Lean Library: Lean Library

The Merrill-Cazier Library at USU subscribes to Lean Library, a browser plug-in that alerts you when online content is available through the library while you are doing your research both on and off-campus. Lean Library works no matter how you do your research, through Google, library databases, or following links from your professor. 

Download the extension

Follow the above link to download the extension, then search for Utah State University as your institution. Lean Library is now installed and will work in the background while you search online.

USU Libraries lets Lean Library know what content we have purchased or subscribed to. Regardless of how you arrive at an e-resource, Lean Library will alert you if you have access to an e-resource through the library. If you attempt to access an e-resource the library doesn't subscribe to, Lean Library will look for other ways to access the content, including ordering the article through Article Galaxy Scholar (at no cost to you!), placing an interlibrary loan request, or directing you to open access versions.

Many of us turn to services such as Google or Google Scholar when we have a question, so we naturally try to start our research there. This can cause some confusion when we perform academic research because Google doesn't know who is affiliated with Utah State University, especially when you are doing research off campus - though you can configure your Google Scholar account to recognize your USU credentials, check out our Google Scholar guide to learn more.  Because of this, websites found through search engines like Google will often ask you to pay for e-resources that the library already subscribes to. With Lean Library you will be prompted to sign in when you reach an e-resource the library has access to, regardless of how you found the web page. Lean Library will also let you know if the e-resource you are currently looking at is available on a different website, so you never miss a good piece of research.