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LibX Toolbar

The LibX Library Toolbar gives you quick access to Washington University Libraries' electronic resources from your web browser. With LibX installed, all the power of the Washington University Libraries' catalog, Worldcat.org, Full-text Journals A-Z List, Google Scholar, and more are just a click or two away.

Firefox Download Click here to install the WUSTL Libraries edition of LibX toolbar for Firefox UPDATED for Firefox 3.5!

Internet Explorer Download Click here to install the WUSTL Libraries edition of LibX toolbar for IE

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 or higher is required for IE installation process.
Download .NET Framework file if update is required.
NOTE: Previous versions of the LibX toolbar for IE have been known to cause problems with Facebook and other applications; if you find problems still, please use the Firefox version.

1. LibX Library Toolbar

The LibX extension adds a toolbar to your browser for faster access to Library resources.

LibX Toolbar

keyword menu

Set up your toolbar:
Select the type of search (Keyword, Author, Title, etc.) from the dropdown menu on the left.

Then use the dropdown menu on the Search button to select which resource to search. The button can search the WUSTL Libraries Catalog, search for books worldwide using Worldcat.org, or search for resources using Google Scholar. You can also search the Research Guides.

catalog search

Enter search terms into the toolbar and start the search. You can do this in two ways:

  • Type the search term(s) into the toolbar and click the Search button to begin the search;
  • Or, simply highlight some text and drag it onto the Search button to start the search automatically (applicable in Firefox only).

Combine several terms in a single search. Add more search boxes by clicking the down-arrow button down arrow

catalog search

2. Customized Right-click Menu

right-click context menu

Highlight any term on the browser page and right click to call up the context menu. The menu items will change depending on the type of text that is highlighted.

  • Select one of the search options to instantly search the WUSTL Libraries Catalog by keyword, title, author, or do a Google Scholar search.
  • Reload the page, or go to a link, via WUSTL Off-Campus Access, if not already logged in through the proxy server.

3. Embedded Links in Popular Websites

LibX places the Cue image cue in many external web pages like Amazon.com. Click the cue to see if WUSTL owns the book, or to get online access to the article. Cue example

4. Other features, notes, and tips

Some LibX features still don't work in Internet Explorer. Drag-and-drop of highlighted text, for example.

Quick full text access to journal articles: LibX uses Google Scholar to search for articles and directs you to the electronic copy subscribed to by WUSTL Libraries. Select a citation, then drag-and-drop it onto the Scholar button on the toolbar. You can use this feature even from inside a PDF file, which makes retrieving papers referenced in a PDF file a snap.

Support for xISBN: A book title can have different ISBNs for the paperback, the hardcover, even for different editions. LibX supports OCLC's xISBN service: you can find a book, given an ISBN, even if the library holds this book under a different ISBN.

Autolinking: LibX will turn anything it thinks is an ISSN (for a journal) or ISBN (for a book) on a webpage you are viewing into a link that will search the Library catalog if you click on it. Sometimes these links are wrong; for example, a webpage may simply be showing a span of years, such as 1851-2003. You can turn off the autolink feature by clicking on the LibX WUSTL drop-down on the toolbar, and clicking Autolink Pages to uncheck it (Firefox version; in IE, the option is in the LibX Preferences window).

Customizing your toolbar: Take a look at the LibX preferences, found at the bottom of the LibX WUSTL shortcuts list; there are features you can turn on or off, as you find them useful.

When installing the Firefox version, if it displays a message "To protect your computer, Firefox prevented this site... from installing software on your computer," press the button labeled "Edit Options..." and click "Allow" and add libx.org to the list of websites from which extensions may be installed. Then click "OK" and visit the "Install" link again.


Copyright: LibX is distributed under the Mozilla Public License. The copyright is held jointly by Annette Bailey and Virginia Tech.

Privacy: By using this extension you may send the URL of pages you are currently visiting to the WUSTL Libraries Catalog server. Such information is sent only if you are actively using the extension; it is never sent automatically.

For more information about LibX, visit the LibX Homepage.

Questions? Comments? Problems with the toolbar? Please contact the Electronic Resources Librarian.