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Oxford Handbooks Online - FAQ

How to use Oxford Handbooks Online

Technical and access questions

Frequently asked questions about how to use Oxford Handbooks Online

1) Can I print text from Oxford Handbooks Online?
Yes. You can print content from Oxford Handbooks Online by essay unit. To print any essay unit from the Oxford Handbooks Online site, simply use the Printer Friendly link in the left-hand navigation area. A preview window will appear with the correctly formatted pages, minus the site navigation components. Please note that restrictions apply – see below for guidelines on legal printing and copyright.

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2) Can I save essays as PDF from Oxford Handbooks Online?
Yes. You can print or save individual chapters (essays) to PDF from Oxford Handbooks Online. To generate a PDF of an individual chapter (essay), simply click on the Full Chapter PDF icon on the left hand menu of the full text chapter page. You can then save or print the PDF as required. Please note that Copyright restrictions apply.

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3) How much material can I legally print/save to PDF from Oxford Handbooks Online?
You are restricted by Copyright to the amount of information that you can print or download. It is very important that you read the Legal Notice, which includes information to printing and downloading to PDF, before printing or downloading anything from Oxford Handbooks Online.

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4) One of the cross-reference links in the text doesn't work
If a cross-reference link in the text isn't working, please contact us. We cannot correct faulty cross-reference links immediately. However, we will load the corrected data the next time we publish an update to the Oxford Handbooks Online website.

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5) I am having problems with searching
Try looking at our online Help file which gives you lots of information about searching as well as tips on how to avoid common problems. It might be that you need to use a different type of search, or perhaps alter your search term to either cast your net more widely if you have too few results, or narrow your search if you've got more results than you can deal with.

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6) The book I'm viewing has no essay abstracts or keywords
Some abstracts and keywords are not yet supplied. They will be uploaded to the site at regular intervals. The vast majority of titles on the site have abstracts and keywords.

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7) How can I find out which new titles are being added to Oxford Handbooks Online?
Every four months we will be uploading new Handbooks titles within the available subject modules to offer you the latest publishing from OUP. We will post lists of recently-added titles to each subject home page as well as to our What's New page. You can also sign up for a regular, free e-mail alert containing new titles and other site news.
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8) Where are the footnotes and endnotes?
Please refer to Help which explains how simple it is to display footnotes and endnotes. The footnote and endnote numbers are live links in the text.

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9) Can I follow links from Oxford Handbooks Online to other online resources?
Every title landing page and every chapter landing page has links to other online resources on the right hand side. Please note these are not available once you have navigated to a full text page.
A large amount of useful content in other Oxford Online resources is on public pages. Some of this content, however, is behind the paywall of these products and accessible for registered users only. Please contact your institutional librarian for assistance.

All bibliographic items in the further reading sections of each chapter are tagged to support the Open URL protocol. If your institution has implemented OpenURL, the links from bibliography references will lead to online and print content listed in your institution's library catalogues.

If your institution has not implemented OpenURL, links will only appear by references if a publisher has assigned a DOI to that item (note that there are far fewer links this way).
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10) I've spotted an error in the text
If you notice an error in the text, please contact us. We cannot usually correct errors in the text immediately. However, we will load the corrected text the next time we publish an update to the Oxford Handbooks Online website.

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11) Is Oxford Handbooks Online OpenURL-compliant?
Yes. To enable this feature in your institution, please access your account information in Subscriber Services. Oxford Handbooks Online also supports the selection of custom OpenURL resolver icons.

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12) Does Oxford Handbooks Online make use of digital object identifiers (DOIs)?
Yes, Oxford Handbooks Online uses digital object identifiers (DOIs) extensively throughout the site at both book and essay level. The DOI is the best way of citing and linking to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon initial electronic publication. The DOI will never change. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document.

