Many online journals and databases require subscriptions (which NYU Libraries pays for) to get access.
If you are on campus, access can be relatively seamless since authentication is usually established by IP address (e.g. if you have an NYU IP address, the publisher recognizes it and lets you in).
If you are off campus, then you need to be routed through the Libraries' proxy server, so that you can be authenticated after providing your NYU NetID and password. This page describes the main ways to do this.
Note: The proxy prefix and bookmarklet will only allow access to fulltext if NYU Libraries has a subscription to the resource. To see what online resources NYU Libraries has access to, use the "Books and More" catalog search box in the center of the library homepage.
Another way to get your browser to route you through the library proxy server (while off-campus) is to add this "proxy prefix" in front of the URL: http://proxy.library.nyu.edu/login?url=
This new URL will prompt off-campus users to login with their NYU NetID and password, and then give them the same access as they would have on campus.
Another way to get your browser to route you through the library proxy server (while off-campus) is by adding a "proxy bookmarklet" to your browser. Then, whenever you reach a publisher's page for an article while off-campus, you can click on this bookmarklet, and login with your NYU NetID and password for the same access you would have on campus.
If you are on a touch device, or unable to click or drag links, you can create a bookmark, and edit the bookmark's URL to contain the following line of code instead of a web address: javascript:void(location='http://proxy.library.nyu.edu/login?url='+location)