Useful FireFox extensions :
- Distill
This allows you to monitor a web page for any changes. You can highlight just part of the page (handy as some pages change a lot with tweets or whatever so you want to avoid that) and it will track changes only in that section – useful if looking for a report to appear, update to a publication. The only tricky thing with it is that when you highlight a section the Save changes icon you want is bottom right (took a while to find that)
- Lightshot and Awesome Screenshot Plus
Both of these make capturing and annotating screenshots very easy which is useful for training materials, highlighting problems via emails etc
- Copy as plain text
Just a little thing but find it useful. Adds a right click option to a highlighted items in the browser such that you can copy as plain text and don’t have formatting carried over into whatever you are copying into
- Vimperator
Essentially it converts links into numbers and you can “click on the link” by typing the relevant number so in a sense creates keyboard shortcuts for websites. Could be useful with any web interface used frequently.
- Lastpass
Oldie but a very goodie – only ever have to remember one password.
Other bits and pieces:
PubMed for Nurses tutorial
UpToDate now more useful for those that subscribe
There is now a specific ClinicalKey app (rather than just a mobile optimised site) but apparently only available in the US for the moment
Booko price alert. Booko is useful for finding the best prices for books (including delivery). It now has a feature where for a given item you can set a price target and be alerted when price drops below your nominated figure. This feature is below the book cover image.
Move between browser tabs. It is quite easy to get caught out using alt-tab when all you actually want to do is move between tabs of the browser. Ctrl-tab works for most browsers so you just have to think ctrl instead of alt
On the Wards. This is a website for junior docs containing podcasts, blogs and videos. The podcasts are interviews with senior clinicians that discuss common questions and case based scenarios that junior doctors will face on the wards etc
A few new useful(?) MeSH headings for 2015 – Legendary creatures, Long term adverse effects, Smartphone, Spirit possession, Giraffes, Hoarding disorder
Continuing with MeSH. MeSH On Demand identifies candidate subject headings from text pasted into the search box
Two newish PubMed alerting services – Medumail and MedSubscriber
Papers, the reference manager, for iPhone and iPad is now free
British Medical Library Association book prize winners 2015 for possible book purchases
WriteCite Builds citation as student enters details so they can learn the structure
The Cloud Catalog: One Catalog to Serve Them All
And with that it is time now for a coffee
Just an update on this for anyone interested in useful browser extensions in the health librarian setting:
Browser Extensions For The Stretched Health Librarian, 2023
https://www.johila.org/index.php/Johila/article/view/143/212
Dear Rob,
thanks for the useful suggestions, appreciate it.
The ClinicalKey app is also available in countries outside the US. We have access in the Netherlands since march 2016.
Kind regards,
Olga
Very helpful tidbits … test driving several of these while sipping my coffee. 😉 Thank you!