This guest blog is by Eva, a student at University College London (UCL) in the UK, who has access to the free version of Lean Library. In this blog, Eva compares the basic functionality of Lean Library to the other academic workflow tools in this space. Next, we’ll be getting Eva access to all the wider functionality that Lean Library Futures offers, including connecting users to LibGuides, LibChat and other library guidance on any academic resource online, surfacing the library discovery service on sites like Google Scholar, and more. Stay tuned for Eva’s full review.
As the majority of students start their research journey outside of the library discovery, imagine having your library holdings accessible to your patrons within their workflow.
Lean Library puts your library on your patrons’ shoulders via one easy-to-use extension on their browser, simplifying online access to library content and services and open access alternatives. Lean Library embeds library collections and services into the patrons’ workflow – whether they start on Google Scholar, PubMed, or beyond.
Meet Eva, an undergraduate student beginning her academic journey. Let’s join her as she explores Lean Library alongside Third Iron’s LibKey and EndNote Click and shares her experiences of using these library technology tools for her studies.
As a first-year BA Education Studies student at UCL’s Institute of Education, my day-to-day life revolves around lots of research and essay writing, particularly in the fields of educational psychology, policies, philosophy, globalization, and sociology. I often start my research on Google Scholar and JSTOR, which I have found to be valuable resources for essay writing and pre-lecture recordings.
My biggest frustration in my learning experience before beginning to use these tools has been finding the right article that fits the context of my research. Often when I had found the right article, it would be behind a paywall and required a subscription to access it.
I then discovered that UCL’s library had various tools available to support me during my research: Lean Library, Third Iron’s LibKey and EndNote Click. While all three have made my life as a student much easier for me, Lean Library has stood out as the superior choice especially for a student like me beginning my university journey.
Lean Library simplifies access to full-text articles and eBooks by providing direct links to resources. It’s super easy for users to request unavailable articles from the library with just a simple click. Additionally, Lean Library allows for easy citing and offers different citation formats (APA, Harvard, etc.) that are quick and easy to use.
In my experience, Lean Library has been a fantastic tool for accessing full-text articles. Depending on the situation, I usually opt for Lean Library when the interface pops up quicker on a website or if only Lean Library provides access to the full text.
Similarly, when I need to do a quick citation, Lean Library’s “Get Citation” button proves to be more efficient than other tools like EndNote, which requires more steps. Lean Library has been an invaluable tool in streamlining my research process since I have integrated it into my workflow.
Third Iron’s LibKey provides links to full-text articles through their one-click to PDF functionality. Third Iron offers other complementary products such as ‘LibKey Discovery’, ‘LibKey.io’, and ‘Browzine’, each offering different methods to access articles and literature.
My biggest use-case of LibKey is for psychology-related assignments, where I usually find LibKey the fastest in accessing the “APA PsycNet” and “Wiley” than the other two browser extensions.
EndNote Click is a browser extension that also simplifies access to full-text articles. It also allows users to save the article to “My locker” for future reference and offers additional features such as downloading PDFs, visiting journal pages, and managing tags.
Personally, I found the “My Locker” function particularly useful during my research for essays. When balancing multiple articles at the same time, this feature helped me organise my research efficiently. Instead of dealing with the stress of switching between multiple open tabs, “My Locker” allowed me to view all saved articles with their titles, authors and publication dates in one place. This streamlined my research process by reducing clutter and making it more manageable.
However, it’s worth noting that the EndNote Click pop-up interface gets hidden behind the LibKey pop-up. To access EndNote Click, I had to manually close the LibKey pop-up first which is slightly inconvenient.
| What Third Iron offers: | What EndNote Click offers: | What sets Lean Library apart: |
|---|---|---|
| 7/10 | 5/10 | 9/10 |
| The interface is slightly too small to be seen and is often blocked by the Cookies pop-up on various websites, due to its placement on the bottom right-hand corner of the page. | Not only does the interface be obstructed by the website’s Cookies pop-up, but it is often also covered by the LibKey interface. | Lean Library provides a big and clear pop-up interface at the top right corner of the screen. It is obvious, without being intrusive and easily guides users to access the direct link to their resource. |
| What Third Iron offers: | What EndNote Click offers: | What sets Lean Library apart: |
|---|---|---|
| 9/10 | 7/10 | 9/10 |
| LibKey’s biggest strength is their One-Click to ‘Download PDF’, which is straightforward and easy to navigate, saving time for students like me during their research process. | The browser interface labelled “EN,” which abbreviates EndNote, initially confused me as “English.” Users might mistakenly interpret it as a translation feature for articles or websites into English. | Lean Library’s pop-up has clear, big buttons for features such as ‘Get Citation’ or ‘Access Full-Article’, which allows for a quick and simple flow. |
| What Third Iron offers: | What EndNote Click offers: | What sets Lean Library apart: |
|---|---|---|
| 6/10 | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| The main reason I have used LibKey is solely for the functionality of being directly linked to the full-text article. | There are many supportive features available on the function menu bar that are beneficial for my research and essay writing. | Alongside the ability to access full-text resources, the citation feature has been a very useful feature during my research, saving me time and helping me accurately reference as a first-year student with little knowledge of referencing. |
In conclusion, the three tools have been beneficial to my studies in various ways and have helped streamline my research process. On comparing the features of each tool, EndNote Click has the most features available, with Third Iron’s LibKey having the least, however, their one-click to PDF has been very helpful in saving time accessing full-text articles. Lean Library has the most straightforward interface design and clearly directs you to access the article, eBook, etc., or create the citation. Notably, on comparisons of the three tools, Lean Library appeared to pop-up on more pages than the others.
