OpenURL Linking: the Academic Library Experience

Resource Integrationthrough

Open URL LinkingCharleston Conference

November 2003

John McDonald, CaltechDeborah Loeding, H.W. WilsonJenny Walker, ExLibrisHarry Samuels, Endeavor

Speakers

Charleston ConferenceNovember 2003

An Open URL is a common standard for identifying documents. Open URL compatible publishers use a standard formula to construct the address of any piece of text.

What is an Open URL?


How can students/patrons use your resources if they don’t know they exist? Open URL links the search to the sources!

Better Utilization of Electronic Resources


OpenURL Linking: the Academic Library Experience

John McDonaldAcquisitions LibrarianCharleston Conference

November 6, 2003

SFX at Caltech

1. Why did Caltech choose SFX? 2. What is enabled at Caltech? 3. How does it work? 4. What were the issues surrounding

release of SFX to the campus? 5. How do our users like it? 6. How hard is it to maintain? 7. Other frequently asked questions...

Why SFX?Reference Linking: Allows researchers to seamlessly transition from one information resource to another, easily linking them to full-text articles, to follow citations, or to find more information about the author, resource, or topic.

Context Sensitivity: Links that are presented to the user are determined by the journal and are specific to an institution's collections.

Local Control: Library staff determine the best choices to present to the user.

SFX'd Resources at Caltech

SFX Sources Now: All major bibliographic databases Not yet: OPAC (Innopac) SFX TargetsFulltext Journal Publishers: All major

publishers! Over 80 publishers and a total of 4105 journals (over 96% of our serial collection)

Other Bibliographic Resources: ILLIAD Document Delivery System, Local OPAC (Innovative), Feedback Form, Web of Science, PubMed

SFX in ACTION

Here are a few examples of how SFX works, in real life....Let's start in the Web of Science, do some searching, get some articles, see what our other options are...

SFX in ACTION

Here’s another example…What goes well with beer? Let’s search Grilling and Beef….

SFX Release Issues

When to release? We wanted to wait to release until after we had a "critical mass" of Sources and Targets. This would make the system seem like an overwhelming improvement and not resource-specific. CLS thought it was essential to have Web of Science & OVID as Sources and it was important, though not essential, to have Innopac as a Source.

User Education Issues: Caltech decided to keep the "branded" SFX button and continue to call the resource SFX. The Library User Education Team was consulted about education issues and their conclusion was to incorporate SFX instruction into already existing library instruction sessions. An Executive Summary was produced and paired with an SFX FAQ to inform and instruct our community.

Response: Immediate! Betsy enabled at 9:01 AM on Monday and we had an email by the next morning – a faculty request for a new subscription! Then a bug report, then a love letter, more love letters, then more subscription requests...But mostly people just started USING it and have NEVER LOOKED BACK...

Working with SFX: The FAQs of Life

1. How hard is it to get the system up and running?

2. What do you still do after the system is functional?

3. How long does it take and how many staff are involved?

4. How hard is it and what skills does it take?

5. How do users like it and what do the use statistics look

like?

Not very hard at all. Organizing your own collections data is the most time consuming aspect of the setup. Regular monthly updates, weekly knowledgebase (content data) updates, and daily troubleshooting. Frequent updates due to your changing library subscriptions.At Caltech, we only have two staff members who are regularly involved in updating the database. It’s not brain surgery – most librarians and programmers can get it up, running, and regularly maintained.Our users love it – They have difficulty remembering the “dark days” of finding fulltext by their wits and wiles.

How do your library users feel?

Confused Angry Afraid Frustrated

The Various States of Library Research

Clueless

Interested Astonished Happy Ecstatic

Your patron on…

Your patron now…

http://library.caltech.edu/john/sfx-ala/..sfx-ala/default.htm

http://library.caltech.edu/john/sfx-ala/

A New Open URL Solution with WilsonWeb

Deborah LoedingVP Sales & MarketingH.W. Wilson


• Don’t have your own link server?• Limited technical resources?• Just can’t deal with it?

Problem:


Solution:

• Use WilsonLink on WilsonWeb. Integrated—no additional charge

• SFX-powered access to your Open-URL compliant resources


WilsonLink in Action

Links to Article-Specific Open-URL Resources

Multi-file Search in Art

Expanded Use of Open URL

•

…Or Use Your Own Link Resolver

• Virtually all subscribers, all library types • 5-10% use their own link server • 1% disabled the featureSince new WilsonWeb debuted in January 2003

Who’s Using Open URL with WilsonWeb?


H.W. Wilson

Deborah [email protected]


Resource Integration through OpenURL Linking

Jenny WalkerEx Libris (USA) Inc.