The correct format for citing a DOI is as follows:
doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195182057.001.0001

When adding links to reading lists, first locate the relevant DOI. DOIs appear at the top and foot of book and essay pages. The International DOI Foundation provides a service at http://dx.doi.org enabling users to create a URL from a DOI simply by adding this site address and the DOI together, as with this example:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195182057.001.0001
For more information on these features please contact Customer Services through Subscriber Services. The DOI scheme is administered by the International DOI Foundation. Many of the world's leading learned publishers have come together to build a DOI-based linking scheme known as CrossRef.

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13) Does Oxford Handbooks Online provide MARC records for subscribing institutions?
Machine Readable Cataloguing records (MARC21 records) are available for library professionals to download. These MARC21 records are AARC2, NACO and SACO-compliant.

Click on the appropriate link on our MARC records download page to download a MARC21 format file (.mrc) containing records of books published in the latest content update, or of all the books currently published in Oxford Handbooks Online. Please note that you will require MARC record reader software to load these files to your library system.

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14) Can I receive email alerts regarding news and updates to Oxford Handbooks Online?
As well as posting lists of recently-added titles to our What's New page, you can also sign up for a regular, free e-mail alert containing new titles and other site news.

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Technical and access questions

If you don't find the answer you need here, please contact us.

1) I am a subscriber and I can't access Oxford Handbooks Online
First of all, please check that you have sent us your licence agreement. Unless you are in a free trial period, we cannot give you access to Oxford Handbooks Online until we have received and checked your signed license agreement. Please see the following FAQs for other connection issues.

a) It is possible that some of your registration details are incorrect on our database.
If the IP address/es for your institution or the user name and password which you use to access Oxford Handbooks Online are incorrect in our subscriber database you will not be able to access the site. Check with your librarian or account administrator, and ask them to follow the instructions below.
First of all, you need to log in to the Oxford Handbooks Online site, then select Subscriber Services from the black toolbar on any page, and then go to 'Subscriber Services Log in for existing subscribers' to enter the Subscriber Services page for your territory. From there you can check that you are using the correct user name and password or that the correct IP addresses have been entered for your institution.

Once you have checked whether your IP address details are correct, please use the contact us section in Subscriber Services to tell us whether:

- your IP address/es need to be corrected (if so, please supply the correct address/es)
- your IP address/es are correct, but you still can't get access to Oxford Handbooks Online.

b) Are you seeing any error messages when you try to log in to Oxford Handbooks Online?
Error messages appear beneath above the login box on the Log in screen. These give some suggestions about why you may not be able to access the site. They may direct you to either your network administrator or to the contact us page.

c) Could your account be on hold?
Occasionally an account is put on hold if we have not received your subscription payment, or if your subscription or free trial has expired. In both of these cases we would usually have been in touch with you about this. Do contact us for more information about this.

d) If your institution holds a concurrent user licence, it may be that your browser is not configured to accept cookies
Cookies are required for subscribers to Oxford Handbooks Online in order to control access to the service. If you see a cookie-related error message when you try to log in to the Oxford Handbooks Online site, then you need to enable cookies and try again.

Please refer to the Help menu of your chosen browser for how to activate cookie support if needed. Please note that all modern browsers should allow cookies from Oxford Handbooks Online by default with no additional user intervention.

JavaScript is preferred for many of the options available in OHO. Again, please refer to your browser�s Help menu should you find support is turned off on your system.

For more information, please contact us.

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2) After I enter my user name/password and click on "log in" and then try to search or use the site, I'm often viewing pages or search results that I did earlier in my session
It is possible that you are seeing an old page and need to alter your cache settings.

All modern browsers allow you to delete your browsing history which will remove OHO pages saved to your local computer in a previous session. In most cases however this step should not be necessary.

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3) Do you offer library card access to Oxford Handbooks Online?
We don't offer library card access to Oxford Handbooks Online.

Please contact us if you would like to offer library card access to your users.

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4) Our institution connects to the internet using NAT; can we access Oxford Handbooks Online?
Our access control software will work fine with sites firewalled using NAT. In order to give you access, we just need to know which IP address ranges that the NAT software is masquerading as. Please contact us if you would like to do this.

