This is for awareness, particularly for everybody who fields questions about databases from students and faculty. The CSU team doesn’t always send out alerts when database interfaces change, but in this case, there’s a real possibility that changes may spark confusion and frustration. Please share this info, add to FAQs, etc., as you see fit.
At UAL, we subscribe to the CSA OnDemand Complete Collection. This is an important standards database. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) recently made changes that mean it’s now extremely easy for our patrons to trigger a security message telling them, “Sorry, you have been blocked,” even though they haven’t done anything wrong (and they aren’t really blocked). Fortunately there’s a way to avoid this situation, even though CSA’s interface doesn’t make it obvious.
If patrons interact with the CSA Catalogue, they will trigger the security message. If patrons interact with the CSA Document Library, they will access the CSA collection via our subscription, as normal. Here is a screenshot with the relevant areas marked.
The CSU team has explained to CSA that this new arrangement is detrimental to students and researchers. We will continue to follow up with them on this. We hope this info will help you trouble-shoot on the spot, for anyone who thinks they’ve been blocked.