Lean Library is OneStop Gateway assistance to all VGU academic e-resources and open access literature from the browser extension. It is a powerful browser extension designed to streamline your access to all academic resources. Whether you’re on or off campus, Lean Library ensures seamless access to VGU’s subscribed databases, journals, and e-books without unnecessary paywalls or complicated login processes. It also brings us all open access resources with a click to have materials on our desktops.
Download and install Lean Library for your browser extension via this link.
Read more Read less
Why use Lean Library?
Lean Library is an essential tool for researchers, students, and faculty members who want quick and reliable access to academic content. Here’s what you can expect:
Instant Access to Full-text Articles – The Access feature allows you to quickly identify and access publisher websites and e-resources available through VGU library. When browsing the internet for an article or visiting a publisher’s website off-campus, you might be unaware of which materials you have access to. The Lean Library Access extension helps by detecting your access rights and displaying a pop-up, enabling instant off-campus access.
Seamless Organizational Login – When you visit a website that requires an organizational login, Lean Library will automatically prompt you to log in to your VGU account to save time. This ensures you receive useful guidance and announcements for a seamless research experience.
Alternatives – When an article or eBook is not directly available through the VGU Library, the extension automatically checks if it is accessible through another licensed source and redirects you. If no licensed version is found, it searches for a legal Open Access version. In case neither option is available, the extension can guide you to request the material through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
Time-saving & User-friendly – No need to navigate multiple websites or search manually for institutional login pages.
Find out more by watching this short video which explains how the extension works.
Additional features
Highlight & Search: Easily highlight a word or phrase and right-click to search for more details. Lean Library Access integrates with your library’s database and other sources to enhance your search results. Find more details here.
Google Scholar & PubMed: When enabled and configured by your institution, the Lean Library extension enhances searches on Google Scholar and PubMed. It prioritizes your library’s licensed full texts in search results, ensuring easier access to available resources.
Scite.ai: Integrated with Scite.ai, the extension provides instant insights into how a scientific article has been cited and whether it has been supported or disputed by other studies.
ToC Alert: While browsing Google Scholar, you can click the ToC Alert button next to an article to subscribe to “Table of Contents alerts” (ToC Alerts). This feature notifies you when new articles from a specific journal are published. Read more here.
Click here to find out more about the extension settings and how you can customise your experience with Lean Library
How to get started?
Download & Install: Add the Lean Library browser extension to Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari at leanlibrary.com/download
Select Your Institution: Choose Vietnamese-German University (VGU) when prompted.
Enjoy Effortless Research: Lean Library will automatically provide access to VGU’s resources whenever you search for academic content.
Need help?
For any assistance, feel free to contact VGU Library via email at library@vgu.edu.vn or visit our help desk.
Start using Lean Library today and make your research journey smoother than ever!
The IEEE Xplore is a powerful database in scientific and technical field, published by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and other publishing partners. IEEE Xplore provides access to over 3 million full-text materials from some of the world’s most highly cited publications in electrical engineering, computer science and electronics. There are also more than 2 million documents in HTML format. The IEEE Xplore has 170+ journals, 1,400+ conference proceedings, 5,100+ technical standards, around 2,000 eBooks. Approximately 20,000 new documents are added to IEEE Xplore each month.
Science Direct (SD) is Elsevier’s leading database for academic communities. It comprises full-text scientific, technical and health publications with updated documents to keep users informed in their fields. SD conveys over 3,800 journals and more than 35,000 book titles. We are currently provided to access to 3,103 journals, and 1,076 ebooks.
ProQuest Central is the largest, multidisciplinary, full-text database in the market today, totaling over 170 subjects, making the database the broadest research resource in the world.
SpringerLink is the world’s most comprehensive online database of scientific, technological and medical journals, books and reference works. There are over 9 million scientific documents in the collection.
Nature is a weekly international journal publishing the finest peer-reviewed research in all fields of science and technology on the basis of its originality, importance, interdisciplinary interest, timeliness, accessibility, elegance and surprising conclusions. Nature also provides rapid, authoritative, insightful and arresting news and interpretation of topical and coming trends affecting science, scientists and the wider public.
Link for access: Nature (VNU) (accounts provided via emails)
LSEG is one of the world’s leading providers of financial markets infrastructure and delivers financial data, analytics, news and index products to 44,000+ customers in over 170 countries.
Gale Research Complete provides access to the largest package of primary and secondary sources, connects users to trusted, up-to-date content from leading magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals and eBooks. Empowering users at all academic levels, from the undergraduate students to the experienced researchers, and covering nearly every research area and discipline, Gale Research Complete offers high quality, authoritative and unique content. The collections are easy to access, and with interactive tools, users can save, download, listen to and share.