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5) Users with off-site access to Oxford Handbooks Online
We do not allow remote access unless it is by a secure route e.g. referred URL access from an accessed-controlled page on the subscriber's website or access via a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Please contact us for more information.

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6) What is your policy on cookies?
Cookies are required for subscribers to Oxford Handbooks Online in order to control access to the service. The default policy will be to use cookies for authentication. However, subscribers who have unlimited access licences for Oxford Handbooks Online may choose to disable cookies and will still be able to use the service, but note that usage statistics related to user sessions will not be available.

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7) Proxy servers

a) Will our proxy server IP address(es) be enough to allow access to Oxford Handbooks Online?
Yes. However, if you are accessing Oxford Handbooks Online through a proxy server then you need to give us the IP address of the proxy server in order for you to access the Oxford Handbooks Online site.

b) I've registered my proxy server IP address(es), but I can't access Oxford Handbooks Online.
If you are shown as not logged in when you access http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/ and have no access to full-text content then the IP address of your proxy server is not being recognised by the Oxford Handbooks Online site. If this is the case, please contact us, giving us details of the problem.

c) After previously successful IP-authenticated access via a proxy server, why am I now being requested to sign in with a user name and password?
If there is no obvious technical solution to the problem, please contact your Internet service provider (ISP) to check whether they have changed their configuration in a way that might hinder your IP-authenticated access to the Oxford Handbooks Online site.

d) I wish to enable off-campus access via a proxy server
Off-campus access is typically provided via a Remote Access Server (RAS). Ask your librarian or administrator whether there is a proxy server available for this purpose. If there is, enter its IP address into the Proxies section of your browser's preferences, generally located in the Proxy or Connection menu tabs. (In Internet Explorer, this is located in the Tools / Internet Options/ Connections Tab / LAN settings, the second section of which deals with proxies. In Netscape, it is located under Edit / Preferences / Advanced).

You will need a server at your end that is specific to one of the IP addresses you supplied to Oxford Handbooks Online. The degree to which the security of the server is configured is at the discretion of your institution - it just needs to be able to authenticate the end user for access to Oxford Handbooks Online.

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8) Questions relating to IP addresses

a) I've tried to set up IP-authenticated access to Oxford Handbooks Online without success
If, for some reason, you are unable to access Oxford Handbooks Online by IP address authentication, referring URL access may be possible. Please contact us to enquire about further possibilities for your institution.

b) How do I register a large number of IP addresses?
Contact the office appropriate to your region with the list of IP addresses.

North and South America: oxfordonline@oup.com
Rest of the world: onlinesubscriptions@oup.com

Tip: remember to use the asterisk (*) wildcard character if you are registering an entire class of IP address, and condense IP ranges in the following way, e.g. nnn.nnn.1-30.*

c) How do I change my institution's IP addresses?
Contact the office appropriate to your region with the list of IP addresses.

North and South America: oxfordonline@oup.com
Rest of the world: onlinesubscriptions@oup.com

Tip: remember to use the asterisk (*) wildcard character if you are registering an entire class of IP address, and condense IP ranges in the following way, e.g. nnn.nnn.1-30.*

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9) Questions about passwords

a) I've forgotten my site administrator password
Please contact us and specify whether you would like to be reminded of your password, or whether you would like to change it (along with details of what you'd like to change it to) and we will send you the details as soon as possible.

b) Can I distribute my site administrator user name and password to allow access for colleagues?
No, this is a restricted ID which should be kept in a safe place for use only by the librarian or site administrator. As access to Oxford Handbooks Online for institutions is IP authenticated, your colleagues will be able to access service without a user name and password. If any of your colleagues requires a user name and password for off-site access to Oxford Handbooks Online, please contact us.

c) I have forgotten my user name and password to access Oxford Handbooks Online
Only account administrators can reset passwords. Please see your librarian or administrator for help.

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10) Can I see usage statistics for my library/institution?
Yes, you can. However, usage statistics are only available to account administrators, who will have an Administrator's user name and password in order to access these pages. To see your institution's usage statistics, please log in to the Oxford Handbooks Online site, then select Subscriber Services from the black toolbar, and log in to our Subscriber Services area using your administrator user name and password.

