Using Google Scholar search with library proxy

[pablitosan]

Hi Jon - I've discovered that if I use the following URL:

http://scholar.google.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/

I can get search results from Google Scholar through our library proxy. Any result for something our library subscribes to is then available for download (after login). This saves several steps, and it would be FANTASTIC if this could be integrated into Bookends somehow. That would let me open a scholar search result in the Bookends browser and download the file without having to leave Bookends and do that separately in another browser.

I imagine many other users might want to do this through their library proxies, so is there any possibility of instructing us how to create search plugins that would do something like this?

thanks - and by the way Endnote still can't search google scholar -

Paul

[Jon]

Hi,

Why not create a bookmark with this URL in Bookends? Then, using Bookends browser, select the bookmark and do your searching within Bookends browser and download pdfs by drag and drop.

Jon
Sonny Software

[pablitosan]

Hi,
Why not create a bookmark with this URL in Bookends? Then, using Bookends browser, select the bookmark and do your searching within Bookends browser and download pdfs by drag and drop.

This is a step in the right direction, for sure. But it looks like I still have to do two searches: one to get the citation and import that into Bookends, then another search to get to the PDF.

What I would really love is a way to use the Google Scholar search you provide, but have it bring up results via the library proxy. Possible?

[Jon]

I can (without a proxy). Do the GS search, then double-click on the one you want -- the Bookends browser pane will open and you can navigate to the pdf and import it. This will work if you have ip authentication (or are using a VPN client from home).

Jon
Sonny Software

[pablitosan]

Hmmm - I worked on this for 10 minutes but couldn't quite figure it out.

If I do a search in Bookends' Google Scholar option, when I doubleclick a result I get the article's web page alright, but since the URL is not through the library proxy, I am generally asked to pay for the article. So I have to do a second search within the proxy to get the article.

I'm not sure what you mean by IP authentication here, and though it's mentioned a few times in the Bookends manual, there's nothing in the manual about how to establish IP authentication (through Bookends browser??). I do have a VPN client, but I don't know how to use Bookends through the client, etc.

Of course I log in to UM with username/password, but even in a regular browser that's not sufficient to bring back search results through the library proxy. Only URL's with the suffix .proxy.lib.umich.edu bring up the subscribed journals from our library, so I still have to add that suffix.

However, if the initial web search is done through http://scholar.google.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/, all results are automatically carried through the proxy, so these extra steps aren't necessary.

help?

[Jon]

The journal site can authenticate that you are a paying customer if you access it while at your university (it checks the ip address of the connecting computer). If you use a VPN client from home, you are assigned an ip address that identifies you as belonging to the university. As your IT people how to configure the VPN client so that you can establish an internet connection through it (and Bookends, like any other Internet capable app, will use that ip address).

Jon
Sonny Software

[tsharvey]

This is a problem I've been trying to figure out for a long time as well. My university (Florida State) does not offer VPN access to library services (e.g. subscriptions to JSTOR, etc), as far as I've been able to ascertain. Off-campus access is available through web-based proxy, as Paul has described (scholar.google.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu). I have not found any suitable workaround to be able to get this to work in Bookends. As Jon mentioned, I can create a bookmark in Bookends to browse to the PDF to download, but that becomes a secondary process to fetching the citation (since I can't search via an import filter through the proxy).

Am I missing something? Is there some way of getting Bookends to play nicely with off-campus web-based proxies?

Trevor

[Jon]

First, if you're searching JSTOR, you can use Bookends browser for both the citations and the pdf (Bookends has a data detector for JSTOR references).

Second, I don't think there's any way of mixing direct searches with a web-based proxy mechanisms -- it's meant for browsers, after all. That's why it works with Bookends browser. If you or anyone else has any technical information that suggests otherwise, please contact me.

Jon
Sonny Software

[tsharvey]

Thanks for the reply, Jon. I stand corrected on my example with JSTOR.

[Jon]

Hi,

Please write to me directly at support@sonnysoftware.com

Thanks,

Jon
Sonny Software