Lim-Yeo Pin Pin, Central Library RIS Dept

We have an increasing number of electronic journals accessible via LINC. When you find such a record, one click on View the electronic version takes you to the electronic journal.

LINC opens the electronic journal in one frame with a link to return to the catalogue record in another frame. As this frame is opened within LINC, it is subject to the settings of LINC which includes a time-out feature. When no activity is detected for a specified number of minutes, your LINC session is thrown back to LINC's home page. We have recently increased the time-out period to accommodate browsing of electronic journals and other electronic resources available via LINC.

It is common to see users in the Library leave LINC at the last screen they were viewing without going back to the main search page. Without the time-out feature, all these sessions would be seen by the system as occupied and cannot be released for other users. Having a time-out feature is necessary to free unused LINC sessions for other users.

However, if you are reading an article or downloading a PDF file of the article and you exceed the time-out period, you will lose the Web page for your article. This can be very frustrating if you are in the middle of reading the article and especially after you have waited for the article to finish downloading. Hence, to avoid the time-out in LINC, you can open a new Web window for the electronic journal. Here is how you can do it:

For Netscape:

1. Click on your right mouse button when it over the electronic journal frame and select Open frame in New Window from the pop-up window.

For Internet Explorer

1. Click on your right mouse button when it over the electronic journal frame and select Properties.
2. Use CTNL-C to copy the Address (URL) of the electronic journal.
3. Go to File, New and select Window.
4. Use CTRL-V to paste the URL and press Enter.

This new window is no longer a frame in LINC and is therefore not subject to LINC's time-out setting.