Lexscien
Library of
Exploratory Science
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Frequently Asked Questions

General
What's new in version 2?
What browsers does Lexscien support?
Can I choose which organisation benefits from my subscription?

How do I...?
How do I change my password?
How do I change the layout of the page text, and why would I do this?
How can I make the text bigger?
How do I save/download an article to read offline?
How do I print a range of pages e.g. an article?
How do I search for a word within a single volume?
How do I search only in a specific journal series, or only books?

I'm having problems...
I registered recently but have not received my password yet
I'm using the password I received but the system says 'Password not recognised'
I can log in but can't see the collections I should see
I can't see all the buttons
The buttons don't work
Some of the text looks like garbage
PDF files don't display
Each PDF page displays in a separate browser window
I can't go forward or backward in the PDF viewer
I did a search but got far fewer results than I should have
I keep doing different searches but the results stay the same
The page number in the text doesn't match the toolbar page number
My search term must be there but the search does not find it
This library doesn't behave as I expect
How can I get more help?


  1. What's new in version 2?

  2. What browsers does Lexscien support?

    Lexscien has been tested with Internet Explorer v6.0, Netscape v7.1, Firefox v1.0, and Opera v7.54. Differences between these browsers mean that the views and behaviour may vary slightly. For example, Firefox does not give download files the descriptive name that Lexscien suggests, and there seems to be no way to force this at present (although we are sure it will improve in future Firefox releases). Opera needs custom configuration to display PDFs in Lexscien successfully (see here). Please let us know about any other browser-related problems you encounter and we will do our best to work around them.

  3. Can I choose which organisation benefits from my subscription?

    Not directly. C-FAR takes no more than 35% of gross proceeds to cover the cost of running and expanding the library. Half of the remaining 65% is then divided between the organisations in proportion to the number of pages of literature they have put into the library. The other half is divided in proportion to the pages viewed by users. The net proceeds from downloads are passed directly to the organisation that supplied the downloaded material. This means that the supplier of the literature that is used most, benefits most, although everyone gets a share.

  4. How do I change my password?

    When you log in, you see a welcome page with "User Profile Options" at the top. Select "Change personal details". Note that there are separate save buttons for changing your personal details (name etc) and changing your password.

  5. How do I change the layout of the page text, and why would I do this?

    You can change the appearance of the text you are reading by using the text format selector. Select Format By default you see 'Formatted Text', in which our computer has done its best to mimic the original page layout. It can be a bit inflexible, because it tries to preserve the original text size and format, but it does do a reasonable job of reproducing tables. In contrast, 'Unformatted Text' is fast, easy to read and more flexible (you can scale it to make it larger) but it can't show you tables, diagrams or photos, and headings aren't as prominent. If you see gobbledygook on a page it's best to flip to 'PDF Image'. This shows you exactly what the original page looked like, although it takes a bit longer to load, and it doesn't highlight your search terms so it's not ideal for everyday searching and reading. If you plan to download an excerpt to read or print (see here), it's best to do this in the 'PDF Image' view. If you are downloading to capture text, you need to do this in the Plain Text format.

  6. How can I make the text bigger or clearer?

    Change the format to Unformatted Text using the format selector. Select Format You can now use your browser's controls to increase the text size. In Internet Explorer this is on the menu under View / Text Size. For some documents you can also change the size of Formatted Text, although this is not always the case.

  7. How do I save an article to read offline?

    First, put the article in your reference notebook, using the Select Excerpts buttons on the navigation toolbar as follows. Go to the first page of your article, then press the left one of the three buttons. Then go to the last page of the article (e.g. by pressing the plus sign or entering the page number) and press the middle of the three buttons. You have now told the library where your article starts and ends. Then press the right hand one of the three buttons and you will see the excerpt appear in your reference notebook (the list at the bottom left of the screen). Any items you put here will be kept until you remove them.

    Of course you don't need to save a whole article - you can use this method to extract any continuous run of pages from any volume.

    Now, click on the item in your reference notebook; you will see only the pages you selected. The navigation toolbar will now contain a new download button Download that will let you save the excerpt to your own hard disk.

    You will be given the option to select whether the download should be in PDF or Plain Text format. For simple reading or printing, 'PDF Image' is best. Only use Plain Text if you need an electronic version of the text e.g. to quote in a document you are writing. Note that downloads are for personal use only; you may not republish this text in any form. There is a limit to how many pages you may download in one go, to protect the copyrighted data.

  8. How do I print a range of pages e.g. an article?

    Save the text to disk as described above. For printing, it is best to save it in PDF Image format (by switching to that format before you save the excerpt). Once it is saved, it will be a single file, which you can then print as normal.

  9. How do I search for a word within a single volume?

    Use the browse facility to select the volume you want to search. You can use the 'Clear Results' button to empty the previous documents from your search results list. Click 'Add to Results' to put your selected volume(s) on the Results list. Now use the Search Range control to select 'Last Results'. If you enter your search term(s) in the box on the main toolbar, only your selected volume(s) will be searched. In this case, if a selected volume does not contain your search terms, it will remain on your Results list with 0 hits reported, so that you can repeat searches on the same volume selection.

    Note that there is a separate Search Range control on the Detailed Search page, so that you can fine tune basic and detailed searches separately.

  10. How do I search only in a specific journal series, or only books?

    You can restrict your search in various ways. If you frequently search a particular group of publications, or a particular date range, then it is worth setting up your default preferences. Click the Personal Information button to go to the Welcome page, and select "Set search preferences" on the "User Profile Options" menu. Changes you make to these settings will be saved permanently as part of your profile. Now use the Search Range control to select 'Preferences'. If you enter your search term(s) in the box on the main toolbar, your search will be limited according to your saved default preferences.

