LibX is a browser plugin for Firefox and Internet Explorer that provides direct access to your library’s resources. It’s an Open Source framework from which editions for specific libraries can be built. Currently, 330 academic and public libraries have created public LibX editions, and UF is one of them.
The toolbar is wonderful because it allows searching of the Library’s catalog from the browser without navigating to the UF Libraries page. That’s one minor plus, but then it also adds the UF icon to WebPages with book identifiers (Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, or other booksellers) so that when searching for a book in Amazon, it’s only once click to see if the Libraries have the book. The toolbar allows you to search the catalog, UF Digital Collections, databases, for articles, and through Google Scholar and UF’s Research Gateway.
There are many major bonuses, but one is the ability to reload a page using the Library Proxy. No longer will you have to return to the library page and search for an article after searching the web from off campus and finding an article you want. Now, you can simply reload the journal page with the proxy to have full access!
Read more about it here or on the Libraries website to see related tools as well.
2008-04-22