Robbins Library Notes

Good morning! Today’s post will provide an overview of LibX, a Firefox browser extension that greatly expands your research capabilities.

You can install LibX from the Harvard University Library (HUL) Web site. Please note that you must be a Harvard affiliate to install this version of LibX.

What It Is

As noted on the HUL site:

• “Toolbar: LibX is a Firefox toolbar extension that allows you to quickly search the HOLLIS Catalog, E-Journal List, E- Resource List, Citation Linker, Google Scholar, and links to other search tools and library resources.
• Right-click menu: LibX allows you to select text on a web page and right-click for a menu of search options.
• Embedded cues: LibX embeds a Harvard shield “cue” on search results in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, New York Times Book Reviews, Yahoo! and more that leads you to Harvard’s print and licensed e-resources.
• AutoLinks: LibX automatically links ISBNs, ISSNs, PubMed IDs and DOIs* to Harvard’s print and licensed e-resources.”

*Acronym definitions:

1. ISBN = International Standard Book Number. More information about ISBNs can be found here.
2. ISSN = International Standard Serial Number. More information about ISSNs can be found here.
3. PubMed ID = This is the identification number used by the US National Library of Medicine to catalog the citations housed in PubMed, the biomedical and life sciences citation database.
4. DOI = Digital Object Identifier. More information about DOIs can be found here.

Strengths

• LibX allows the user to search directly in the Firefox browser, rather than having to open another window or tab. This is a great way to do a quick check to see if Harvard has a particular book, journal, database, or other resource.
• You can click on the AutoLinks or Embedded Cues to see if a book, journal, or other resource is available at Harvard directly from the screen you’re reading at present, rather than having to go back through HOLLIS.
• The automatic login option, at the bottom of the Right-Click menu, is a brilliant feature of LibX. Why? You can go directly to an article found via a Google search, rather than having to backtrack through several additional steps in HOLLIS to log in via the proxy server. Consider this example:

You are looking for articles by J.L. Mackie on theodicy via Google, using the search terms “jl mackie evil,” and find that the fourth item on the results page is his article, “Evil and Omnipotence” (Mind, New Series, 64 [254], April 1955, pp. 200-212). However, this article is in JSTOR, and there is a message above the image of the first page indicating that you need to be a subscriber to access the article. Rather than opening another tab and going through several steps to log into JSTOR via HOLLIS, simply right-click on the page image, and scroll down to the bottom of the menu, where you will see the option, “Follow this Link via Harvard Access.” Click on that link, log in with your Harvard ID and PIN, and you will be taken directly to the article.

Limitations

• At present, LibX only works with Firefox 1.5 or higher. It does not work with other browsers, such as Safari or Internet Explorer. However, if you’ve been looking for an excuse to try Firefox, LibX might be it.
• I’ve noticed that, when using the “E-Journal List” and “E-Resource List” options in the toolbar search box, if the terms are not entered in exactly as the MetaLib record reads, you may get a message of “no results found.” If this happens, simply return to the default “Search HOLLIS Catalog” option and re-enter your terms. The HOLLIS search option seems to be a bit more flexible with search terms at present.
• Date ranges on Web pages (e.g., “2005-2006″) are often read as ISSNs and given an AutoLink. If you click on the link, you’ll get a message saying, “The requested record is not in the database.” Be careful to check that the AutoLink is an actual ISSN, and not a date range or a similar-looking number.

For More Information

• HUL Web Page
• Printable Version (PDF)

Update: 9/19/2007

The LibX tool has been updated with two new versions, so some of the information I’ve outlined above is now dated.  For instance:

• The right-click menu has been modified in appearance, though the last item in the list is “Reload [x resource] via Harvard Access”
• The drop-down menus on the Toolbar each offer more search options, allowing for more access points to the information.

In any event, the LibX tool gets increasingly more useful and sophisticated, and I strongly recommend downloading it and adding it to your Firefox browser.