Building a Library Toolbar with LibX
Rene Tanner and Debbie Flitner
Arizona State University
Rene.Tanner@asu.edu
Debbie.Flitner@asu.edu

What we’ll cover
 Background
 Features
 How to create a custom toolbar
 Getting the word out

Background
 LibX is freely distributed
 Developed in 2005 – Virginia Tech University
 Research where you are
 Provides library specific toolbar
 Users can set some of the preferences
 Works with Google Scholar

Features
 Add one or more catalogs
 Add your OpenURL resolver to find articles
 Add proxy
 Add Google Scholar
 Add Context Menu (right-click) features:




Jstor, Nature for example can be reloaded to go through your proxy
Highlighted words on Webpages can be searched in your catalog
Is customizable by developer and user

Definitions
 OpenURL
 Proxy
 Cues
 CoINS

Features Cont.
•
•
•

Autolinking (isbns underlined)
Cues (logo on Amazon and other pages)
COinS (OpenURL is added to Wikipedia pages)

Show Browsers
 Firefox
 IE
 Chrome

LibX Edition Building
 Libx.org
 Edition building (copy an existing toolbar or start from scratch)
 Build one feature at a time
 Test, test, test (revision test page is a great help!)
 Hover over questions marks for more information
 Contact LibX for more help libx.editions@gmail.com

Telling others about it
 How do we let students know about it?
 How about faculty?

Links
 LibX Edition Builder http://libx.org
 LibX for Google Chrome (beta) http://libx.org/chrome/
 CiteULike http://Citeulike.org

References
 Bailey, A. & Back, B. (2006). LibX – a Firefox extension for

enhanced library access. Library Hi Tech, 24(2), 290-304.
 Chudnov, D. (2006). COinS for the link trail. Library Journal,
8-10.
 Puckett, J. (2010). Superpower your browser with LibX and
Zotero. College & Research Library News, 71(2), 70-97.
 Ritterbush, J. (2007). Supporting Library Research with
LibX and Zotero: Two Open Source Firefox Extensions.
Journal of Web Librarianship, 1(3), 111-122.

Left Button on Toolbar

Edition Building in LibX

Edition Builder in LibX

Searching in Toolbar

Context Menu LibX

ASU Library Catalog

Amazon Book Search

Following Icon

Proxy Option

COinS