This has come up a couple of times recently in the content of
searching for e-dissertations (I can eke out another short post about
that however), and so merits escalating to a blog post (DEFCON 3 is
next).
We have had a couple of queries from user who
have been unable to use the guided search or advanced search options and
the drop down boxes for media or field selection have been greyed
(grayed?) out. Here's a couple of suggestions to resolve matters:
1)
Change browsers. Switch to Firefox or Chrome as this problem has only
cropped up with Internet Explorer. If I may editorialise briefly, you
should consider switching to Firefox or Chrome as both are better than
Internet Explorer (in my humble opinion of course). If you are
on-campus, this is a better solution as the one below may not work.
2)
If you really prefer to stay with Internet Explorer, then take the
following steps (these instructions come from the library catalogue
vendor's technical support department):
1) Click on the Tools icon (a
small cog in the upper right hand corner of IE's Window).
2) Select "Internet options" from the list that comes up.
3) Now click on the "Security" tab that comes up in the new
"Internet options" window.
4) Please now click on the "Custom level..." button.
5) The window "Security Settings - Internet Zone" should now be open.
6) Please scroll just about all the way down to find the "Scripting"
section.
7) The "Active scripting" radio button will currently either be set
to "Disable" or "Prompt" neither is desirable and will
cause the issue as described. Please set it to "Enable".
8) Finally click on the "OK" button twice to bring you back to IE
and try the library catalogue again