Connect from Off-Campus

Why and how do I connect from off-campus?

As a member of the Vanguard University community, you have full access to a host of electronic resources, including databases, journals, and ebooks. Because these are licensed subscriptions, only students, faculty, and staff of Vanguard have access to them. You have the ability to get to these resources from your personal computer off-campus 24 hours, 7 days a week. To do this, you will need to modify the settings of your Internet browser. Then simply enter your Vanguard University username and password to get in.

Choose your Internet Browser and Download:

If you haven’t already, please be sure to download the latest version of either Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer.
Download Mozilla Firefox for PC or Mac
Download Internet Explorer for PC

Configure your Internet Browser to Connect from Off-Campus:

These instructions will help you configure your computer’s web browser for use with the library’s web proxy service.

Mozilla Firefox for PC

1. Open your Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Click on the Firefox menu bar in the upper left corner of the screen.
3. Select Options from the dropdown list.
4. Click the Advanced icon on the right side of the Options box.
5. Choose the second tab labeled Network.
6. Click the Settings button next to “Connection: Configure how Firefox connects to the Internet.”
7. In the Connection Settings box that appears, click the last radio button, labeled Automatic proxy configuration URL.
8. Copy the following automatic proxy configuration URL and paste it into the textbox that appears directly below the button http://vanpac.vanguard.edu/proxy/vuproxy.pac
9. Click OK at the bottom of the Connection Settings box.
10. Click OK once more at the bottom of the Network box.
11. Go to the library home page.
12. When you click on any database, two boxes will appear. In the first, type your username; in the second, type your password (the same you would use for accessing your Vanguard email.)

Mozilla Firefox for Mac

1. Open your Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. Click the Firefox menu and select Preferences from the dropdown list that appears.
3. Click on the Advanced icon on the top right side of the Preferences box.
4. Choose the second tab labeled Network.
5. At the top of the network box, which says “Connection Configure how Firefox connects to the Internet,” click Settings.
6. In the Configure Proxies to Access the Internet box that appears, click the last radio button labeled Automatic proxy configuration URL.
7. Copy the following automatic proxy configuration URL: http://vanpac.vanguard.edu/proxy/vuproxy.pac
8. Paste in the URL in the textbox directly beneath the button you just clicked.
9. Click OK at the bottom of the Configure Proxies to Access the Internet box.
10. Exit the Advanced box
11. Go to the library home page.
12. When you click on any database, two boxes will appear. In the first, type your username; in the second, type your password (the same you would use for accessing your Vanguard mail).

Internet Explorer for PC

1. Pull down the Tools menu and select Internet Options.
2. Click on the Connections tab.
3. Under “Local Area Network (LAN) Settings”, click on the LAN Settings button.
4. Check the box next to: “Use automatic configuration script.”
Ignore the “Use a proxy server for your LAN” checkbox.
5. Copy and Paste in the following URL: http://vanpac.vanguard.edu/proxy/vuproxy.pac
(If you type it in, be sure to include “http://”, and do not insert any empty spaces before or after the URL.)
6. Click OK to save your settings.
7. Click OK to close the Internet Options window.

At the end of the process, you may need to restart your computer.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)