When I use the VPN, why do I have to authenticate to get access to library resources like e-journals and databases?

Our campus VPN acts as a split tunnel VPN for most users. Only traffic going to an ncsu.edu URL goes through the VPN; all other traffic is routed outside the VPN. This is to reduce load since you don't need to be on the VPN to read Facebook, for example.

However, when you go to a resource such a library database (e.g., jstor.org) through the VPN, you are not going to a campus URL. Therefore, you get passed outside the VPN and jstor.org sees your off-campus IP address. This is why you still have to get to library databases and journals via the Libraries' website (using the Libraries' proxy server) regardless of whether you are logged into the campus VPN.

(Campus OIT offers full tunneling VPN to users who require it, but we configure our resources on the assumption that users are using the split-tunneling configuration since full tunneling is not universal.)