Written by Jenna Strawbridge (Librarian for Nicholas School of the Environment & Chemistry) and Arianne Hartsell-Gundy (Head, Arts and Humanities and Librarian for Literature) with input from Abigail Wickes (Head, Electronic Resources Access & Discovery) and Zhaneille Green (E-Access Librarian).
How many times have you been down a research rabbit hole in Google Scholar, deep in a web of citations, only to have your flow disrupted by having to hunt down full-text PDFs? Or maybe you’ve found an enticing ebook you’d like to read, but can’t figure out how to actually read it?
Meet LibKey Nomad, a tool paid for by Duke University Libraries that gives you quick, one-click access to content from our collections.
What is LibKey Nomad?
LibKey Nomad is a browser extension that works with Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Vivaldi, and Brave browsers. It provides one-click access to full text available through Duke Libraries while you browse on a desktop or laptop. It is not currently compatible with mobile or tablet browsers.
To use LibKey Nomad on your computer, download LibKey Nomad and select your browser. After installing it in your browser, select Duke University from the organization drop-down menu. There are no user accounts to create, and it will not ask for or store your institutional user credentials.
How does LibKey Nomad work?
When you visit a scholarly article page, LibKey Nomad checks the article’s DOI against Duke Libraries’ holdings. It then shows whether you can download the PDF, read the article online, or request it through interlibrary loan.
It also checks for other access options, such as an open-access journal, an open-access article in a subscription journal, or an accepted manuscript available in a repository.
Where does LibKey Nomad work?
LibKey Nomad works with over 35,000 journals, 5,000 scholarly publishers, and major database platforms, such as Web of Science, ProQuest, EBSCO, Scopus, and PubMed. You can see a list of major publishers and supported platforms here.
Web browsing
Databases and journals
Help! The LibKey Nomad label keeps changing.
Because LibKey Nomad may find several access options, the label on its button can vary. Here’s what some common labels mean:
- Download PDF: Opens a PDF from the publisher. You may need to sign in with your Duke NetID and password.
- Article Link: Takes you to the article page, where you may be able to read the full text in HTML or select a PDF option.
- Access Options: Shows other ways to get the content. For example, if Duke Libraries owns the item only in print, you may be directed to the catalog. You may also see a link to request it through interlibrary loan.
tl;dr — Ready to spend less time hunting for PDFs? Download LibKey Nomad and select Duke University when prompted.
Stay tuned for more blog posts featuring additional e-resource access tips for when you’re on and off campus.
The post LibKey Nomad: Your Shortcut to Scholarly PDFs appeared first on Duke University Libraries Blogs.
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