FORS (Forensic Science Service) – new platform

The Forensic Science Service has changed delivery platforms, moving away from its previous web client application to a new OCLC hosted web service. Access information in eSearch has been updated accordingly. At present, off-campus access to the newly hosted FORS service is unavailable, awaiting a response from the FORS technical team on the authentication solutions that the new environment supports.

FORS – off-campus access re-enabled

Off-campus access to the FORS (Forensic Science Service) has been re-enabled, following a technical configuration problem reported earlier this week. Off-campus access is available once more using a university username and password.

FORS (Forensic Science Service): temporary access arrangements

Access to the FORS database is normally direct on-campus and by university domain, username and password off-campus. Following a recent upgrade to the FORS web site, this method of access is temporarily unavailable. FORS’ technicians hope to be able to reinstate normal access arrangements shortly, but in the meantime the following update has been added to the FORS access page in eSearch:

24 October 2008: The FORS service is experiencing temporary authentication problems following an update to their website. If you are challenged to enter a Login to WebSPIRS username and password, please contact Liaison Librarian Ian Rogers to request the temporary username and password details.

Unscheduled withdrawal of the ‘Shelob’ web server

The Shelob web server was withdrawn from service at NTU last week, leading to the loss of access to several important web files still being used by LLR on the server. This meant that the links in eSearch to BCIS (Building Cost Information Service) and FORS (Forensic Science Service) temporarily stopped working. This links have now been reinstated. It has also meant that the NTU ‘banner’ in the eBrary eBook interface no longer displayed correctly. This banner will be reinstated by eBrary shortly.