Category Archives: vLib portal

vLib portal

Goodbye vLib! Shutdown after October 31, 2018

In 2002 the Max Planck virtual Library (vLib) was launched, with the idea of making all information resources relevant for Max Planck users simultaneously searchable under a common user interface. Since then, the vLib project partners from the Max Planck libraries, information retrieval services groups, the GWDG and the MPDL invested much time and effort to integrate various library catalogs, reference databases, full-text collections and other information resources into MetaLib, a federated search system developed by Ex Libris.

With the rise of large search engines and discovery tools in recent years, usage slowly shifted away and the metasearch technology applied was no longer fulfilling user’s expection. Therefore, the termination of most vLib services was announced two years ago and now we are approaching the final shutdown: The vLib portal will cease to operate after the 31th of October 2018.

As you know, there are many alternatives to the former vLib services: MPG.ReNa will remain available for browsing and discovering electronic resources available to Max Planck users. In addition, we’ll post some information on how to cross search Max Planck library catalogs soon.

Let us take the opportunity to send a big "Thank you!" to all vLib users and collaborators within and outside the Max Planck Society. It always was and will continue to be a pleasure to work with and for you.

Goodbye!… and please feel free to contact us in case of any further question.

vLib discontinued

The Max Planck virtual Library has been scheduled for termination a considerable while ago.

After a long period of continued availability, vLib services have eventually been downsized.

Most search targets have been deactivated. User login has been disabled. Please click here for more information.

Note that most MPG Library Catalogs continue to be cross-searchable.

Successor to vLib is MPG.ReNa for browsing electronic resources, and its Find Literature service for global searching.

We apologize for any inconvenience,

The vLib project team

Zotero no longer working with vLib records

after upgrading to Firefox 17 the download-record-to-Zotero icon may presently fail to appear in the navigation bar

vLib full record Zotero icon

for more information see http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/26419/unapi-mods-translator-no-longer-working-in-zotero-3010-firefox-170/

you may wish to update your MODS translator immediately by following the link and instructions provided by Zotero developer Dan Stillman

we understand that the updated version of the translator will be rolled out soon

vLib WoK search mangled

Please see http://vlib.mpg.de/start?title=WoK for Web of Knowledge databases as available in vLib.

As a consequence of an unexpected change of web services (i.e. services required by vLib to search databases in the background, and present results), Web of Science databases (e.g. A&HCI, SCI, SSCI) are no longer searchable through a single resource – see Web of Science – hence no vLib search checkbox is available for Web of Science at the moment.

In addition, integration of remaining WoK databases (Biosis Previews, INSPEC, Zoological Record) has turned out to be problematic and error-prone (at least INSPEC search had to be switched off entirely, investigation is continuing).

Please drop us a comment if you appreciate a stable, cross-searchable interface to search WoK databases in vLib.

Thank you in advance,

The vLib project team

Find resources in vLib, autocomplete

An autocomplete service has been added to vLib forms that enable searching for appropriate information resources.

It’s available for resource title and publisher input fields at

http://vlib.mpg.de/start?view=metasearch&srv=locate
http://vlib.mpg.de/start?view=find-database&srv=browse
http://vlib.mpg.de/start?view=find-database&srv=locate

Just type any term (presently a minimum of three characters) to display a list of resources matching the input right below the form field.

To navigate through suggestions use the mouse or cursor up/down. To select an entry, click on it or press enter.

The service behind it has been designed to consider all title variants of a resource (or publisher name variants, respectively).

However, the list of suggestions actually shown contains display titles only (suggesting any title variants would be rather confusing and would unnecessarily bloat the list).

If you type some entry, and if matches are found, it’s obvious that some of the resource titles suggested do not seem to contain the string entered, for example:

vLib autocomplete

This is because the term does not always match part of a vLib display title, but only part of the full or alternative title of the resource that is being suggested.

If you follow a suggestion, resource titles may be verified by opening the info window (by clicking the i-button):

vLib autocomplete

In our example, resource info reveals that the resource was suggested because of its former name which is still recorded in vLib.

Any feedback (comments, etc.) is most welcome.

vLib downtime due to electrical power outage

Due to a scheduled power outage vLib will be unavailable between Friday, 27/05/11, 8 p.m., and Saturday some time during the day.

Please see the GWDG schedule (in German) for the most detailed information we found.

As a high number of services will be experiencing a downtime, systems will be started successively.

We have done our best to prioritize the start of vLib, however, we are unable to give any precise point of time when vLib will be available again after the outage.

MPG/SFX services should be available without interruption.

More info see GWDG News (in German see here).

We apologize for any inconvenience.