    There is a similar list of preferences on the Detailed Search page. These can be used to override your saved preferences for the length of the current session only, i.e. until you log out. This means that you can temporarily change your preferences without losing your saved defaults. If you wish, you can later save your temporary changes as your new defaults.

  11. I registered recently but have not received my password yet

    There are a few things that can cause this problem. Firstly, you may have accidentally mis-typed your email address when registering. Try to get a 'lost password reminder'. If Lexscien confirms that it has sent one, you know that your email address did register correctly. If instead it tells you that it can't find your email address, then please re-register. Secondly, make sure any spam filters you use are set to accept email from . A third problem that can occur is that your ISP may be mistaking Lexscien email for spam and blocking it. If you've checked all the above and still haven't received your password within a few hours, please email us at .

  12. I'm using the password I received but the system says 'Password not recognised'

    Most often, this means that your password contains a number you are mistaking for a letter, or vice-versa. Zero and O or One and L are easy to confuse in certain email display fonts. Copy the password to the clipboard (ctrl-C) and paste (ctrl-V) it into a document where you can change the font until the differences are clear. Alternatively paste your password directly into the password entry box on the login page.

  13. I can log in but can't see the private collections I should see (e.g. the SPR Online Library)

    The organisation that owns the private collection may have the wrong email address for you, so the library doesn't recognise you as a subscriber. Alternatively, your access may have expired. In either case, please contact the organisation directly to update your private subscription details. For example, SPR members can call the SPR Office on +44 (0)207-9378984. (If you have subscribed additionally to the full Lexscien collection but are having problems with access, please contact us at .)

  14. I can't see all the buttons

    Your screen should look like this. If not, try maximising your browser window. If that doesn't help, hold the shift key on your keyboard down while you click on your browser's refresh button. If that helped, it means you have the refresh problem described here: "I keep doing different searches but the results stay the same"; please follow those instructions to fix it. If that didn't solve the problem, please email us about it and send us a screenshot if possible. In the meantime you can use the scrollbar at the right edge of the toolbar to scroll down until the buttons are visible.

  15. The buttons don't work

    Please check your browser settings. You must have Javascript enabled, although you don't need Java enabled.

  16. Some of the text looks like garbage

    The text was generated automatically by character recognition software. It generally does a pretty good job, but can struggle with diagrams, tables, foreign character sets, unusual layout or deteriorating documents. If you switch to the PDF Image view, you can see an exact reproduction of the original page (more info).

  17. PDF files don't display

    While most of the PDF files are small so download relatively quickly, pages that have photographs or diagrams on them can be much larger. We have tried to keep them as small as possible without losing quality, but it can happen that a PDF may take a while to download, especially if you are on a dial-up connection. This can look as though there is nothing happening. Alternatively, you may need to adjust your browser settings as described in the next question.

  18. Each PDF page displays in a separate browser window

    Please check your browser settings. In Lexscien, PDFs are displayed using Adobe's Acrobat Reader embedded inside your browser (this is called a 'plug-in'). You must set your browser to allow plug-in appplications to display 'in-line', i.e. embedded inside another page. Some browsers (e.g. Opera) may need to be told specifically to allow Acrobat plug-ins.

  19. I can't go forward or backward in the PDF viewer

    The library is only showing you one PDF page at a time. You can use Lexscien's forward and backward controls to page through the document, and the hit list will take you directly to significant pages. However, in each case the PDF you see consists of only one page, so Adobe's own menu navigation (the lower menu bar) will not work. Ideally we'd like to surpress Adobe's built-in PDF menu completely, but we haven't figured out how to do that yet. If you want a complete, multi-page PDF of an article, make an excerpt and download it as described here.

  20. I did a search but got far fewer results than I should have

    It is likely that the system is not searching the entire collection. Check the list on your welcome page (press the 'personal information' button) to see whether you have access to all the collections you shoudl be entitled to view. If not, see the answer to the question I can log in but can't see the collections I should see"

  21. I keep doing different searches but the results stay the same

    Your browser is not refreshing. You need to set it to update pages it has viewed before. In Internet Explorer go to Tools ... Internet Options then on the first tab (General) click the Settings button (in the middle section marked Temporary Internet Files). Set "Check for newer versions of stored pages:" to "Automatically".

  22. The page number in the text doesn't match the page number on the toolbar

    There may well be discrepancies between these numbers, especially for older volumes. The page number displayed on the toolbar reflects where this page is in the full sequence of pages in the volume. However, many volumes have the first few pages numbered in roman numerals, so they only start numbering properly after three or four pages. Sometimes there are un-numbered pages with photo inserts. Also, there are occasional mistakes in a long publication history, resulting in gaps or even overlaps in page numbers within a volume. All litbase can do is number the pages in sequence. If you're looking for a particular page number and you enter that number in the toolbar, you may not get to that page immediately, but chances are you won't be far off.

  23. My search term must be there but the search does not find it

    Check out our search tips page.

  24. This library doesn't behave as I expect

    That's true, it is different to other libraries. It has many unusual features designed to make it cheap to implement, so it is practical for small organisations with limited funds to publish their documents. This also means that you as end user don't have to pay a lot to get access. If you're used to the conventional (expensive) library databases, you may find this one takes a bit of getting used to. It's worth the effort though - it has a number of extra, unusual features that you will enjoy. The overview explains the general differences and strategy for using the system.

  25. How can I get more help?

    There is more detailed information in the User Guide and the Features Overview. If you can't find the answers you are looking for, contact the Lexscien support team at .