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11) How do I use Subscriber Services?
Subscriber Services are only available to subscribers of Oxford Handbooks Online who are logged in to the Oxford Handbooks Online site. Usernames and passwords for Subscriber Services are only available to library administrators Once you have logged in to the site, just choose the Subscriber services link from the black toolbar on any page. Once on the Subscriber Services page, you will be required to enter your administrator username and password in order to access the following services:

View subscription information and IP addresses
View your institutional usage reports

If you are a subscriber and cannot log in to the Oxford Handbooks Online Subscriber Services site, please contact us.

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12) How do I update my institution's subscription record?
To view your subscription details log in to the subscriber services site appropriate to your region:

Subscribers in North and South America
Subscribers in the UK/Rest of the world

Alternatively you can just e-mail the office appropriate to your region giving details of what you would like us to change and we will contact you as soon as we have implemented the changes:

North and South America: oxfordonline@oup.com
Rest of the world: onlinesubscriptions@oup.com

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13) Which browsers will Oxford Handbooks Online display on correctly?
Oxford Handbooks Online is designed to display and function correctly on the following browsers or later:

Internet Explorer 7.0 and above for Windows
Mozilla Firefox 3.0 and above for all platforms
Safari 3 and above for Mac OS

We recommend that you set your screen resolution to 1024x768 pixels for the optimum display and use of Oxford Handbooks Online. However, 800x600 pixel resolution should be acceptable for most pages (with occasional horizontal scrolling).

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14) How accessible is Oxford Handbooks Online and will my screen-reader software work with it?
Oxford Handbooks Online has full W3C Priority 1 and 2 compliance, as well as most applicable Priority 3 items. It is one of the most accessible sites of its kind and should work with most popular screen-reading software. We have worked hard to ensure that all users have an equal level of access to the scholarly content in Oxford Handbooks Online and are happy to answer any questions on this subject as well as receive comments on areas that could be improved.
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15) How are the Oxford Handbooks Online user statistics reports defined?
Oxford Handbooks Online has full ICOLC-compliant statistics available via Subscriber Services. Statistics are displayed under the following headings:

Number of Sessions: The total number of unique sessions. Where users have cookies enabled, a session is an uninterrupted period of use of a site; it does not equal the number of unique users since a given person can have multiple sessions. A user-session will be terminated if there is more than fifteen minutes of inactivity
Total Session Time (hh:mm): The total time of all sessions added together
Average Session Time (hh:mm): The total session time divided by the number of sessions
Average Pages per Session: The number of web pages requested divided by the number of sessions
Full Content Units Requested: The number of entries viewed. A whole essay viewed online counts as a single 'Full-content unit' since a whole essay is presented as a single html page. NOTE: For institutions with access to both Oxford Handbooks Online and Oxford Scholarship Online these statistics will not be directly comparable, since Oxford Scholarship Online presents content in smaller units, with each html page showing the equivalent of five print pages only
Web Pages Requested: The number of HTML pages accessed
Hits: The number of files served, i.e. counts all the images and other files on a page, plus all html pages
Queries (Searches): The number of times a search request is submitted to the server. Any subsequent activity to review or browse among the records retrieved, or to view an entry from the list, is not recorded as an additional search
Full-Content Units Reached from Browse: The number of entries reached from the browse menu. Please note, this is not relevant to all products
Turnaways: If a subscription is limited by concurrency, the number of turnaways will indicate how often the concurrency limit has been exceeded and users barred from the product

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16) Does Oxford Handbooks Online support meta search software?
Yes; the site can currently be accessed by meta search software via HTTP request and supports the method="get" using a base URL of:
http://www.oxfordHandbooks.com/search/query?quickSearchText
Followed directly by =x where x is your search term. Separate search terms should separated with the + sign. For example, searching for collisions and culture would be added to the base URL as: =collisions+culture

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