You are working from home and just found a reference to a brilliant article or a set of data that you would like to get your hands on. You look it up in the CBS Library catalogue – and yes! – the article is available. But what happens next? No access, or connection problems.
We do our best to keep you informed if there is a general problem with access to any of our databases. In most cases, however, access problems can be overcome by changing the browser as many databases are optimized for specific browsers and browser versions. We have provided a short description for all the databases that are available through our website. The descriptions include “hints from the librarian”, e.g. best browser choice and, in some cases, restrictions due to simultaneous user quotas. See Factiva for an example.
Generally speaking, the best choice of browser would be Internet Explorer in an updated version. Safari will work in most cases whereas Google Chrome generally is not a good choice. Another recommendation is to wait a while and then try again. Maintenance downtime of US-located databases, for example, may coincide with normal office hours in DK.
We are always interested in hearing about access problems so we can sort it out with the database provider. Please send an e-mail to library@cbs.dk.
In this era of confusing the use of a search engine with Googling, it is high time to explore alternative ways of searching the internet.
A case in point is Wolfram Alpha, a self-styled computational knowledge engine that allows you to view the results of your queries in quite a different way than Google.
Wolfram Alpha is robust in terms of data and displays results in a very easily read way. Look at these examples, one dealing with life expectancy the other with General Electric. Every section is accompanied by a reference to the source of the information, simply mouse over the relevant section and click the book icon.
Wolfram Alpha is especially suitable for statistics and can be used as a calculator.