At the beginning of the spring semester, the Library introduced
a new piece of "middleware" called SFX, which stands for
"Special Effects". When enabled, SFX provides a link between
specific citations in a bibliographic database and the resources
that the individual results represent. The location of the SFX icon
or text phrase will vary: in some cases, it can be found in the
list of search results; in other cases, it will not appear until
you reach an abstract of an article.
One of the most important resources is the electronic version of
an article identified in a citation. Since the Library manages the
software, configuration is based on our electronic journal subscriptions.
This means that a user of a database who finds a reference of interest
can click on the SFX link and will automatically be shown whether
the article is available online and will be given access to the
full-text.
Since more than one resource might exist that is relevant to a specific
citation, SFX dynamically creates a web page of links to a variety
of supporting resources in menu form, literally providing one-stop
access. The Library hopes this will expedite the researcherís task
by taking some of the guesswork out of determining what resources
are available and greatly reducing the steps needed to move from
a database to a source. In addition, whether full-text is available
or not, provision is made for a web search for other items that
may contain the key terms in the article title.
In this image, an SFX display for a citation from Applied Geochemistry
is open. In the window, a series of services is listed, each preceded
by a stylized "S." In order to activate a service, the user must
click on that icon. 
The first choice shown is a link to the electronic full-text of
the article. This will only appear when Brown has an online subscription
to the journal for the given date. It is important to note that
not all of the journal publishers structure their websites to allow
such direct linking to a particular article. In these cases, SFX
will bring the user to the closest point possible and he will have
to navigate to the text. The second allows the user to check Josiah
for a record of the journal, which would indicate if the Library
carries a print and/or microform subscription.
In cases where a researcher might want to see if another institution
carries a journal, the third service provides a drop-down list of
four local online catalogs that can be checked. The fourth one allows
the user to search the 
Web
of Science database to find other articles published by the
same author(s). The next service shown provides additional information
on SFX itself. The final option provides a drop-down menu of web
search engines. As noted before, the keywords from the title of
the article can be used to search for websites that deal with these
concepts. Since the list is context specific, the number and types
of services will change from citation to citation. For example,
a service showing only the abstract of an article or a table of
contents for the relevant issue may appear. In time, other features,
like Interlibrary Loan request forms, will be added.
Currently, over thirty databases provided by the Library have been
SFX-enabled. A list of some of the more widely recognized bibliographic
databases that have the capability includes:
Academic
Search Premier,
Art
Abstracts,
Biological
Abstracts, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts
Materials
Science Collection of Databases ,
EconLit,
ERIC,
GeoRef,
Medline
Express, PsycINFO,
Social
Sciences Abstracts, Sociological
Abstracts,
Web
of Science, and
Wilson
Business Abstracts. For a complete list, connect to the FAQ
. As more database vendors reconfigure, more products will be added
to the list.
The Library hopes that all faculty and students will take advantage
of the SFX service and will find that is supports and expedites
their research.
--Mark Shelton
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library
