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Database FAQs     [List]

Top > General FAQs for Faculty
  1. How do I log in?
  2. How do I find my data?
  3. How do I edit an entry?
  4. How can I manage my information in the database?
  5. How can I add or update my photo?
  6. How can I select and order the publications I want to appear on my web page?
  7. Is my CV available on the web?
  8. How can upload a copy of my CV in my own format?
  9. I have my own website: how can I link to it from my FDS web page?
  10. How can I have my FDS contact information automatically updated from the university directory?
  11. Can I upload and link a PDF or other file attachment to an entry, such as a publication?
  12. How can I display additional images or other files on my web page?
  13. Can I give someone else access to update my information without sharing my password?
  14. Can I format the text I'm entering into the database?
  15. How does the custom date field work?
  16. What is the "database full date?"
  17. How can I customize the text of links to online publications?
  18. Can I use the FDS to send email to groups within my department?
  19. Can I upload a file containing my publications, instead of entering them one by one?
  20. I received email that a "secure message" was sent to me via the faculty database. Is this legitimate?
  21. I do not want to receive secure messages through the faculty database. How can I turn this off?
  22. Can I create my own categories for grouping my publications?
  23. Is there a way to edit or delete multiple entries at the same time?

  1. How do I log in?

    Go to http://fds.duke.edu/ and click on the large Login button in the center of the screen. It will take you to Duke's WebAuth authentication screen. Use your normal DukeNet ID and password to authenticate.

    If you have difficulty logging in, or questions, please contact fds@aas.duke.edu

    If you are a member of more than one department, you will be prompted to select the group you wish to work in when you log in.  If you plan to work on your annual report, it is important to select the department in which you will be evaluated.

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  2. How do I find my data?

    All data entered for you is available via the set of links under the Database heading in the left-hand sidebar menu viewable after you have logged into the Faculty Database System.

    When you click on the word Database a complete set of links will appear to provide direct access to the different types of information. Clicking on a type such as Publications generates the list of all publications.

    Entries annotated "noWeb" are available only through the Database view.

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  3. How do I edit an entry?

    To edit an entry, click on the small edit text that appears at the end of each entry.

    After making desired changes, be sure to click the Update button that appears at the upper right-hand side of the screen.

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  4. How can I manage my information in the database?

    There are three main "views" of your data in the database.  These are:

    • Your web page
    • Your CV
    • Your annual report

    Each of these views can be accessed via the links on your "welcome" page: the first page you see after you log into the database and select your department.  (Once you are logged in, you can always return to this page by clicking the "welcome" link in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.)

    Each of these views displays information based on

    • formatting and display decisions made by your department
    • the CV data that has been entered into the database
    • the privacy options you select for each entry

    To view and manage all of your database entries in a certain category (e.g., publications, lectures, teaching, committees/service) use the links that appear under the "Database" link on the left-hand side of your screen.

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  5. How can I add or update my photo?

    • Log into FDS.
    • On your welcome page, click the "Edit your general Info" link.
    • Locate the Picture field on the General Info form (in the same section as the Web Page fields).
    • Click the Browse button, navigate to the image you wish to use, and select it.
    • Back on the General Info form, click the Update button.
    • Navigate to your web page to view the new picture.  You may need to click your browser's refresh button in order to view the change.

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  6. How can I select and order the publications I want to appear on my web page?

    By default your web page displays your 5 most recent publications.  You can prevent an entry from appearing on this list by editing it and checking "omit from recent publications" in the privacy options section of the form.

    Alternatively, you may select your own set of publications to display on your web page:

    • Make sure you are logged in to the FDS
    • Go to your web page: you can either click "Edit your web page" on the first screen you see after logging into the database, OR click the Webpage link in the list on the left-hand side of your screen.
    • Find the Publications section of your webpage and click the "select representative" link that appears at the beginning of the section.
    • You will see a screen that shows all your publications. By entering numbers in the boxes to the left of each citation, you can select which publications you want to display and in what order.
    • When you have made your selection, click the Submit button to return to your web page and view the results.

