(13 December 2018) Lean Library’s Library Alternatives, the module of the Lean Library browser extension that facilitates alternative routes to full-text resources, will now support eBooks. Acquired by SAGE Publishing earlier this year, the award-winning technology platform allows seamless access to journals, articles, open access content, and now eBooks that are licensed by a user’s library, keeping them from paying for content they already have access to or being discouraged from using content altogether.
Founded by Johan Tilstra and Jan Thij Bakker in 2016, Lean Library’s browser extension currently offers three modules: Library Access, Library Assist, and Library Alternatives. Library Alternatives: eBooks furthers Lean Library’s ability to help users locate accessible content by identifying one or several ISBNs on a page and then connecting to a customer’s Knowledge Base for alternative access routes. From there, the plugin will display up to ten results for the user’s choosing.
“By including eBooks in the Library Alternatives feature set, we hope to support librarians, students, professors, and other users of Lean Library as they further their careers, their research, and their passions,” says Tilstra. “As always, we are grateful for SAGE’s dedication and support to both us and the librarian community. We look forward to making even more advancements under their ownership.”
The Library Alternatives module works with KBART files from any knowledge base, and with the Alma, SFX, Summon, and 360Link API’s. All clients with a subscription to Library Alternatives have access to the eBook feature, though the plugin is only able to find eBooks activated in the user’s Knowledge Base. Learn more about the new addition here.
The announcement is here.
