diff --git a/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/ingester/browser.js b/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/ingester/browser.js
index 27e5fffe2e..92321e3946 100644
--- a/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/ingester/browser.js
+++ b/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/ingester/browser.js
@@ -211,31 +211,36 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Interface._deleteDocument = function(browser) {
  * Callback to be executed when scraping is complete
  */
 Scholar.Ingester.Interface._finishScraping = function(documentObject) {
-	Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.changeHeadline(Scholar.getString("ingester.scrapeComplete"));
-	
-	var fields = Scholar.ItemFields.getItemTypeFields(documentObject.item.getField("itemTypeID"));
+	if(documentObject.item) {
+		Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.changeHeadline(Scholar.getString("ingester.scrapeComplete"));
 		
-	var titleLabel = Scholar.getString("itemFields.title") + ":"
-	Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.addResult(titleLabel, this.item.getField("title"));
-	var creators = documentObject.item.numCreators();
-	if(creators) {
-		for(var i=0; i<creators; i++) {
-			var creator = documentObject.item.getCreator(i);
-			var label = Scholar.getString("creatorTypes."+Scholar.CreatorTypes.getTypeName(creator.creatorTypeID)) + ":";
-			var data = creator.firstName + ' ' + creator.lastName;
-			Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.addResult(label, data);
-		}
-	}
-	
-	for(i in fields) {
-		var data = documentObject.item.getField(fields[i]);
-		if(data) {
-			var name = Scholar.ItemFields.getName(fields[i]);
-			if(name != "source") {
-				var label = Scholar.getString("itemFields."+ name) + ":";
+		var fields = Scholar.ItemFields.getItemTypeFields(documentObject.item.getField("itemTypeID"));
+			
+		var titleLabel = Scholar.getString("itemFields.title") + ":"
+		Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.addResult(titleLabel, this.item.getField("title"));
+		var creators = documentObject.item.numCreators();
+		if(creators) {
+			for(var i=0; i<creators; i++) {
+				var creator = documentObject.item.getCreator(i);
+				var label = Scholar.getString("creatorTypes."+Scholar.CreatorTypes.getTypeName(creator.creatorTypeID)) + ":";
+				var data = creator.firstName + ' ' + creator.lastName;
 				Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.addResult(label, data);
 			}
 		}
+		
+		for(i in fields) {
+			var data = documentObject.item.getField(fields[i]);
+			if(data) {
+				var name = Scholar.ItemFields.getName(fields[i]);
+				if(name != "source") {
+					var label = Scholar.getString("itemFields."+ name) + ":";
+					Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.addResult(label, data);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	} else {
+		Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.changeHeadline(Scholar.getString("ingester.scrapeError"));
+		Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.addDescription(Scholar.getString("ingester.scrapeErrorDescription"));
 	}
 	
 	setTimeout(function() { Scholar.Ingester.Interface.scrapeProgress.fade() }, 2000);
@@ -311,6 +316,19 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Interface.Progress.prototype.addResult = function(label, data)
 	this.table.appendChild(tr);
 }
 
+Scholar.Ingester.Interface.Progress.prototype.addDescription = function(description) {
+	var descriptionNode = this.document.createTextNode(description);
+	var tr = this.document.createElement("tr");
+	var descriptionTd = this.document.createElement("td");
+	descriptionTd.style.fontSize = '10px';
+	descriptionTd.style.colspan = '2';
+	
+	descriptionTd.appendChild(descriptionNode);
+	tr.appendChild(descriptionTd);
+	this.table.appendChild(tr);
+}
+
+
 Scholar.Ingester.Interface.Progress.prototype.fade = function() {
 	// Icky, icky hack to keep objects
 	var me = this;
diff --git a/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/xpcom/ingester.js b/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/xpcom/ingester.js
index a071f3fef9..30861ca3e6 100644
--- a/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/xpcom/ingester.js
+++ b/chrome/chromeFiles/content/scholar/xpcom/ingester.js
@@ -200,46 +200,55 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.prototype.collectURLsWithSubstring = function(doc, su
 // essential components for Scholar and would take a great deal of effort to
 // implement. We can, however, always implement them later.
 
-// It looks like these are simple front-ends for XMLHttpRequest. They're a
-// component of the Piggy Bank API, so they're implemented here.
-Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities = function() {}
-
-Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.prototype.doGet = function(url, onStatus, onDone) {
-   var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
-   
-   xmlhttp.open('GET', url, true);
-   xmlhttp.overrideMimeType("text/xml");
-   xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
-	  Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.stateChange(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone);
-   };
-   xmlhttp.send(null);
+// These are front ends for XMLHttpRequest. XMLHttpRequest can't actually be
+// accessed outside the sandbox, and even if it could, it wouldn't let scripts
+// access across domains, so everything's replicated here.
+Scholar.Ingester.HTTPUtilities = function(contentWindow) {
+	this.window = contentWindow;
 }
 
-Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.prototype.doPost = function(url, body, onStatus, onDone) {
-   var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
-   
-   xmlhttp.open('POST', url, true);
-   xmlhttp.overrideMimeType("text/xml");
-   xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
-	  Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.stateChange(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone);
-   };
-   xmlhttp.send(body);
+Scholar.Ingester.HTTPUtilities.prototype.doGet = function(url, onStatus, onDone) {
+	var xmlhttp = new this.window.XMLHttpRequest();
+	
+	xmlhttp.open('GET', url, true);
+	xmlhttp.overrideMimeType("text/xml");
+	
+	var me = this;
+	xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
+		me.stateChange(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone);
+	};
+	xmlhttp.send(null);
+}
+
+Scholar.Ingester.HTTPUtilities.prototype.doPost = function(url, body, onStatus, onDone) {
+	var xmlhttp = new this.window.XMLHttpRequest();
+	
+	xmlhttp.open('POST', url, true);
+	xmlhttp.overrideMimeType("text/xml");
+	
+	var me = this;
+	xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
+		me.stateChange(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone);
+	};
+	xmlhttp.send(body);
 }
 	
-Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.prototype.doOptions = function(url, body, onStatus, onDone) {
-   var xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
-   
-   xmlhttp.open('OPTIONS', url, true);
-   xmlhttp.overrideMimeType("text/xml");
-   xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
-	  Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.stateChange(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone);
-   };
-   xmlhttp.send(body);
+Scholar.Ingester.HTTPUtilities.prototype.doOptions = function(url, body, onStatus, onDone) {
+	var xmlhttp = new this.window.XMLHttpRequest();
+  
+	xmlhttp.open('OPTIONS', url, true);
+	xmlhttp.overrideMimeType("text/xml");
+	
+	var me = this;
+	xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
+		me.stateChange(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone);
+	};
+	xmlhttp.send(body);
 }
 	
 // Possible point of failure; for some reason, this used to be a separate
 // class, so make sure it works
-Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.prototype.stateChange = function(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone) {
+Scholar.Ingester.HTTPUtilities.prototype.stateChange = function(xmlhttp, onStatus, onDone) {
 	switch (xmlhttp.readyState) {
 
 		// Request not yet made
@@ -307,6 +316,8 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Utilities.HTTPUtilities.prototype.stateChange = function(xmlhtt
  */
 Scholar.Ingester.Document = function(browserWindow){
 	this.browser = browserWindow;
+	this.appSvc = Cc["@mozilla.org/appshell/appShellService;1"]
+	             .getService(Ci.nsIAppShellService);
 	this.scraper = null
 	this.model = new Scholar.Ingester.Model();
 	this._generateSandbox();
@@ -379,10 +390,11 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Document.prototype.scrapePage = function(callback) {
 		Components.utils.evalInSandbox(this.scraper.scraperJavaScript, scraperSandbox);
 	} catch(e) {
 		throw e+' in scraperJavaScript for '+this.scraper.label;
+		this._scrapePageComplete();
 	}
 	
 	// If synchronous, call _scrapePageComplete();
-	if(!scraperSandbox._waitForCompletion) {
+	if(!this._waitForCompletion) {
 		this._scrapePageComplete();
 	}
 }
@@ -411,7 +423,7 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Document.prototype.scrapePage = function(callback) {
  *          function before returning
  */
 
-/*`
+/*
  * Called when scraping (synchronous or asynchronous) is complete
  */
 Scholar.Ingester.Document.prototype._scrapePageComplete = function() {
@@ -420,17 +432,23 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Document.prototype._scrapePageComplete = function() {
 		this._scrapeCallback(this);
 	}
 }
- 
+
+/*
+ * Generates a sandbox for scraping/scraper detection
+ */
 Scholar.Ingester.Document.prototype._generateSandbox = function() {
 	this.sandbox = new Components.utils.Sandbox(this.browser.contentDocument.location.href);
 	this.sandbox.browser = this.browser;
 	this.sandbox.doc = this.sandbox.browser.contentDocument;
 	this.sandbox.utilities = new Scholar.Ingester.Utilities;
+	this.sandbox.utilities.HTTPUtilities = new Scholar.Ingester.HTTPUtilities(this.appSvc.hiddenDOMWindow);
+	this.sandbox.window = this.window;
 	this.sandbox.model = this.model;
 	this.sandbox.XPathResult = Components.interfaces.nsIDOMXPathResult;
 	
-	this.sandbox.wait = function(){ this._waitForCompletion = true; };
-	this.sandbox.done = function(){ this._scrapePageComplete(); };
+	var me = this;
+	this.sandbox.wait = function(){ me._waitForCompletion = true; };
+	this.sandbox.done = function(){ me._scrapePageComplete(); };
 }
 
 /*
@@ -453,9 +471,15 @@ Scholar.Ingester.Document.prototype._updateDatabase = function() {
 			newItem.setField("publisher", this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'publisher']);
 		}
 		if(this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year']) {
-			data.date = this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year'].substring(
-						 this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year'].lastIndexOf(" ")+1,
-						 this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year'].length);
+			if(this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year'].length == 4) {
+				newItem.setField("year", this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year']);
+			} else {
+				try {
+					newItem.setField(this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year'].substring(
+							 this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year'].lastIndexOf(" ")+1,
+							 this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'year'].length));
+				} catch(e) {}
+			}
 		}
 		if(this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'edition']) {
 			newItem.setField("edition", this.model.data[uri][prefixDC + 'edition']);
diff --git a/chrome/chromeFiles/locale/en-US/scholar/scholar.properties b/chrome/chromeFiles/locale/en-US/scholar/scholar.properties
index 7bff59bf6d..fce87871d9 100644
--- a/chrome/chromeFiles/locale/en-US/scholar/scholar.properties
+++ b/chrome/chromeFiles/locale/en-US/scholar/scholar.properties
@@ -24,4 +24,6 @@ creatorTypes.contributor		= Contributor
 creatorTypes.editor				= Editor
 
 ingester.scraping				= Scraping Page...
-ingester.scrapeComplete			= Scraping Complete
\ No newline at end of file
+ingester.scrapeComplete			= Scraping Complete
+ingester.scrapeError			= Could Not Scrape
+ingester.scrapeErrorDescription	= An error occurred while scraping this page. Please try again. If this error persists, contact the scraper author.
\ No newline at end of file