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  7. Is my CV available on the web?

    By default, the CV view of your data (available when you click the "Curriculum Vita" link in the left-hand links under "Webpage" while you are logged into the database) is not available on the web.  Only you, your department chair, and your departmental FDS managers have access to it.

    If you wish to make it available, you may do so by clicking the "edit your personal information" link on your "welcome" screen, or the "edit" link beside your name on your web page.  On the resulting "General Info" form, scroll to the bottom and check the box beside "Do you want to display your vita on the web?"  A link to the CV will then appear on your web page.

    Note that if you choose to publish your CV to the web, any entries you have marked "omit from web" in the privacy options will not appear on your published CV (although you will continue to see them on your CV when you are logged into the database).

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  8. How can upload a copy of my CV in my own format?

    • From your web page (make sure you are logged in first), click the Edit link beside your name or beside Contact Info to get to your General Info form
    • Locate the "Vita options" section at the bottom of the form
    • Check the box beside "Display your vita on the web?"
    • Click the Browse or Upload button and select the CV file you wish to upload (preferably it should be in PDF format)
    • Click the Update button at the bottom of the General Info form.

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  9. I have my own website: how can I link to it from my FDS web page?

    • Log into FDS.
    • On your welcome page, click the "Edit your general Info" link.
    • Enter the address of your website in the Main Web Page field (just below the section containing the NetID and DukeID fields).  Be sure to include http:// at the beginning of the address.

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  10. How can I have my FDS contact information automatically updated from the university directory?

    On the general info form, each field containing contact information that is also listed in the university directory has a linked chain icon beside it. If the chain is broken by a red x, the FDS entry does not match the university directory and won't be automatically updated if the university directory is updated. If the chain is not broken, then the entries DO match and any change made in the university directory will be passed along to FDS in a nightly update.  To have your FDS contact info automatically updated from the university directory:

    • Make sure you are logged into FDS
    • On the first screen you see after you have logged in, click the "Edit your personal information" link
    • On the general info form, check the contact information fields for broken link icons.  Some may be unavoidable (for example, some staff have specific local titles that do not match the job category listed in the directory).  If you hover your mouse over the broken link icon, you can see your directory listing for that field.
    • If a link is broken and the directory listing is correct (as revealed by hovering), correct the FDS entry to match the directory.  Now any future updates to the directory will propagate to FDS without further effort on your part.
    • If the directory entry is incorrect, log into http://work.duke.edu/ ,  click MyProfile, then correct the information under Campus Physical Address and Campus Mailing Address (Phone and Fax number can be updated under Campus Physical Address).  If necessary, update the entries in FDS to match corrections made in the directory.  Note that the broken link icon will not change until FDS has updated against the directory overnight. Now any future updates to the directory will propagate to FDS without further effort on your part.

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  11. Can I upload and link a PDF or other file attachment to an entry, such as a publication?

    Yes. In most FDS forms, including the publications form, a small paper clip icon appears at the bottom of the form:
    To attach a file to an entry:

    • Click the paper clip icon to expand the file attachment area
    • Click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button and select the file for attachment
    • If desired, enter text that will appear as the link to the file.  If you do not enter text, the link text will be the file extension (usually PDF).
    • Make sure that "public" is checked in the "Any Info" section.
    • Click the Update button (above the file attachment section) to submit the form and the attachment.

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  12. How can I display additional images or other files on my web page?

    The following instructions are in two parts.  The first explains how to upload the file to the database, so it will have a web address.  The second part explains how to link to it from your web page.

    Uploading a file to the database
    Please note that no one else can upload shared files on your behalf (department managers will only end up uploading the file to their own shared files areas.  Write to fds@aas.duke.edu for workarounds if you are a department manager and this poses a problem).