[email protected]

More than just linking…. Link server as central repository for ejournal subscriptions:

Utilities to export and load ejournal records (eg: MARC format) into OPAC; Portals

Resource for unmediated document delivery requests

• Citation Linker/Finder

• A-Z journal title list

Research Tools eg to create linkable Reading Lists (and other integrations with E-Learning Environments)

Some new challenges for Link Servers

• More varied sources and targets – beyond linking scholarly textual information

• Distributed KnowledgeBase and the need to determine the actual collections for any particular user, regardless of administration/licensing organizations

• Use of user attributes for determination of more granular link services

OpenURLCurrent version is OpenURL 0.1Upcoming version is OpenURL 1.0

OpenURL 1.0 offers:• Linking beyond the Scholarly Bibliographic Information domain:

- Museum objects, Learning objects, video/audio,…

• Linking beyond the Scholarly Information domain:

- Cities, cars, people, companies,…

• More information about the network context better means to enable context sensitive and appropriate services

OpenURL 1.0Richer context description: ContextObject

Up to six entities to describe item and context

• Referent (item being referenced)• Referrer (site sending request)• Resolver (link server to which request

is being sent)• Requester (user making request)• Referring entity (item containing the

item being referenced) • Service type (what the resolver should

do)

OpenURL 1.0 (cont.)

Referent

Referrer

Requester

Service type

Referring entity

Server

Resolver

Potential services

Collections Rules

OpenURL

Link Server

KnowledgeBase

Link Server’s KnowledgeBase

Link Server’s KnowledgeBase• An important part of the

KnowledgeBase is information about the institution’s collection:• local collection• Licensed resources• And others• Collections can be (and will be) distributed

• It is not the case that only the home Institution is responsible (licenses; creates..) for all resources that Users may have access to

We need distributed rights evaluation

CDL DoEUCDavisResources of

Information Landscape

User’s Perspective

Distributed Services

UCD Link Server

merged services

CDL’s Link Server

OpenURL

OpenURL

http://www.ucdavis.edu/index.shtml

MyLinkServer In the beginning, most services were provided based on institutional affiliation (specified in the OpenURL BASE_URL) Today more and more services and options require more granular attributes about the Requester eg

- Conditional Services (faculty; technical services; undergraduate students; …) - Personalization of Services; and more …

The RequesterRequester (User) Attributes can come

through:

• ‘Environment’ variables (IP-address, cookies, certificates…) Available today

• ContextObject’s Requester Entity (in OpenURL v1.0)

• AuthN/Z Frameworks such as Shibboleth (Internet2/MACE project)

Link Servers

Link Servers are becoming a core component in libraries’

infrastructure for the management of electronic resources

www.exlibrisgroup.comwww.sfxit.com

[email protected]

23rd Annual Charleston ConferenceResource Integration Through OpenURL Linking Harry E. Samuels

Product Manager, LinkFinderPlusEndeavor Information [email protected]

Link Resolvers

What To Look For

Endeavor Information Systems, Inc.

Resource Integration Through OpenURL Linking

But first of all, the Good News…

–There are a lot of choices–There are at least 10 commercially available link resolvers available on the market today


Link Resolvers – What To Look For

So, with all of the choices - what should you look for?



Well, I have 9 Minutes…

To talk about 9 ThingsTo Look For

&Ask About



1. Is it OpenURL-compliant?

– A link resolver HAS TO BE OpenURL-compliant or it will not work with the large and ever-increasing number of databases and systems that can send OpenURLs.



2. Can it be purchased as a stand-alone system or subscribed to as a stand-alone service?

– It can be nice and it can be convenient to purchase a link resolver as part of a larger package, but you shouldn’t HAVE TO.

– Link resolvers, like all digital library components, should be interchangeable and interoperable with the products of other vendors.



3. Is the link resolver available as a locally run system AND as a Subscription Service?

Subscription Services offer the advantages of:

– Not having to purchase or re-purpose hardware

– Not having to install and upgrade software– Not needing IT staff to install and maintain

the service– Ability to “enter” and “exit” subscription

service agreements without worrying about investments in hardware and IT staff time that locally run systems require



4. If interested in the Subscription Service model, ask about the hosting site.

– Is it a professional hosting site?– Does it have a good networking

infrastructure and redundant connectivity to the Internet?

– Does it have 24x7 monitoring every day of the year?



5. Ask about the technologies that are used.

– Any Subscription Service should utilize well-known commercially available components because this enhances support levels.

– Locally run systems should use stable, portable components that can run on multiple operating systems.



6. How many journals can the link resolver link to? At how many sites? How many targets?

– There are 10’s of thousands of journals that are available in electronic form

– There are 10’s of hundreds of web sites and databases that host these journals

– Many journals are available at multiple web sites and databases. How many different copies can the link resolver link to?



7. Is the user interface customizable? How customizable?

– Customization is important because the library knows its users better than a vendor.

– More importantly, the library should be able to “brand” the interface so that users know that this is a “library service”.



8. The “INVOKE” feature - Can the link resolver take the user directly to full-text without having to go through a link menu?

– Many users just want the darn journal. This may or may not describe your users, but you want the option of using this feature if you need it.



9. Last, but not least – PRICE- Today’s offerings run the gamut from

really expensive to really inexpensive.- They offer different feature sets, but

they ALL link to electronic journals.- Subscription Service offerings give

institutions the option of “getting in” and “getting out” of link resolvers without having to worry about investments in hardware and software installations.




Thank YouFor Your Time


John McDonald, [email protected]

Deborah Loeding, H.W. Wilson [email protected] Jenny Walker, ExLibris

[email protected] Harry Samuels, Endeavor

[email protected]

Thank you for attending!

Questions?

mailto:[email protected]




OpenURL Linking: the Academic Library Experience

Technology

Transcript of OpenURL Linking: the Academic Library Experience