authorized user. This happens when your home or remote computer has security or firewall software (such as Norton's or McAffee) which hides your computers identity.
You can test if this is situation by very briefly turning off your firewall security and trying the service again. If turning off your security software corrects the situation then you can permanently correct this by "white" or "safe" listing the domain name of the resource that you are trying to access so that your security software allows the remote site and your computer to trust each other. Please note: we cannot provide you information on how to turn off or edit your security settings due to the number of security software products and version on the marketplace. Below are links to the most common solutions if you need help understand how your security software works.
The following domain names should to be added to your security/firewall software's "safe" or "white" list to insure accessibility if you are having problems:
BrainFuse:
www.brainfuse.com
Gale Cengage:
A full list of firewall considerations for GaleCengage can be found on their Security Checklist.
D&B/Hoover's:
subscriber.hoovers.com
Ebsco:
arrc.ebscohost.com
web.ebscohost.com
InfoGroup/RefUSA:
www.referenceusa.com
Mango:
libraries.mangolanguages.com
ProQuest:
www.ancestrylibrary.com
www.heritagequestonline.com
search.proquest.com
S&P:
www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com
ValueLine:
www.valueline.com
www2.valueline.com
www3.valueline.com
World Book:
www.worldbookonline.com
You may also need to make sure that the "enable browser privacy" setting is turned off in your firewall settings.
"I can get in to the resource but it doesn't seem to be working properly for me..."
There are many settings and features on your Internet Browser which may cause problems when using one of the library's resources (particularly if you also use the same or similiar online resources via your school or workplace).
Java and ActiveX settings generally need to be properly set in your browser (enabled/allowed) in order to insure proper functionality.
Deleting your temporary Internet history (cache, cookies, temporary files, etc) can give you a clean start and will clear up some problems. Convenient instruction can be found on sites such as Wikihow if you need assistance on how to clear your Internet cache.
Internet Explorer is one of the most common Internet browsers but switching to Mozilla's FireFox (or another browser) will sometimes help to clear up a problem.
We suggest that you keep your Java, Adobe, and Flash software up to date.
Vendor Support
Although BCPL staff cannot personally diagnose or troubleshoot your individual and unique database issues, there are extensive support documents and contacts provided by many of the companies which provide the resources. Below is a list of some of those resources. Please do not hesitate to review them or contact them as needed.
BrainFuse:
The Brainfuse website does not offer substantial additional support unless you are logged into the service in which case tutorials and contact information are provided.
Gale Cengage:
The Gale Cengage Support website provides extension online FAQs, tutorials, marketing materials, email and telephone contact information. You do not need to be logged into a Gale Cengage site in order to avail yourself of many of their online support.
D&B/Hoover's:
The Hoover's website does not offer substantial additional support unless you are logged into the service in which case tutorials and contact information are provided for assistance.
Ebsco:
The Ebsco Support website provides extensive online FAQs, tutorials, marketing materials, email and telephone contact information. You do not need to be logged into an Ebsco site in order to avail yourself of many of their online support.
InfoGroup/RefUSA:
The Reference USA website provides online FAQs, instruction and contact information. You do not need to be logged into RefUSA in order to avail yourself of their online support.
Mango:
The Mango support website provides online FAQs, instruction and contact information. You do not need to be logged into Mango in order to avail yourself of their online support.
OverDrive:
Information about Overdrive (Maryland's Digital eLibrary Consortia) can be found on BCPL's website but problems must be reported directly to OverDrive by their email support form.
ProQuest:
The ProQuest Support website provides extensive online FAQs, tutorials, marketing materials, email and telephone contact information. You do not need to be logged into a ProQuest site in order to avail yourself of many of their online support. Although there is support for Ancestry.com in the ProQuest support pages, there is also extensive pages support pages available directly from Ancestry.com (although the support is frequently focused on their Home product).
Limited support is available on WorldBook's website but World Book does not offer substantial additional support unless you are logged into the service in which case instruction and contact information are provided.
These products are licensed exclusively for BCPL customers and require a BCPL library card in order to be accessed remotely. You will need to type your library barcode and your library PIN number. Although you can change them, PINs are initially set to be the same as the last four digits of the phone number that we have on file in your library record. You will not be able to access these resources if your library card has expired, or if you enter the wrong barcode/PIN. 
There are many settings and features on your Internet Browser which may cause problems when using one of the library's resources (particularly if you also use the same or similiar online resources via your school or workplace). 
