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Every Library Needs the LibX Firefox extension

Posted by Lori Ayre on August 31, 2006

I don't understand why there hasn't been a lot more enthusiasm for LibX, the Firefox extension because it TOTALLY rocks!

For starters, every public access computer should be set up with it and the library should be promoting it to their customers. It's an EASY WAY to bring your library to your customers via their favorite software -- their browser.

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Here's what it does:

  • Provides users direct access to their library catalog via a toolbar or a right-click menu (context menu). Users can perform searches on keyword, title, author, CrossRef DOIs, ISBNs, and ISSNs, and PubMed IDs. The right-click being a context menu means the options available depend on what the user is right-clicking on.
  • Users can select all or part of a reference and run a search against Google Scholar's database. The results are compared to the library's subscriptions (via OpenURL) and if a matching hit is found, the user is taken straight to the article. The actual Google Scholar results page is also displayed to the user.
  • With Google Scholar, depending on how your link resolver is setup, you may be able to take the user straight to the article at their library without the user seeing Google's involvement at all.
  • Displays "cues" (little icons) when a library service is available related to what is on the web page. For example, if the user is viewing book titles, a cue would appear allowing the user to click on it to see if the book is available at their library. See the screenshots page for how that looks.
  • Support for COinS which turns hidden tags inserted by web site authors or publishers into actionable OpenURLs links that allow a user to download the full text of an item.

You can host your edition of the Firefox extension or have it hosted on the LibX server where it will be automatically updated.

What a great way to bring the library to the user. Why aren't more libraries using this? Am I missing something? So far, most of the users of LibX are academic libraries but a few brave public libraries are trying it out. Kudos to them!

Sure wish my library used LibX. For all of us in California with San Francisco Public Library cards, this would be an incredible resource because it would make access to their excellent subscription databases that much easier.

This is great stuff!