    1. Log into FDS.
    2. In the navigation links on the left hand side of the screen, click "Database" to expand it, then click the "Shared Files" link in the list that appears below.
    3. You'll see a page titled "List of Files for [your name]."  Click the "new" link beside your name.
    4. On the "Add a New File for..." page, click the "Browse" or "Choose File" button to locate and select the file you want to upload.
    5. In the File Name field, enter a name for your file.  It can be anything, but one option is to enter the name as it appears in the "select a file..." field.  This name will become part of the file's url.
    6. In the "Who can access this file" field, click the radio button beside "world."
    7. Click "Update."
    8. Now you will return to the "List of Files for ..." page, and you'll see a link to the new file you have uploaded.
    9. Right-click on the link to the file and choose the option that will allow you to copy the web address of the file: "copy shortcut," or "copy link location" are two possible phrasings. (This will copy the web address of the file to your computer's clipboard, so you can paste it into another location later--see below.)

    Displaying the file on your web page:

    The simplest way to display an image is to enter it in one of the input fields for an entry that already appears on your web page. Suppose you want to add an image of your book cover along the right-hand side of your "Research Interests:"
    1. click the Edit link beside "Research Interests;" you'll see the text field for "Research Description".
    2. Enter the following somewhere among the existing text
      (you might need to try a few times to get it positioned just right):
          <img src="" align="right">
    3. Click between the 2 "s and press Control-V (PC) or Command-V (Mac) to paste the link location from Step 1 there.
    If you simply want to add a link to the file, instead of displaying an image,
    1. enter the following in the place you'd like to link to appear:
      <a href="">Enter link text here</a>
    2. Click between the 2 "s and press Control-V (PC) or Command-V (Mac) to paste the link location from Step 1 there.
    3. Enter your link text
    4. Click the Update button on the General Info form to submit and view your changes.

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    1. Can I give someone else access to update my information without sharing my password?

      Yes. To give another person "proxy" access so they can enter and update information for you:

      • Make sure you are logged into the FDS
      • On the first screen you see after you have logged in, click the "Edit your personal information" link.
      • Scroll down to the bottom of the resulting Update General Info form and find the Optional Proxy section.
      • Enter an email address and password in the Optional Proxy section.  Note that this does not have to be a real email address, as long as it is in the form something@something.something
      • Click the Update button.
      • Now your proxy will be able to log in using the email address and password you entered.  The proxy must use the FDS Custom Login option to log in and update your information.
      • To remove proxy access, simply repeat these steps and remove the email address and password from the Optional Proxy field.

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    2. Can I format the text I'm entering into the database?

      Yes. A built-in text editor has been added to the database so you can format text without having to use HTML.

      Note: This feature was made possible by new web-browser technology and is only available in the following recent browser versions  (contact your local computer support if you need  one of these browsers installed):
      Windows: Internet Explorer 4.0 and later; Mozilla 1.3 and later
      Mac: Mozilla 1.3 and later
      Linux: Galleon

      • In form fields for which the text editor is available, a paper and pencil icon will appear beside the field title: . Click this icon to activate the editor.
      • Text formatting buttons similar to those found in word-processing programs will appear above the field and can be used to apply formatting which will be visible in the field below.
      • Clicking the pen and paper icon a second time will display your text as plain text with HTML code.

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    3. How does the custom date field work?

      Some of the forms used to enter information (e.g., Publications, Lectures, Committee/Service) have a "Custom Date" field. The Custom Date field shows the date that will be displayed in the citation.

      By default, the Custom Date field is autofilled with a text version of the numeric date entered in the fields above it.

      To display a different date than the one filled in automatically, just edit the text of the custom date field.

      Note:  Say you enter a publication, edit the custom date text so it's just right, and submit the form.  Later you edit the entry and change the year or the month, causing your carefully composed custom date to be overwitten by the autofill.  All is not lost: simply click the green cycling arrow icon to the right of the Custom Date field    to restore the previous custom date. 

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    4. What is the "database full date?"

