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Lean Library Launches New ‘One-Click to PDF’ Feature To Instantly Unlock Full-Text Content July 8, 2025

We are thrilled to announce the initial launch of Lean Library‘s One-Click to PDF feature, with the next phase launching later this year. The initial launch offers users one-click access to the full-text PDF of academic content via a widget on the library’s discovery layer — without requiring users to download the Lean Library browser extension.

Read on to learn everything you need to know about this exciting development, what’s coming in the next phased release, and how it benefits librarians, students and researchers.

Introducing One-Click to PDF: Simplified Access To Scholarly Content

Accessing library-subscribed scholarly resources has long been a challenge for researchers and students, especially as the majority of content discovery starts outside the library environment. When searching for content online, it can take students and researchers an average of 12 clicks to reach a full-text PDF of an article, costing them valuable time.

Lean Library is a trusted tool in streamlining access to library resources and delivering library services directly to users in their online workflows through its browser extension. Lean Library previously saved users up to 3 minutes per content search by streamlining authentication and access to library-subscribed content on publisher sites, where users then click to the desired content.

While this remains at the core of Lean Library’s offering, the new One-Click to PDF feature expands on this by instead taking users direct to the full-text article PDF (or HTML equivalent) in just one click. Furthermore, it does this without the need for the browser extension via a ‘Get PDF’ widget that can be injected on the library discovery system.

As a pioneer in access solutions for libraries, this development underscores Lean Library’s commitment to enhancing the visibility and usage of library resources. Whether through the trusted browser extension or the new ‘Get PDF’ widget, Lean Library removes barriers to knowledge by streamlining academic workflows and strengthening the library’s central role in supporting students and researchers.

Initial Launch: One-Click Access From The Library Discovery Layer

This initial launch provides Lean Library customer institutions with an injectable ‘Get PDF’ widget to embed on their library discovery layer. The widget is powered by an integration with GetFTR, which ensures high-quality and reliable linking with all major publisher content. It detects in real-time where an article PDF is available and displays a ‘Get PDF’ button that instantly downloads the article PDF for users in just one click. If a PDF isn’t available, users instead see a ‘Get Article’ button, which takes them to the publisher’s HTML version or landing page as the next best option.

This streamlines content discovery for students and researchers and saves them time from having to navigate between library discovery layers and publisher sites to get their hands on the actual full-text.

Get PDF button example:

Get PDF button example

Get article button example:

Get Article button example

The widget is initially available for Ex Libris Primo and Summon library discovery services. It will next support OCLC Worldcat and EBSCO EDS. Customer librarians will be able to access engagement metrics on click-through rates and successful downloads via the Lean Library dashboard shortly after launch.

Next Phases: Expanded Content Coverage And One-Click Access From The Browser Extension And Beyond

While the integration with GetFTR offers reliable PDF linking for all major publisher content, we plan to rapidly expand content coverage in the next phases of development. In addition, the ‘One-Click to PDF’ button will be made available within the Lean Library browser extension to streamline workflows of students and researchers who bypass the library discovery layer entirely and who prefer to start their content discovery online. Furthermore, we are looking to extend this to multi-search platforms like Google Scholar for the button to appear next to academic content in users’ search results — ultimately to meet students and researchers in their different preferred workflows.

Why Lean Library Developed One-Click To PDF

Benefits for Libraries, Researchers and Students

For academic libraries, One-Click to PDF will:

For students and researchers, One-Click to PDF provides:

Join Lean Library on this Journey

As Lean Library continues to grow and develop, we remain committed to streamlining the research experience by amplifying the value of academic libraries. If your institution wants to learn about, contact us.