From my personal experience, I like how effortless it is to cite my source using Lean Library’s browser extension, just one click and I can select the format of the citation and copy it to my assignment. This saves me lots of time, as I am easily citing sources as I go along, ensuring I have my references organised and avoid situations where I miss out on a source in the reference list.
I have used LibKey primarily as a supplementary tool alongside the other browser extensions. However, LibKey’s pop-up frequently appears slightly more quickly than the other browser extensions and directs me to the full-text article when Lean Library is unavailable.
My favourite aspect is the “My Locker” feature, which organises the articles I’ve viewed. This feature is particularly helpful during essay writing, as it allows me to compare multiple articles, keeping my workflow tidy and streamlined.
Lean Library stands out as my favourite, as it makes the tedious research and essay writing process significantly quicker and simpler. Its ability to quickly and automatically detect whether the library has full access to an article or eBook, regardless of the field of discipline I am researching, speeds up my research process. This feature, combined with the convenience of the single click for requesting unavailable materials eliminates the frustration of not being able to access the article at that time.
Lean Library saves me valuable time, as I don’t need to spend time searching for the hard copy in the library, which may be unavailable or outdated. The overall setup for Lean Library requires minimal steps and is accessible to everyone, regardless of their level of ICT skills. It effectively brings the library to me, integrating academic resources seamlessly into my learning journey at the university.
Lean Library’s library subscriptions takes the library directly to patrons within their workflow. With Lean Library Access, Lean Library Workflow for LibGuides and Lean Library Futures, patrons gain access to numerous additional features that enhance their research experience. These features include streamlining access to the library holdings, providing assist messages to guide patrons, offering the library’s LibGuides to patrons and enabling them to check for print books, all of which from within the patrons workflow via the browser extension.
We presented a session with University of Phoenix, Springshare and Sage Campus on how academic libraries can ensure that students receive the correct guidance at the point of need. As technology continues to advance, AI is making its way into various aspects of our lives, including Higher Education, with students navigating Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT themselves.
The University of Phoenix shared their experience of combining Lean Library‘s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support and guidance on AI directly into patron workflows.
Read on to discover 8 insights about how libraries can provide students with the AI guidance they need:
A study from University of Northampton regarding an AI Special Interest Group found that students have ethical concerns regarding the use of Generative AI and are worried about implications relating to bias and accuracy. Most notably, they felt like they didn’t have the skills to use AI effectively for their studies. Talia from Springshare explained that when students need ‘live’ help with AI, they don’t want to chat with AI – they want to talk to a person! This positions the library in a unique spot where they can come in and provide contextual point of need help in the form of LibGuides, LibChat and Sage Campus.
This research is from our latest Librarian Futures report, The Librarian Skills Landscape, which consists of global perspectives from over 2,000 academic library professionals regarding the emerging skills required to fulfil a library’s mission. This shows that librarians have an important role to play in expansion of their own knowledge of AI in academia, and ensuring students are aware of the challenges, risks and concerns around AI. How do librarians increase their knowledge of AI?
PJ Purchase at University of Phoenix emphasized establishing a cross-functional team with key stakeholders was key in setting up an AI Hub as there were varying degrees of knowledge within the library. The AI Hub is an open center which enables any member of staff within the university to up-skill. There’s training materials, documents and articles from top industry leaders which enables staff to learn more about Generative AI. Additionally, University of Phoenix decided they were going to embrace Generative AI for themselves and their students, and they needed to decide some parameters around how they thought it was going to be used.
PJ Purchase explained University of Phoenix library is collating these content pieces in phases. Phase one involved writing the guidance materials, whereas phase two is to create a Learning Center through which to teach the ethical use of AI. The Learning Centre focuses on learning objectives which are woven into coursework, for example, to measure AI skills or on-demand training for upskilling. This training could lead to badging opportunities in the future. What tools can libraries use to surface their guidance in patron workflows?