      The "database full date" will appear in place of the year/month/day fields in most forms if you have javascript turned off in your browser settings. Although you can use the database full date field in place of the year/month/day fields, it is a less flexible view, and it is recommended that you turn on javascript if you see this field in your forms. See below for instructions:

      Internet Explorer 6.0 (PC)

      • From the Tools menu, select Internet Options
      • Select the Security tab
      • Click the "Custom Level" button
      • In the "Scripting" section, locate "Active Scripting" and click "Enable"
      • Click OK and Apply.  You will need to restart Internet Explorer before the change will take place.

      Firefox (PC)
      • From the Tools menu, select Options...
      • Select Web Features
      • Check Enable Javascript

      Firefox (Mac)

      • From the Firefox menu, select Preferences...
      • Select Web Features
      • Check Enable Javascript

      Safari (Mac)
      • From the Safari menu, select Preferences...
      • Select Security
      • Check Enable Javascript

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    5. How can I customize the text of links to online publications?

      When you included a link to an online publication in the "Web URL" field of the publication form, the link that appears in the citation is the last part of the URL that was entered.

      To specify other text for this link, enter the URL of the publication in the "Web URL" field on the publication form, then append a space at the end, followed by the desired text.
      For example, if the URL of your publication is:

      http://www.duke.edu/articlex.pdf

      and you want the link to be [MyArticleX] rather than [pdf],  enter the URL like this:

      http://www.duke.edu/articlex.pdf MyArticleX

      The link can be any word, but it cannot contain any spaces.

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    6. Can I use the FDS to send email to groups within my department?

      Yes. The FDS makes it very easy to send email messages to groups or subgroups of people within your department. This service allows members of a department to send email to other members of their own department via the FDS--it cannot be accessed by outside spammers or by members of another department who are logged into the FDS.

      • Click the Utilities link in the list on the left-hand side of any FDS page.
      • Click Email Mgr in the list that appears under the Utilities link.
      • Click the "email lists" link that appears to the right of the page title.
      • You may select one or more individuals or groups within your department to send email to from any of the following groups: Aliases, Categories, Dept. Committees, Local Users.  To select more than one, hold down the control key (PC users) or the command key (mac users) on your keyboard as you select additional users or groups.
      • To exclude individuals who are members of groups you have selected, select the names of the people to exclude from the "Local Users *Excluded*" list.
      • Click the View button below the Cc field to view the list of users who will receive the message and verify that the names are correct.
      • To de-select a group or individual, hold down the control key (PC users) or command key (mac users) on your keyboard while clicking the selection you wish to remove.
      • Enter a Subject and the text of the message in the appropriate fields.
      • Click the Mail button to send the message.

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    7. Can I upload a file containing my publications, instead of entering them one by one?

      Yes, you can upload your publications from a file of any of the following types:
      BibTeX
      EndNote
      Refer
      ProCite
      Medline

      1. Open a blank "Add a new publication" form.
      2. Scroll to the bottom of the form and find the "BibTeX/EndNote/Refer/ProCite/MedLine Upload" section: click the Upload button.
      3. Select the type of file you wish to upload.
      4. Browse for and select the file. Then click the Submit button.
      5. At the top of the form is a table with the publication types indicated in your file on the left and the FDS publications types on the right. Select the type on the right that corresponds with the type on the left--once you have done this the first time, the FDS will remember your choices.
      6. Specify the criterion by which the system should identify duplicate entries (the "Title with" options only work if the fields match exactly).
      7. Choose Update or Overwrite (the difference is explained on the form).
      8. Click the Submit button.
      9. Finally, you will see a list of all the publications that will be uploaded. From here you can choose not to upload certain entries, and to do some last-minute editing. Then click Submit one more time to upload the publications to the database.

