Librarian Help and Frequently Asked Questions

Areas covered:

• What is available for free access?
• How do I upload my branding?
• How do I access my usage statistics?
• Where can I find MARC records?
• How do I register my IP address?
• How do I change my IP address?
• Issues with accessing content
• URL listing document for journals & books
• Information about migration
• Can we set up only one Librarians' Portal account
• Can I set up static URL links?
• Do I need to change my RSS Feeds?
• Does the RSC offer Shibboleth access?
  • The RSC offers Shibboleth access via the following Shibboleth Federations
  • Our institution uses Shibboleth logins via one of the Federations you have implemented, how do we log in?
• Where can I find information about link resolvers?
• How can I purchase a single issue?
• How can I make a claim?

What is available for free access?

All RSC Publishing customers and those on free trials with registered IP addresses automatically receive access to our free content.

This means your students, academics, scientists, researchers and professionals can now access free content available on our RSC Publishing Platform when going through your institution or organisation authentication.

Free access content currently includes:

• All content of our newest journals for the first two volumes
• Any articles that are part of a special free access promotion
• A sample chapter from each book in the RSC eBook Collection

Your users can even continue to access this free content when not going through your authentication by creating a personal account on the RSC Publishing Platform and access saved searches.

If you are not an RSC Publishing customer, are not part of a free trial to our content, or don't have your IP address registered with us, request access to this free content

How do I upload my branding?

To upload your institution's logo it needs to be 150 x 30 pixels.

How to resize a logo in Photoshop Elements

Open the logo file in Photoshop Elements.  Click 'File' menu and select 'Save for web'.  On far right a menu pops up.  If the original image is a jpeg - select 'high'.  If the original image is a gif - select  'selective'.  In the 'new size' boxes the maximum width needs to be 150 pixels.  If the maximum height shows as more than 30 pixels, then change this to 30.  Click 'Apply'.  Then save your image.

How do I access my usage statistics?

The current process for retrieving your usage statistics is:

• Go to the MPS Insight website - see link below
• Login with the username and password you set when creating your personal account at the MPS website (if you would like to receive a username and password to receive usage statistics, please email our Technical Support team - see link below).

NB You need to register a separate username and password for the Librarians' Portal

Where can I find MARC records?

All the URLs have now been updated in our MARC records, and the amended records for the 1968-2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 collections published to our website.

RSC Publishing has signed an agreement with OCLC to offer all RSC eBook Collection, Year Collections and Subject Collection customers with OCLC MARC records free of charge.

Please see link below for MARC records available from our website.

How do I register my IP addresses?

This can be carried out online where you can register your internet addresses and accept the RSC Terms and Conditions of online access. Online access will be activated within 5 working days of registration. Please note - you do not need to re-register for online access in subsequent year as long as you continue to subscribe to the same journals.

Issues with accessing content

On rare occasions due to maintenance and development, the Platform may be running slow or return error messages.  If the problem occurs you can:

• Use the 'back' button on the browser and complete the action again
• Hard refresh the screen by pressing CRTL and F5 - this should resolve the issue

If you continue to experience this problem, please email us at the email address below - with a screen shot before the error and a screen shot of the error itself so that our Technical Support team can assist you.

URL listing document for journals and books

To find the documents that lists all RSC Publishing journals, eBooks and magazines, please click on the link below.  This is also found in the Librarians' Portal under URL Listing.

Can we set up only one Librarians' Portal account or do we need to set up one for each of us?

We recommend that each institution or organisation registers at least one Librarians' Portal account that can be shared.  If your account is managed by a distributor or agent, they they can set up an account on your behalf.

Can I set up static URL links to the volume or latest issue of a journal or the RSC Highlights?

Unfortunately not; we recommend that you use the Journal URL listing document which includes sustainable links that will help in future redirections and minimise broken links.  You should be able to easily access volumes and latest issues from these pages.

Do I need to change my RSS Feeds that I had originally set up on the old site?

RSS Feeds will not change and we will be redirecting so your original RSS Feeds will continue to work.

The RSC offers Shibboleth access via the following Shibboleth Federations

• Australian Access Federation
• Canadian Access Federation (CANARIE)
• CHINA CERNET Federation
• Edugate (Ireland)
• French universities and grandes �coles
• Gakunin (Japan)
• Germany (DFN-AAI)
• IDEM GARR (Italy)
• OpenAthens Federation
• RCTSaai (Portugal)
• Servicio de Identidad de RedIRIS (Spain)
• Switzerland (SWITCHaai)
• Tuakiri (New Zealand)
• UK Access Management Federation
• USA - InCommon
• WAYF (Denmark)

Librarians or online access administrators from institutions or companies who are part of one of the Federations above can arrange acces by contacting EJournals.

Trust Assertation Documentation for certain Federations is available on this web site.

Our institution uses Shibboleth logins via on of the Federations you have implemented, how do we log in?

When you search in the RSC Publishing platform and click on an article result in the search screen, you will see a login screen to access the full text.  There is an optional link here to login to Shibboleth.

We are currently directing our Shibboleth customers to the old content delivery website whilst we are developing Shibboleth on the new RSC Publishing platform.

Where can I find information about link resolvers, EZ Proxy etc?

For more comprehensive technical information, please go to RSC Publishing Platform Migration on the Librarians' Portal home page (see link below) and download the migration guidelines.  If you still have queries, please email the Technical Support team and we will be happy to help.

Screen shots to promote the new RSC Publishing platform to faculty, colleagues, students, researchers and scientists are available from the RSC Publishing Platform Migration page.

How can I purchase a single issue?

To place an order for an individual issue contact our distribution service for information. Please include the following information about the individual issue you would like to purchase: journal name, year, volume and issue number.

The contact details of the team are:

How can I make a claim?

For all claims queries please contact our Sales and Customer Services department:

What if my question isn't answered here?