Research from student data within our first Librarian Futures report (2021) found that 59% students would prefer to hear from the library via their homepage, and 55% said only where and when they need it. This raises questions as to what extent the library homepage is an efficient channel when most students begin their research outside of the library on sites such as Google and Google Scholar.
The phrase “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t really work in libraries with students not easily discovering library guidance at the point of need. How can librarians make sure they meet students where they are in their workflow? University of Phoenix utilize their library tools to combine Lean Library’s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support directly into patron workflows. This means when students are searching for research on the web, the Lean Library browser extension will lead students back to content, such as LibGuides, within the library’s collection with one click. Another use for this integration could be that when a student lands on Open.ai or ChatGPT, they’ll see a LibGuide from their library with tips for using ChatGPT ethically and generating the best research outcomes.
Springshare’s LibChat integration enables librarians to create their own chatbot “flows” to guide end-users towards the answers and resources they’re looking for, before they talk to a librarian, prompting students to choose the type of help they’re looking for.
The newly launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration surfaces their new short online course, The Art of ChatGPT Interactions, to students and researchers when they are in locations within the OpenAI.com domain. The course was designed by AI expert Dr Leo. S Lo, Dean of the College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico. This means students can learn about using AI effectively, improve their prompt engineering and achieve outcomes for their studies and research, without their workflow being interrupted.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning the different ways that university libraries can use tools to help students navigate the ‘academic wilderness’. If you’d like to find out more about the recently launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration, catch up on the webinar recording below:
Want to see Lean Library in action? Request a demo now!
We presented a session with University of Phoenix, Springshare and Sage Campus on how academic libraries can ensure that students receive the correct guidance at the point of need. As technology continues to advance, AI is making its way into various aspects of our lives, including Higher Education, with students navigating Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT themselves.
The University of Phoenix shared their experience of combining Lean Library‘s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support and guidance on AI directly into patron workflows.
Read on to discover 8 insights about how libraries can provide students with the AI guidance they need:
A study from University of Northampton regarding an AI Special Interest Group found that students have ethical concerns regarding the use of Generative AI and are worried about implications relating to bias and accuracy. Most notably, they felt like they didn’t have the skills to use AI effectively for their studies. Talia from Springshare explained that when students need ‘live’ help with AI, they don’t want to chat with AI – they want to talk to a person! This positions the library in a unique spot where they can come in and provide contextual point of need help in the form of LibGuides, LibChat and Sage Campus.
This research is from our latest Librarian Futures report, The Librarian Skills Landscape, which consists of global perspectives from over 2,000 academic library professionals regarding the emerging skills required to fulfil a library’s mission. This shows that librarians have an important role to play in expansion of their own knowledge of AI in academia, and ensuring students are aware of the challenges, risks and concerns around AI. How do librarians increase their knowledge of AI?
PJ Purchase at University of Phoenix emphasized establishing a cross-functional team with key stakeholders was key in setting up an AI Hub as there were varying degrees of knowledge within the library. The AI Hub is an open center which enables any member of staff within the university to up-skill. There’s training materials, documents and articles from top industry leaders which enables staff to learn more about Generative AI. Additionally, University of Phoenix decided they were going to embrace Generative AI for themselves and their students, and they needed to decide some parameters around how they thought it was going to be used.
PJ Purchase explained University of Phoenix library is collating these content pieces in phases. Phase one involved writing the guidance materials, whereas phase two is to create a Learning Center through which to teach the ethical use of AI. The Learning Centre focuses on learning objectives which are woven into coursework, for example, to measure AI skills or on-demand training for upskilling. This training could lead to badging opportunities in the future. What tools can libraries use to surface their guidance in patron workflows?
Research from student data within our first Librarian Futures report (2021) found that 59% students would prefer to hear from the library via their homepage, and 55% said only where and when they need it. This raises questions as to what extent the library homepage is an efficient channel when most students begin their research outside of the library on sites such as Google and Google Scholar.
The phrase “If you build it, they will come” doesn’t really work in libraries with students not easily discovering library guidance at the point of need. How can librarians make sure they meet students where they are in their workflow? University of Phoenix utilize their library tools to combine Lean Library’s iFraming technology with Springshare’s LibGuides integration to deliver library support directly into patron workflows. This means when students are searching for research on the web, the Lean Library browser extension will lead students back to content, such as LibGuides, within the library’s collection with one click. Another use for this integration could be that when a student lands on Open.ai or ChatGPT, they’ll see a LibGuide from their library with tips for using ChatGPT ethically and generating the best research outcomes.
Springshare’s LibChat integration enables librarians to create their own chatbot “flows” to guide end-users towards the answers and resources they’re looking for, before they talk to a librarian, prompting students to choose the type of help they’re looking for.
