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Open Access Helper

A guide to setting up and using the Open Access Helper plugin to find articles held by Dugan Library or available for free when searching on the open web.

What is Open Access Helper and What Does it Do?

Open Access Helper is a free browser extension and iOS app that helps you find access to legal, free full-text of articles on the web.

As librarians, we know that your research doesn't always start at the library. A Google or Google Scholar search might lead you to a useful article, but that content might be behind a paywall.

Open Access Helper simplifies the process of finding out whether an open access (legally free) copy of a paywalled article exists on the web or, if not, whether Dugan Library has full-text access to the article.

Set Up

See the settings tab on this guide for instructions on getting Open Access Helper to link to Dugan Library's resources.

What Will You See?

All of the information is available through badges that appear directly on the article page you are browsing. Just hover your mouse on the badge to expand it, and click to go to the linked resource.

Open Access Badges

Badge for open access

Hovered badge for open access

Find in Library Badges

Find in library badge

Find in library badge hover