Will the change in my GC email address affect my access to library databases?

The short answer is, no.

Although both currently enrolled Graduate Center students and active graduates will be trading their old @gc.cuny.edu addresses for the new @gradcenter.cuny.edu, this change will not affect your ability to log into Graduate Center subscribed databases. (For faculty and staff at the Graduate Center, please note your email addresses will not change at all!)

For more about the change in email addresses at the Graduate Center, please see the original IT Announcement here.

With few exceptions, your access to the library’s online databases is provided through IP authentication, which means you don’t need your email to log in. For off-campus access, most databases will require you to enter your “username,” which for the GC proxy is that first part of your email address before the “@” sign (figure 1).­

GC proxy login screen

Figure 1

Personal Accounts and Additional Features

Please note that if you created a personal account for any of our subscription databases or platforms -e.g. ProQuest (figure 2), EBSCO, Elsevier, etc. – you may need to do one or more of the following in order to continue using additional features:

ProQuest My Research login

Figure 2: My Research on ProQuest platform. On other platforms you may see something like “Sign In,” or “My Folder.” The link to your personal account is generally on the upper right hand corner of the screen.

  1. Continue using your old email address to sign in to the personal account.
    • This is only necessary if your username for the personal account is the old email address, and the platform won’t allow you to make changes. In some platforms, like Elsevier, updating your email address automatically changes your username.
    • If you created a username with another email account that is not the @gc.cuny.edu address, you can ignore this suggestion.
  2. Update contact information in your profile.
    • Regardless of whether or not your username is the same as your old email address, you will want to change the email you provide as a contact in your user profile, so that you will continue to get alerts and other communications from that e-resource.
    • Some e-resources may require that you send an email or call the vendor directly to provide an update to your contact information.
  3. Create a new account.
    • Your old saved preferences and folders would be not be migrated to the new account.
Examples of the types of additional features associated with personal accounts:
  • Save search histories and search preferences
  • Organize your research with folders
  • Share your folders with others; view others’ folders
  • Create email alerts and/or RSS feeds
  • Gain access to your saved research remotely

A good practice for the creation of new accounts would be to create a unique username that is not your e-mail address, where allowed.

 

To recap:

Your new e-mail address will not affect your access to online database and journal content, but if you have been using a personal account for any of the vendor-specific search platforms – like ProQuest – you may have to update some information in order to continue using the features associated with that account. In most cases you will be able to make your own updates, by logging in and opening your profile or account settings.

If you have any other questions about how the changing emails may affect your access to GC e-resources and online tools please contact Adriana at apalmer@gc.cuny.edu

 

For more information about how the email redirection will affect circulation and interlibrary loan, see: GC Student Email Change: How to Keep Getting Your Library Circulation and ILL Notifications

About the Author

Adriana Palmer works in the Collections Department at the GC Library.