LibKey Nomad E-Books Linking

Modified on Thu, 23 Feb 2023 at 11:53 AM

Starting in February 2023, LibKey Nomad will extend its access solution beyond scholarly articles and to E-Books held by libraries!  The same clear linking concept utilized for articles will be extended to E-books in several different contexts.


Like LibKey Nomad's linking for articles, E-book detection on pages is possible on a number of different publisher sites as well as particular platforms where researchers may be looking for E-books.


Popular Platforms where books will be linked from include:

  • Amazon
  • Wikipedia
  • Google Books


Additionally, a number of major publisher sites have been enhanced to link to E-Books both within their host platform as well as E-Book aggregation sites:

  • Wiley
  • Elsevier
  • Cambridge
  • Springer
  • Palgrave Macmillan
  • Taylor and Francis
  • Routledge
  • SAGE
  • Emerald
  • MIT Press
  • University of California Press
  • Oxford
  • De Gruyter
  • Brill
  • Thieme
  • Wolters Kluwer
  • Yale University Press
  • Stanford University Press
  • University of Chicago Press
  • IOP Publishing (Institute of Physics)


These publisher sites and platforms represent the discovery starting points but do not represent the coverage of content which extends to *all* E-Books within a libraries collection!  


For example, a user may come across an E-Book on Springer's website, but Nomad's button when consulting the libraries holdings may wind up linking the user to EBSCO where the E-Book is available.


What Library Systems support E-Books in LibKey Nomad?

Presently, only Ex Libris Alma libraries are eligible for this feature, but more systems will be supported soon!


My library has access to an E-Book from multiple providers.  What determines which provider Nomad will link to?

Nomad respects the "priority order" that has been established in your link resolver for sources of the E-Book, so will select the first source in the list.


Does a library need to "do" anything special to set this up?

Alma Libraries: No - the Third Iron Ops team has seamlessly set this up using information already in our system.  Please do not alter your publishing profiles.  This feature with Nomad works via live direct Alma API calls and so no change to your publishing profile is necessary!


Will analytics be provided for E-Book linking?

Analytics will be provided for E-Book linking as part of the standard usage report later this year as more library systems are supported.  The analytics will include the number of books linked as well as a summary of which domains the user was on when they clicked on an E-Book link in LibKey Nomad.