Fingertip Search Using University Library Resource

UTORvpn

Members of the University of Toronto have access to a fantastic library. There are great resources like the Oxford English Dictionary, MathSciNet and Web of Knowledge and a whole lot more. To access these resources while away from campus, members of the UofT community can use the virtual private network service UTORvpn. That site tells you how to install the VPN service on your computer. When you turn on the VPN, your computer can access restricted library resources even though it is not located on the University network. On my computer, the active and inactive VPN service is indicated like this:

[caption id=“attachment_711” align=“alignleft” width=“241” caption=“Active VPN”][/caption]

[caption id=“attachment_712” align=“alignleft” width=“236” caption=“Inactive VPN”][/caption]

Standard Search

Suppose you wanted to look up the definition of the word syzygy. You could use google to get some information or you could drill down through the University of Toronto library looking for the Oxford English Dictionary to eventually find a more definitive result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Researchers are busy. So, many will merely use google since the drilling down through the library takes too much time.

Customized Search at your fingertips

UofT’s restricted databases can be made available at your fingertips. Here is an example using Firefox. Right click (or control-mouse) the search field on the OED to reveal the option Add a Keyword for this Search

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I chose to use the keyword oed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I can type into the URL bar, oed WORDTOLOOKUP, and I get the OED search results instantly.

 

The same thing can be done with AMS MathSciNet author search and other search engines.