Browser Requirements:
ONLY Firefox 1.5 or higher
Installation:
If Firefox displays a message below the toolbars, "To protect your computer, Firefox prevented this site..." see Installation Help |
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Help yourself > Browser extensions and toolbars for library research
LibX - MIT Edition
What is LibX?
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Watch video tutorials on using LibX at MIT!
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- Toolbar: LibX is a Firefox toolbar that allows you to quickly search the Barton catalog, Vera, Google Scholar, the SFX FullText Finder and other search tools
- Right-click menu: when you have installed LibX you can highlight text on a web page or PDF and right-click for a menu of search options
- Embedded links: LibX will also embed links on search results in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Scholar, NYT Book Reviews, and more that will lead you to MIT-only resources
1. Toolbar: Enter search words in the box in the LibX toolbar; the Barton catalog is the default, but you can switch to Vera, the SFX FullText Finder or Google Scholar. You can search by multiple terms in different fields (author, title, ISBN/ISSN, etc.) and by clicking on the down arrow  you can add additional search boxes. Which fields can be searched changes based on which database is being searched.
LibX toolbar
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2. Right-click menu: Highlight text on a web page or PDF document and right-click to get the following menu:
Right-click context menu
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From this menu you can:
- directly search Barton or Google Scholar (try this with a citation you need!)
- get off-campus access to MIT-only resources by reloading the page via our proxy server (requires MIT certificates). For more info, watch a short video tutorial on how to use LibX to access resources from off-campus:
- choose "Add Selection to Search as..." to add the text to the search box in the toolbar - from there you can do all the regular searches
Alternatively, instead of right-clicking, you can drag and drop the selected text into the search box on the toolbar, or directly onto the Google Scholar button  (which will immediately run a Scholar search).
Also, the context menu will change, depending on what text is highlighted. For instance, if an ISBN is selected, you will be offered appropriate ISBN searches. Currently recognized are CrossRef DOIs, ISBNs, ISSNs, and PubMed IDs.
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3. Embedded links: within Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Scholar, NYT Book Reviews, etc.
Embedded link on Amazon book page
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LibX places the cue  in web pages such as:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Google
- Google Scholar (you must select MIT as your library in your Google Scholar Preferences)
- New York Times Book Reviews
- Yahoo! Search, and more...
Click on the cue to get online access to the article or to see if MIT owns the book. Watch this screencast for examples of this cool feature. |
If you're having trouble installing LibX, see our installation help page. For other questions or suggestions, contact webmaster@libraries.mit.edu.
Tips for using LibX:
Toggle on/off: You can toggle the toolbar on and off by clicking "F9" on a PC, or "Control + F6" on a Mac or PC. When the toolbar is hidden, you can still use many features of LibX.
Autolinking feature:
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LibX links any numbers perceived as ISSNs or ISBNs, but sometimes, it will add links to other numbers on a web page. To turn off this "autolink pages" feature, open the "Libx MIT" menu in the Firefox toolbar, uncheck "autolink pages," and reload the page. The autolinking will stay off and no longer link any numbers, but you'll still be able to use the rest of the features of LibX. |
For more information about...
Copyright: LibX is distributed under the Mozilla Public License. The copyright is held jointly by Annette Bailey and Virginia Tech.
webmaster@libraries.mit.edu
This page was last updated on
Thursday, 27-Aug-2009 13:44:55 EDT
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