      NOTE
      :  While it is possible to upload a publications list from Endnote, you must first export your Endnote library to BibTeX format and upload to FDS as a BibTeX file:

      1. Open EndNote. In the drop-down menu in the toolbar at the top of the screen, click on Edit > Output Styles > Open Style Manager
      2. Select “BibTeX Export”
        (Hint: click on any Name, and type bib very fast. It will go straight to the “BibTeX Export” listing)
      3. Back in the main EndNote toolbar, click Edit > Output Styles > BibTeX Export
      4. Open the database that you want to convert to the BibTeX format.  Make sure that all entries have been given a Label. You can specify a Label for an individual Endnote entry, or a number of Endnote entries all at once.  To specify for a number of entries:
        • Select the Endnote references you wish to export to BibTeX.
        • Go to "Tools > Change and move fields".
        • Select "Label" and "replace whole field with".
        • Enter a Label -- the word "Article" will do.  Click 'Ok'.
        • Save as a text  file.  During the save, change the ".txt" extension to ".bib".
      5. Click File > Export. Give the filename a .bib extension. Click on Save.
      6. In FDS, select this file for upload, and select BibTeX as the file type for upload.

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    8. I received email that a "secure message" was sent to me via the faculty database. Is this legitimate?

      A person sending you email via the form linked from your faculty database web page can elect to "send it securely" by clicking a checkbox on the form. If the sender chooses this option, the message will not be sent to your regular email account. Instead, it will be saved in the faculty database where you can read it once you have logged in. You will receive automated email alerting you to the secure message and telling you how to access it.  The feature allows you to receive sensitive information that should not be entrusted to ordinarly email, such as passwords or account information.

      To access the secure message:

      • Go to http://fds.duke.edu/ and log in (to protect yourself against phishing attacks, use an existing bookmark or type the url directly into your browser, rather than clicking a link in the email message)
      • Click the 'Access your secure email messages' link in the center of your welcome page.  It should have a yellow star beside it to indicate a new message.
      • On the Email Listing page, click the message number to read your message.

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    9. I do not want to receive secure messages through the faculty database. How can I turn this off?

      If you do not wish to receive secure messages, you may turn off the option:

      • Log into the faculty database.
      • Click the "Edit your personal information" link on your welcome page
      • Scroll to the bottom of the form.  In the Privacy Options section, un-check the "accept secure email messages?" setting
      • Click the "Update" or "Submit" button at the bottom of the form.

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    10. Can I create my own categories for grouping my publications?

      Yes, you can create your own "tags" for categorizing your publications. Note that these tags operate in addition to the required "Types" field at the top of the publications form, and not as a replacement. The "Tag" field is near the bottom of the publications form. You can select an existing tag from the drop-down selector, or add a new tag using the text field. You can add multiple tags for one publication--click the green + icon to access additional fields. If you create a new tag, it will be available to other users within your group (appearing in their drop-down lists as well as your own). If you don't want your tags to be available to others in your group, you can check the "private" checkbox when you create the tag. On your Publications list web page, tagged publications will have the tag name as a link appearing at the end of the citation, and clicking the link will result in a list of publications with that tag.

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    11. Is there a way to edit or delete multiple entries at the same time?

      • Click the Database link on the left-hand side to expand the menu beneath it, and click the Table Access link near the bottom of the list.  (If you do not see the Table Access link, click the "Advanced Mode" toggle at the bottom of the list and look again.)
      • Use the "Select a table to display" drop-down menu to chose the category of entry you wish to edit (i.e., Publications, Lectures, Committees, etc.)
      • In the left-hand column, select the fields that you wish to view or edit.  You can select multiple fields by holding down the shift or control/command keys while you click.  To view all fields, select "all" at the top of the menu.  At the bottom of the column, click "View" to view the entries without editing, or "Edit" to edit the entries.
      • Edit the entries as desired.  Not all fields are editable in this view.  When you are finished, click the Submit button at the bottom of the form to save your changes. You can mark entries for deletion upon submit by checking the box in the delete column. You can also use the "select all" and "delete all" options at the bottom of the form.

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    Last Update: 2011/01/25 14:26:39.


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