Article Galaxy Scholar (AGS) from Research Solutions provides enhanced collection development flexibility by enabling a more robust collection of journals for immediate access than that is possible through publisher and aggregation collection subscriptions alone.
AGS contains powerful tools that allow a library to decide which publishers or titles they want to make available for unmediated delivery to their users allowing them to appear available to users in a similar level of immediacy to that of publisher or aggregator subscriptions.
AGS data is plugged into the LibKey algorithm on a per-library basis enabling LibKey to provide direct links to AGS for fulfillment when appropriate. LibKey works on a "waterfall" structure where within a fraction of a second all Open Access, Publisher subscription and aggregator subscription sources are exhausted first before the AGS unmediated collection is consulted. If the material is not available in the AGS unmediated collection, the user is then re-routed to the Fallback path as configured with LibKey (Link Resolver, ILL, etc.)
This workflow ensures that papers are not needlessly purchased because existing access points are already screened while still maintaining the simple "one click" and signposted awareness that LibKey is known for!
In practical terms all of this means that materials made available via unmediated delivery from AGS can appear in the same places where you can find other materials that LibKey links to rather than being part of the "Fallback Path" which means new interfaces for users to navigate related to your link resolver configuration. By "bringing forward" these linking pathsways, the LibKey-AGS integration provides a consistent path to users to access content while helping inform them in advance about what level of access is available to any given article.
LibKey technologies enhanced by AGS
All LibKey services are planned to be enhanced by AGS (BrowZine from Third Iron does not utilize this as its functionality is around a set of journals that a library subscribes to and not individual articles of interest to researchers). This means:
LibKey Discovery/API: (available Now!)
- In supported integrations including Ex Libris Primo & Summon, the default text of "Request PDF" will appear whenever an unmediated article is reached.
LibKey Link: (Coming Summer 2025)
- In any database that LibKey Link is installed, since AGS is now part of the linking waterfall as discussed above, the user will be routed to the LibKey Format Chooser where the "Request PDF" option will appear.
LibKey Nomad: (Coming Summer 2025)
- Users will now see a new link option that appears called "Request PDF" whenever this fulfillment through AGS is available and appropriate for an article.
LibKey.io: (Coming Summer 2025)
- Users will now see the "Request PDF" option when they visit the format chooser when coming from a LibKey.io link found in any of dozens of different integrated services.
Note: "Request PDF" is the default textual term but this is fully customizable in all locations by the library should a more localized term be preferred by the library!
Getting Started
Turning on this integration does require an active subscription to Article Galaxy Scholar. With this in place, please contact us to request that we turn on this integration for you.
We will work with Research Solutions on your behalf to connect through APIs to your AGS configuration and take a snapshot of this configuration once a day to update our data. Thus, any changes you make may take 24 hours to update. Please raise a ticket with us to get this started for you!
LibKey will then include any journals you select as individual journals or all journals by a particular publisher. LibKey will also read in the included date ranges (i.e. "After 2022", etc.). Only journals that have a value of zero for ILL to purchase will be included as "unmediated". Titles where you have an ILL to purchase value in place will of course still function as normal within Article Galaxy Scholar, but will not be included in LibKey as signposted for one-click fulfillment because of course there is a reasonable chance this will get re-routed to ILL and thus fulfillment is not longer "instant".
Any additional questions? Don't hesitate to ask!