Harvard Access

So. You want to use the wonderful "Harvard Access" option that appears in the right-click menu on the LibX browser plugin to access journal articles, but your iPad, iPod, or iPhone won't let you. There are a couple of ways to get make a bookmarklet that does the same thing, but this (admittedly convoluted) procedure will do the trick.

Follow the steps below super carefully, and you should have a new bookmarklet that will serve the same function, i.e. when you hit a jornal paywall, open the bookmarks menu and choose this bookmarklet – this will give you access. The steps are for mobile Safari only. If you use Chrome or another browser on your device, you may have to modify the steps, and they may not work.

  1. copy the code from the textbox below. To copy: tap once on the code, tap Select All then tap Copy.


    (Code written by Alex Wiltschko, to whom I owe a great debt. Alex's page for the original "Get That Paper" bookmarklet is here, which you can install on pretty much any browser in OSX, Windows, or Linux, if you're averse to the LibX Plugin.)
  2. Click Safari's Share icon ( Share Icon in iOS6, iOS7 Share Icon in iOS7). Choose “Add Bookmark” (or just "Bookmark" in iOS7) and bookmark this page by clicking “Save.” Note: in iOS7, make sure you save this in either "Bookmarks" or "Favorites," or else it won't work.
  3. Click on the Bookmarks icon ( Bookmarks Icon in iOS6, iOS7 Bookmarks Icon in iOS7) to reveal your bookmarks. Locate the bookmark you just made and click “Edit” in the corner of the window. Select the new bookmark.
  4. If you want, you can change the name of the bookmark you just made – to something like "Paper Shortcut" or "Harvard Access" or "LibX" or whatever you like. Or just leave it as is, if you really want to be reminded of my name every time you download an article.
  5. Now delete the URL shown and paste the code you copied in step 1: tap the URL shown in the second field, tap "Select All", tap "Paste".
  6. Tap "Done" on the keyboard, which will return you to the list of bookmarks. Tap "Done" to finish editing bookmarks. Tap "Done" a third time to close the bookmarks list (or just tap outside the menu, if there's no third "Done").

Now you can use the bookmarklet any time just as you would the "Harvard Access" right-click option with the LibX plugin by going into the bookmarks menu and choosing this bookmarklet. The PDF should, in most cases, open on your device, allowing you to read it in Safari, or open in another PDF viewer like iAnnotate PDF, GoodReader, Adobe Reader, or iBooks, for example.

If you have questions, modifications, or additions to this guide, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Good Luck!