Ever pull up an abstract of a paper from a reference or in Google Scholar but forgot to navigate from the campus proxy-authenticated electronic journal page first? Ever wish you could automatically get the Texas State proxy server to automatically reload a page? Here’s how.

Create a bookmark with this link:

javascript:void(location.href='https://login.libproxy.txstate.edu/login?url='+location.href);

Name the bookmark something useful like “Magical Proxy Reload” or just “->lib->” (“load this page through the library”). Now when you select the bookmark from a menu or bookmark bar, the page you’re currently looking at will be automatically reloaded through Texas State University’s authenticated proxy server, giving you speedy access to the PDFs. That’s assuming TXST is subscribed to the journal, of course. Javascript must be enabled. This trick works in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox, but I haven’t tried IE.

If you’re reading this page from another university, your school library probably offers a similar proxy service. You might be able to figure out how to modify the magic link for your school if you look closely at the URL from several journals loaded through your library’s proxy. If not, contact your library or IT department and ask.

Feedback welcome.