The ad-blocking software uBlock Origin was recently installed on all of our staff workstations. It’s come to our attention that this may randomly (though probably infrequently) block access to some of our licensed resources. In a recent incident, a link to a ScienceDirect article retrieved in an EDS search was resolving to a blank screen through the GetIt link because there was something in Elsevier’s code that caused it to be blocked by this software.
Apparently this type of thing may happen with any ad-blocking software or publisher platform, and you just need to be aware that, whenever you come across a blank screen, you should always check the uBlock icon in the top right corner of your browser window to see if there’s an alert for the page that will allow you to unblock it. uBlock is not currently installed on any of our public workstations, however the use of this type of software is becoming more common so it’s possible that our users may occasionally experience related issues on their home computers.