The newly launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration surfaces their new short online course, The Art of ChatGPT Interactions, to students and researchers when they are in locations within the OpenAI.com domain. The course was designed by AI expert Dr Leo. S Lo, Dean of the College of University Libraries & Learning Sciences at the University of New Mexico. This means students can learn about using AI effectively, improve their prompt engineering and achieve outcomes for their studies and research, without their workflow being interrupted.
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning the different ways that university libraries can use tools to help students navigate the ‘academic wilderness’. If you’d like to find out more about the recently launched Sage Campus and Lean Library integration, catch up on the webinar recording below:
Want to see Lean Library in action? Request a demo now!
We are excited to share that we’ve introduced new self-serve settings that will streamline the way librarians work with Talis Aspire: The online resource list management system loved by over 100 universities worldwide.
This latest release enables Talis Aspire customers to self-serve configuration of settings, including language, branding, and resource item importance – without needing to raise a support ticket. This empowers librarians to customize the resource list management system to their institution’s specific needs and tailor the experience for their users.
This release is part of our ongoing theme of development to empower librarians and we will continue to move more settings into the hands of users to be able to customize and control throughout 2024 and beyond.
Talis Aspire is an online resource list management platform that fully integrates with your library ecosystem. It connects faculty and students with relevant library holdings, dramatically reducing resource list admin and provides the library with useful insights to streamline acquisition.
A new ‘Settings’ area has been created, where users with a System Administrators role and specific users chosen by each institution, can adjust their tenancy of Talis Aspire. We will be continually adding more settings to this area for self-service, with this first phase of settings enabling users to:
Customers can set a default language on their Talis Aspire tenancy to display for all users and can also select up to three languages for their users to choose from (English, Welsh and Canadian English) with American English being added in the future.
Customers are able to self-customize how Talis Aspire reading lists appear for their users to align with their institutional branding, including brand colors, the ability to easily update their institutional logo and hyperlink to their website, and edit headers and footers. This provides a recognizable and seamless experience for faculty building lists and students reading the lists.
Customers can now tailor the options presented to faculty and list builders to select when noting the importance of items they add to resource lists, to better reflect specific requirements at their institution. Importance options can be reordered by drag and drop, be set as active or inactive to show to or hide from patrons, and librarians can view how many associated items are linked to each importance option.
We understand the importance of giving libraries greater control and autonomy of their Talis Aspire experience. At its core, self-service puts control back where it belongs – in the library’s hands.
Self-service also gives librarians greater visibility of just how many custom options are available in Talis Aspire, with straightforward access to customize their instance of Talis Aspire.
Importantly, self-service of customization saves librarians valuable time as it removes the need to contact the Talis support team or raise a support ticket to make changes to their Talis Aspire tenancy.
If you want to try it out, get in touch with us to get a customized demonstration.
Lean Library Cite: Streamlining Your Patrons’ Citation Process April 2, 2024Lean Library Cite initially launched in February and has now been updated with improved functionality and new capabilities, which helps streamline your patron’s citation process further. Cite enables students and researchers to easily generate and copy references of articles they access online, via the Lean Library browser extension, to use for writing or with their reference manager of choice – whether Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley, Sciwheel or more.
Lean Library puts your library on your patrons’ shoulders via an easy-to-use extension on their browser. It simplifies online access to library content and open access alternatives and embeds library collections and services into the patrons’ workflow – whether they start on Google Scholar, PubMed, or beyond.
This new feature builds upon the existing product loved by librarians and their patrons worldwide, now guiding students and researchers from the discovery stage of their workflow to the citation stage ready for authoring their work.
Lean Library Cite simplifies the citation process by generating accurate citations for journal articles and eBooks that patrons are reading, from within the Lean Library pop-up. Patrons can now effortlessly obtain and copy citations for materials as they read with an easy “Get Citation” button.
Once clicked, the citation will be copied to their clipboard, allowing your patrons to easily paste it when writing or into their reference manager of choice.
Cite also allows libraries to select the library’s preferred citation style, which will then prominently appear at the top of the citation style drop-down menu for patrons. This feature enables librarians to easily guide patrons towards the citation styles commonly used within their institution.
And that is not all! Cite also alerts patrons when metadata is missing from fields, such as the title or author. This functionality allows patrons to then enter the correct data to accurately complete the citation.
Citation can be time-consuming and daunting, particularly for lower-level undergraduate students with no prior experience in the world of citation, academic writing, or using reference management tools. Simultaneously, the increasing popularity of integrating Generative AI, such as ChatGPT into their research workflow, underscores the increasing importance of accurate citation for both students and researchers.
Lean Library guides patrons seamlessly from the discovery stage into the accurate authoring stage of their workflow by making citation simple with an easy-to-use solution that:
Lean Library Cite integrates with the Citation Style Language to provide all major citation styles that your library may use.
Lean Library will soon be extending Cite to further content types including Websites, and much more!
Want to see Lean Library Cite in action? Get a demo now!
