Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
UKOLN is supported by:
An overview of the OpenURLUKOLN/JIBS OpenURL Meeting
London, September 2003
Andy Powell, UKOLN, University of Bath
www.bath.ac.uk
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Contents
• overview of OpenURL background and functionality
• examples
• current and future status
• issues
Acknowledgements
• Thanks to Herbert Van der Sompel for the contents of some of the following slides…
Background and functionality
Origins of the OpenURL
• the context– distributed information environment (JISC IE)– multiple A&I and other discovery services– rapidly growing e-journal collection– need to interlink available resources
• the problem– links controlled by external info services– links not sensitive to user’s context (appropriate copy
problem)– links dependent on vendor agreements– links don’t cover complete collection
The problem
• the context– distributed information environment– multiple A&I and other discovery services– rapidly growing e-journal collection– need to interlink available resources
• the REAL problem– libraries have no say in linking– libraries losing core part of ‘organising information’
task– expensive collection not used optimally– users not well served
The solution…
• do NOT hardwire a link to a single service on the referenced item (e.g. a link from an A&I service to the corresponding full-text)
• BUT rather– provide a link that transports metadata
about the referenced item– to another service that is better placed to
provide service links
OpenURL
OpenURL resolver(link server)
Non-OpenURL linking
link destination
resolution of metadata into a link(typically a URL)
A&I servicedocument delivery
service
link source
link to referenced work .reference
OpenURL linking
link source.
user-specific
resolution of metadata &identifiers into services
reference OpenURLOpenURL
resolver
provision of OpenURL
linklink
destination
linklink
destinationlink
linkdestination
linklink
destination
transportation of metadata & identifiers
context-sensitive
A&I servicedocument delivery
service
Brief history of the OpenURL
• ~1998 – nature of solution determined• ~1999 – first real experiments (Ghent, LANL,
Wiley, SilverPlatter, Ex Libris, arXiv, …)• ~2000 – OpenURL 0.1 released, adoption by
community, SFX beta released• ~2001 – integration of OpenURL and
DOI/CrossRef frameworks, first non-SFX resolvers appear
• proposal to standardise OpenURL framework thru NISO…
Examples
Example 1
• journal article
• from Web of Science to ingenta Journals
button indicatingOpenURL ‘link’
is available
OpenURL resolver offeringcontext-sensitive links,including link to ingenta
also links to other servicessuch as Google search for
related information
Example 2
• book
• from University of Bath OPAC to Amazon
button indicatingOpenURL ‘link’
is available
OpenURL resolver offeringcontext-sensitive links,
including link to Amazon
also links to other servicessuch as Google search for
related information
Summary…ISI Web of Science
University of Bath OPAC
OpenURL resolver
ingenta
Amazon
OpenURL SourceOpenURLResolver
OpenURL Target
Summary (2)
• OpenURL source– a service that embeds OpenURLs into its user-
interface in order to enable linking to most appropriate copy
• OpenURL resolver– a service that links to appropriate copy(ies) and other
value added services based on metadata in OpenURL
• OpenURL target– a service that can be linked to from an OpenURL
resolver using metadata in OpenURL
Current and future status
OpenURL status in UK
• OpenURLs currently in use in some form at– Bradford, EDINA, Edinburgh, UEA, Derby, Bath,
Bangor, MIMAS, Royal Holloway, Westminster, Swansea, …
• OpenURL technology available from several vendors– Ex Libris (SFX), Openly Informatics (1Cate), Endeavor
(LinkFinderPlus), FD (OL2)
• open source solutions– ZBLSA
Standardisation
• all current OpenURL deployment is based on OpenURL version 0.1
• NISO currently standardising version 1.0
• expect to see gradual transition over next 12-24 months or so towards greater use of version 1.0
• …
NISO OpenURL version 1.0
• retains notion of transporting metadata to obtain context-sensitive services
• more flexible framework (metadata, syntax and transport)
• version 0.1 limited to bibliograph resources
• version 1.0 extensible to other communities (e.g. eLearning)
Issues
Issues for ‘resolvers’
• selecting OpenURL resolver software– hosted vs. in-house?– same vendor as library system or not?
• maintaining OpenURL resolver configuration tables (knowledge base)– this is where bulk of your effort is required– ideally need to include details of all physical and
electronic holdings– may buy-in some of the information from 3rd-party
supplier (e.g. serialsolutions.com) based on knowledge of subscriptions
Issues for ‘sources’
• remember… you’ll probably want to make your OPAC an ‘OpenURL source’
• in general, need to maintain knowledge of end-user’s prefered OpenURL resolver…
• … but in the case of an institutional OPAC, can probably hardwire the same resolver for everyone?
Issues for ‘targets’
• remember… you’ll probably want to make your OPAC an OpenURL target
• need to identify mechanism for deep-linking into ‘target’ service from OpenURL resolver– e.g. does ‘target’ support URLs based on
ISBNs or ISSNs?
• need to disclose this mechanism to resolvers (but no standard way to do this yet)
Questions?