Gale Research Complete includes:
Gale Academic Onefile
Gale General Onefile
Gale Onefile: News
Gale Business Insights
Gale eBooks
Link for access: Gale Research Complete(no password required when accessing the resources on VGU campuses.
Accessing Gale Research Complete outside VGU: log in with VGU email accounts
Searching Gale via separate databases above or via Library OneSEARCH
MathSciNet® is an electronic publication offering access to an easily searchable database of reviews, abstracts and bibliographic information for much of the mathematical sciences literature. MathSciNet® contains over 3 million items and over 1.7 million direct links to original articles.
Link for access: MathSciNet® (accounts provided via emails)
Driven by the belief that social and behavioral science has the power to improve society, Sage focuses on publishing impactful research and enabling robust research methodology. They produce high quality educational resources that support instructors to prepare the citizens, policy makers, educators and researchers of the future.
Sage Journals are the natural home for leading authors, editors and societies. Publishing more than 1,000 journals, from a wide range of disciplines, SAGE is here to meet your needs.
Web of Science (previously known as Web of Knowledge) is a scientific citation indexing database originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) that provides a comprehensive citation search, citation mapping and citation reports. It gives access to multiple databases that reference cross-disciplinary research, which enable in-depth exploration of specialized sub-fields in any disciplines. (Source: Web of Science (WoS))
We are sorry for limited access as currently we do not have a subscription to access to WoS for article abstracts, citations and beyond.
Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. It provides a comprehensive overview of the world’s research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Scopus has smart tools to track, analyze and visualize research. (Source: Scopus)
The AGORA program, set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to an outstanding digital library collection in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. AGORA provides a collection of up to 15,500 key journals and up to 48,000 books in more than 115 countries. AGORA is one of the five programs that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI and GOALI.
Link for access: Research4Life(access via Institution SSO – Vietnamese-German University)
Hinari offers access to thousands of journals, books, and other information resources in biomedical and health sciences topics. The journals and books can be searched through a special version of PubMed (Medline) and through other databases. Hinari is one of the five programs that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI and GOALI.
Link for access: Research4Life(access via Institution SSO – Vietnamese-German University)
OARE provides access to information resources in a wide range of disciplines contributing to our understanding of the natural environment, including environmental toxicology and pollution, ecology, geography, environmental economics, environmental law, conservation policy, environmental engineering, energy and many others. OARE is one of the five programs that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI and GOALI.
Link for access: Research4Life(access via Institution SSO – Vietnamese-German University)
The Access to Research for Development and Innovation (ARDI) program, coordinated by WIPO together with its partners in the publishing industry, aims to increase the availability of scientific and technical information in developing countries. By improving access to scholarly literature from diverse fields of science and technology, ARDI seeks to:
reinforce the capacity of developing countries to participate in the global knowledge economy; and
support researchers in developing countries in creating and developing new solutions to technical challenges faced on a local and global level.
ARDI is one of the five programs that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI and GOALI.
Link for access: Research4Life(access via Institution SSO – Vietnamese-German University)
GOALI offers access to up to 16,000 resources, including books and peer-reviewed journals on law and social sciences, and incorporating disciplines such as politics, economics, philosophy, history and many more from the most prestigious academic publishers. GOALI is one of the five programs that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI and GOALI.
Link for access: Research4Life(access via Institution SSO – Vietnamese-German University)
The Vietnamese e-book database of the Ho Chi Minh City General Publishing House includes 1,413 textbooks, course materials, and dictionaries covering all disciplines.
Note: Viewers can only view and read books online.
Link for access: Sachweb (VNU) (accounts provided via emails)
The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) was launched in 2003 at Lund University, Sweden, with 300 open access journals and today contains over 9000 open access journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities. DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. All DOAJ services are free of charge including being indexed. All data is freely available. (Source: DOAJ)
The Springer Open portfolio has grown tremendously since its launch in 2010, so that we now offer researchers from all areas of science, technology, medicine, the humanities and social sciences a place to publish open access in journals. Publishing with Springer Open makes your work freely available online for everyone, immediately upon publication, and our high-level peer-review and production processes guarantee the quality and reliability of the work. Open access books are published by our Springer imprint. (Source: Springer Open)
Science Direct (SD) is Elsevier’s leading database for academic communities. It comprises full-text scientific, technical and health publications with updated documents to keep users informed in their fields. SD conveys over 3,800 journals and more than 35,000 book titles. We are currently provided to access to 1,876 journals dated from 2007 to 2019, and 284 ebooks.
For over a decade Sage has played an active role in Open Access, seeking to build bridges to knowledge in the research community. From their extensive author service to their flexible OA publishing routes, SAGE is here to empower you as researchers, librarians and readers. In an ever-changing landscape, they are here to respond to library needs with our innovative Open Access Agreements. In line with structural equity, they strive to offer sustainable open research, which is accessible to all. (Source: Sage)
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. It embodies nearly 300 journals, more than 2,500 books and over 450 teaching cases. Disciplines covered by Emerald are accounting & finance, economics, education, management, library,. Resources are available only for 2007.
