Access to the university network and use of e-resources

PCs, Wi-Fi, VPN, Shibboleth

In our category "research" you will find a variety of electronic offers: catalogues, bibliographies, lexica, full text databases, journals, etc. Some offers are freely usable on the internet. However, many products have been purchased/licensed by the ULB Münster for the university and, for legal reasons, are only available to you if you prove your access authorisation (affiliation), e.g. via a university IP or ID.

For library users who are not members of the University of Münster, the use of licenced e-resources is only possible to a very limited extent (see below).

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Internet:
 Internet use on site

Accessing e-resources:
University network / IP address
Shibboleth
Variations

Legal information:
Terms of use
Licences

External – limited access:
 External users

Internet use on site

In order to use the internet free of charge on site, you can connect to the university's WLAN with your own device or use the internet PCs.

University network / IP

For most licensed products, the ULB has arranged with the respective provider that the user's access authorisation is checked via the IP address of the computer from which the product is accessed. This means that PCs in the domain "uni-muenster.de" (IP range 128.176.* or 2001:4cf0*), i.e. in the university network, are authorised.

At the university

You have the following options for using the university network here to access licenced e-resources:

  • via the WLAN of the University of Münster (uni-ms only, i.e. for university members)
  • at the internet PCs in the ULB Central Library or also, for example, in the Medical Library, the Social Sciences Branch Library or the library in the House of the Netherlands
  • at computers in the institutes of the University of Münster, in the PC rooms, etc.

From anywhere

A VPN connection provides university members with an IP address from the university identifying them as a legitimate user.

Shibboleth

You can access some products from anywhere with your university ID via Shibboleth – a single sign-on in which you agree that data about your affiliation to the university (usually simply "member", possibly also e.g. "student" or "employee") is confirmed and passed on to the respective provider.

Some full-text links that lead out of KatalogPlus are automatically followed by a sign-in screen. Otherwise, you will often find this sign-in option at the top of the page or under the desired articles/e-books.
The terms used for the Shibboleth login and the University of Münster can vary depending on the provider: "Institutional Login" / "Login via your Institution" / "Login via Athens/Shibboleth"..., "Universität Münster" / "University of Münster" / "Universitaets- und Landesbibliothek Muenster"... If necessary, select "German Higher Education and Research" or "Deutschland [DFN-AAI]" first.

DO NOT USE the personal login not connected to the university.

Variations

  • Horizon Client for using CD-ROM databases

    Some databases and lexica are published on CD-ROM, which we have installed for you on virtual computers. For licensing reasons, only members of Münster University are permitted to use these databases. To use these databases online, special software must be installed – the VMware or rather Omnissa Horizon Client.

    We have provided instructions on how to download, install and set up the client.
    This software is not always installed on the computers at the university – if necessary, ask the responsible support staff.

  • beck-online

    For external use of beck-online, you must first register for beck-online in the university network and activate the 2-factor authentication. Then you can log in and search beck-online from outside the network.

  • ProQuest Ebook Central

    To download parts of an e-book from ProQuest Ebook Central permanently, you do not usually need user credentials: The first time you attempt to download a chapter, a login screen will appear, giving you an option to "Continue as Guest", among other things.

    However, if you would like to download the entire book for a limited period of time, you must create a free account with ProQuest Ebook Central (at the top of the website under "Sign In") in the university network. Once you have an account, you can also log in from outside the network.
    For book downloads, you will receive an acsm file that can only be opened on your PC with special software such as Adobe Digital Editions. To read a downloaded e-book, you must first authorise your computer. An Adobe ID is required to transfer books to multiple devices, but is not necessary to read them on a single device.

  • Restriction to faculty

    For some journals, access is restricted to the faculty. For example, some journals are only licensed for use in the IP area of the Faculty of Law.

Terms of use

The following general terms of use apply to the licenced journals:

  • Access to the full texts is only permitted to members of the respective institution.
  • The full texts of the articles may only be printed or saved for personal use and for research purposes.
  • Systematic downloading of articles or search results, in particular by robots, is prohibited.
  • Articles may not be passed on to third parties either electronically or in printed form.

As the number of simultaneous accesses is limited for some products, please remember to end your session with the "Logoff" or "Logout" button.

Licences

University of Münster licences: Licence agreements between publishers and the ULB as well as individual institutes of the University of Münster enable campus-wide online access to these publishers' products.

National licences: The German Research Foundation (DFG) finances the so-called "national licences" and thus makes it possible to use the journal archives of individual publishers throughout Germany.
National licences for individual users: Individual national licences can only be used by registering as a private individual. Information on registration

FID licences: Germany-wide access to some journals is provided as part of the "Specialised Information Services for Science" funding programme with financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and organised by the Specialised Information Services.

External users

Users of the ULB who are not members of the University of Münster have limited access to the university network. They can log in to a PC (e.g. in the ULB Central Library's ground floor reading room) that is connected to the internet and the university network with a login ID, and they can also access the internet with their own devices via a free guest Wi-Fi; however, they cannot set up a VPN connection from their own computer (no matter where) to the university network.
Students of other universities can use Eduroam, but cannot access the Münster University network with it.

Access to e-resources via Shibboleth or the Horizon Client is restricted to members of the university.
Providers with whom access has been agreed both via Shibboleth and via the university network can still be used by external users in the university network. If necessary, search for the article/book directly on the provider's website to avoid the sign-in screen that appears when you follow links from KatalogPlus.