Library Databases

Milwaukee Public Library purchases databases that provide specialized information not available on free Internet sites. Library customers can use all these databases on computers in City of Milwaukee Public Libraries.

Where possible, the library purchases the rights to allow Milwaukee Public Library cardholders the opportunity to use these Library Databases from outside the library - while at home, school or work.

To use the Library Database collection from outside the library, you need:

A valid City of Milwaukee Public Library card.
A valid PIN (Personal Identification Number) set for your card.

Best browsers for remote access include: Internet Explorer 5 or higher - Netscape 4.75 or higher. If you use a proprietary browser (the browser that comes with AOL, MSN, etc.) you may need to download one of these standard browsers to be able to use the library database collection from a computer outside the library.

Library Databases include indexes and full texts of magazine and newspaper articles, collections of e-books, databases of business, financial and investment data, business and residential directory information and reference databases on books, authors, music and many other topics.

Troubleshooting

You must be a City of Milwaukee resident and have a valid library card in order to use these Library Databases from outside the library.
If you have difficulty using a particular database, try another database to see if the problem pertains to only a single product, or all remote access. If the problem is just with one database, please try again later. If the problem persists, please send a report as mentioned in #5 below.
Check your browser settings to make sure Java and JavaScript are enabled. Check your browser to make sure Cookies are enabled.
From IE -Tools - Internet Options or Netscape - Edit - Preferences, please also try to clear your browser's cookie file, cache, and history. This could correct some problems with connecting to a particular database.
If you cannot connect to any of the remote access databases, please check the status of your patron record to be sure your card is not expired, or blocked due to outstanding fines or overdue materials. You can check your record online or visit or call your local library.
If none of these steps work, please report the problem to webmaster@mpl.org. Please include information on the operating system for your computer, tell us which browser software you use, who is your Internet Provider, and which databases you have tried. If you can, please also include the specific text of any error message you receive. It is difficult to replicate and test each specific combination of hardware, software & ISP, but MPL Automation staff will try to assist.

Cookies
Data created by a Web server that is stored on a user's computer. It provides a way for the Web site to keep track of a user's patterns and preferences and, with the cooperation of the Web browser, to store them on the user's own hard disk.

The cookies contain a range of URLs (addresses) for which they are valid. When the browser encounters those URLs again, it sends those specific cookies to the Web server. For example, if a user's ID were stored as a cookie, it would save that person from typing in the same information all over again when accessing that service for the second and subsequent time.

You can have your browser warn you before accepting a cookie. Look for that option in Options/Network Preferences/Protocols in Netscape or Options/Advanced in Internet Explorer.