IMF (International Monetary Fund) eLibrary simplifies analysis and research with direct access to the IMF’s periodicals, books, working papers and studies, and data and statistical tools on macroeconomics, globalization, development, trade and aid, technical assistance, demographics, emerging markets, policy advice, poverty reduction, and so much more.
The International Trade Centre has developed a suite of online tools to make global trade more transparent and to facilitate access to markets. These tools enable business actors to identify export and import opportunities, compare market-access requirements, monitor national trade performance and make well-informed trade decisions.
The Market Analysis Tools suite covers the world’s largest databases on trade statistics, tariff data, and rules of origin related to applicable free trade agreements. Additional tools offer export potential estimations, market price information, regional trade and investment data and much more.
Account for access ICT Tools: Please register from the Market Analysis Tools Portal to have your own account or use the library shared account sent to your emails to access the following ICT Market Tools:
Trade Map, https://www.trademap.org, (trade statistics) to use indicators on export performance, to see international demand as well as exporting companies’ details, to identify alternative markets.
Market Access Map, https://www.macmap.org, (tariffs) for analysing market access conditions worldwide, including applied and bound tariff rates, trade agreements and non-tariff measures.
Export Potential Map, https://exportpotential.intracen.org, based on ITC trade potential and diversification assessment methodology, to see products, markets and suppliers with untapped trade potential.
Market Price Information, https://mpi.intracen.org, is an online tool to track most recent market price information from multiple sources and geographic areas. It provides daily or weekly prices and market news for more than 300 agricultural products.
Investment Map, https://www.investmentmap.org, to see the sector breakdown of foreign direct investment and foreign affiliates’ information to support investment attraction strategies.
Sustainability Map, https://www.sustainabilitymap.org, to analyse and compare voluntary standards promoting sustainable development applied to the production and trade of goods and services.
Procurement Map, https://procurementmap.intracen.org, to see detailed information over 150 000 public tenders. This tool offers a route to foster entrepreneurship and to seek new market opportunities.
Rules of Origin Facilitator, https://findrulesoforigin.org, to see in a single gateway: trade agreements, duty rates, preferential and non-preferential rules of origin, origin certificates and customs procedures.
The Electronic Journals Library (EZB) is a service to facilitate the use of scholarly journals on the internet. It offers a fast, structured and unified interface to access full-text articles online. It comprises 106571 titles from all areas of research, 24899 of which are available online only. In addition, 136368 journals, which are provided by aggregators, are listed. The EZB contains 70747 journals which are accessible free of charge to anyone. Furthermore, the participating libraries provide their users access to the journals they subscribe to.
The journals are presented in lists sorted by research area. An updated list is generated by the database according to the member library’s specifications each time it is accessed. The availability of full-text access is indicated by traffic-light symbols according to the license situation of each member library.
Ingenta is the largest supplier of technology and related services for the publishing industry. IngentaConnect is multidisciplinary, academic and professional database, providing millions of article citations and electronic full text articles.
Link for access: Ingenta (accounts provided via emails)
ROAD, the Directory of Open Access scholarly Resources, is a system given by the ISSN International Centre with the support of the Communication and Information Sector of UNESCO. ROAD provides a free access to a subset of the ISSN Register (such as bibliographic records, journals, conference proceedings and academic repositories. Its primary purpose is to provide a single access point to a wide range of scholarly resources published worldwide and freely available.
The Digital Commons Network brings together free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide. Curated by university librarians and their supporting institutions, the Network includes a growing collection of peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings, and other original scholarly work (Source: Digital Commons Network)
OAIster is a union catalog of millions of records representing open access digital resources that was built by harvesting from open access collections worldwide using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). Today, OAIster includes more than 30 million records representing digital resources from more than 1,500 contributors. Additionally, the OAIster records are included in search results for those libraries with WorldCat Local and WorldCat Local “quick start”. (Source: OAIster)
The aim of FreeFullPDF.com is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific journals, theses, posters and patents. All scientific subjects are covered and all content are freely available in PDF format. FreeFullPDF.com was developped by KnowMade SARL. KnowMade is a Technology Intelligence company specialized in the research and analysis of scientific and technical information. (Source: FreeFullPDF)
WorldWideScience is a global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases and portals. (Source: WorldWideScience)
CORE’s mission is to aggregate all open access research outputs from repositories and journals worldwide and make them available to the public. In this way CORE facilitates free unrestricted access to research for all. (Source: CORE)
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is one of the world’s most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources. BASE provides more than 100 million documents from more than 5,000 sources. You can access the full texts of about 60% of the indexed documents for free (Open Access). BASE is operated by Bielefeld University Library. (Source: BASE)