[Web4lib] Setting Google Scholar Institutions

[Dan Scott]

Hi Tom:

On 25/02/07, Tom Keays <tomkeays at gmail.com> wrote:
> Does anyone have any idea how to create a "save preferences" url for a
> given institution in Google Scholar? The LibX FAQ,
> http://www.libx.org/faq.html#QL10 gives an example demonstrating how,
> if you click a special link, it will set your Google Scholar
> preferences to Stanford University's SFX resolver.
>
> http://scholar.google.com/scholar_setprefs?num=50&newwindow=1&instq=&q=einstein&inststart=0&submit=Save+Preferences&inst=sfx-f7e167eec5dde9063b5a8770ec3aaba7
>
> The "inst=sfx-f7e167eec5dde9063b5a8770ec3aaba7" part is what sets it.
> But how is this hash generated? How can I construct one for my own
> institution?

There's actually a LibX mailing list that would be more on-topic for
this (http://libx.mozdev.org/list.html) -- but I'm sure the
"preferences" in the FAQ are simply your Google Scholar Preferences,
not the LibX preferences.

So:

1. Open Google Scholar and check your preferences.
2. Search for Stanford in the "Library Links" section.
3. View the page source. You'll see something like <input name="inst"
type="checkbox" value="sfx-f7e167eec5dde9063b5a8770ec3aaba7"
onClick="onClickInst(this)"><font size=-1 >Stanford University (Find
it at Stanford)</font>

That's the value you use to construct your special preference-setting link.

Dan Scott
Laurentian University