How many PURLs would an URL Checker check… Millennium URL Checker in the Real World Mary M. Strouse Catholic University of America ILUG 2004
M. Strouse ILUG Evolution 1994Field 856 |u designated for URLs 1998MARCxGen debuts 2000URLVerify (telnet version, Rel. 2000) 2002|u added to other MARC fields 2003Millennium URL Checker (Rel ph. 2)
M. Strouse ILUG URLVerify Web Report ~
M. Strouse ILUG Report Millennium URL Checker Report Summary of error types (uncheck to hide) Integrated with MilCat
M. Strouse ILUG Sort by column headers Resize columns (no truncation)
M. Strouse ILUG Highlight a row and click “Edit” to open record Click edit to get MARC record Access public view
M. Strouse ILUG Clicking “GO” opens URL in a browser window (for rechecking)
M. Strouse ILUG Locating Missing Links
M. Strouse ILUG Automatic Substitution of New URL Check boxes to select, then click preview tab
M. Strouse ILUG Uncheck any errors, click “process” Summary screen
M. Strouse ILUG Correcting URL Directly in Report 1) Type in “New URL” 2) Check replace box 3) Preview & process
M. Strouse ILUG Copying Old URL to Edit Window 1) Check replace box (must do first) 2) Select Old URL - New URL 3) Edit in new URL window 4) Preview & Process
M. Strouse ILUG Find and Replace (New URL)
M. Strouse ILUG Interactive Reports Create new interactive report Toggle between most recent Automatic and Interactive reports
M. Strouse ILUG Interactive report can run against entire database, a review file, an index range, or a keyword search
M. Strouse ILUG Monday Morning Recheck
M. Strouse ILUG Can’t minimize or work with desktop while report is running
M. Strouse ILUG Error Types
M. Strouse ILUG htp://app.comm.uscourts.gov Malformed URL (-2)
M. Strouse ILUG Network is unreachable (-7) New error type in Phase 3 (Millennium report only)
M. Strouse ILUG
M. Strouse ILUG PURLs and Other Redirects Every server redirection reported as an error
M. Strouse ILUG Redirection can be a sign a resource has moved, and maintenance is warranted.
M. Strouse ILUG Missing slash after directory name reported as permanent redirect (301) Edit to eliminate from future reports
M. Strouse ILUG Server-side redirect to add timestamp pr+20+22:28:15+PDT+2003/0/520/nss.p df
M. Strouse ILUG All PURLs are identified as redirects, not checked further True also of 3 rd -party link checkers (except Xenu)
M. Strouse ILUG I-Hate-PURLs Workflow Use automatic substitution to replace PURL with (current) underlying URL Replace box can’t be batch-selected.
M. Strouse ILUG Beware the “Leaving GPO” Message
M. Strouse ILUG URL Checker reports entire frwebgate “wrapper” as the new URL bin/leaving.cgi?from=exitpurl.html&to=http%3 A//
M. Strouse ILUG Library-editable URLBlock File Not a substitute for honoring “no robots” conventions!
M. Strouse ILUG Block can be a full URL, domain name or text string PURL.ACCESS.GPO.GOV III-specified blocks for major aggregators
M. Strouse ILUG Trust-the-Government Workflow 1. Unblock GPO PURLs and run interactive report monthly (e.g., after Marcive load)
M. Strouse ILUG Exclude working redirects, troubleshoot others Must load entire report before excluding redirects (slow)
M. Strouse ILUG WAIS Database searches reported as timeout errors (-6)
M. Strouse ILUG WAM Proxy Rewrite URLs Not Checked Host Unreachable (-5) 3 rd -party link checkers report all proxy-rewrite URLs OK even if nonexistent.
M. Strouse ILUG Fool-the-System Workflow |u CollectionIndex.pl? journal-cjtl |z View via Hein Online Underlying URL in |u, PURL or proxy-rewrite URL within anchor tag in |z.
M. Strouse ILUG “ Multi-threading ” Rate The number of simultaneous “calls” sent to servers at a given time URL checker > rd -party link checkers: (often user-configurable) At issue when many resources concentrated on a few servers URL Checker activity may be perceived as an “attack”
M. Strouse ILUG Summary: What URL Checker Checks URLs in subfield u of 856 fields in Bib. Records (but not URLs in other subfields) URLs in 956 fields in electronic reserves (Millennium Media) records
M. Strouse ILUG And What it Doesn’t… URLs or domains in the URLBlock file (aggregators, etc) Purls and other redirects Proxy-rewrite URLs in WAM Electronic journal issue URLs in checkin boxes URLs in bibliographic record notes
M. Strouse ILUG Suggestions for Further Development – Reports & Editing Pre-configure large interactive reports (faster loading) Allow minimization during report prep Bypass summary of attached items Improve copy & paste, batch select & replace. Interactive checking of “New URL” column
M. Strouse ILUG Suggestions for Further Development – Functionality Follow redirects to final destination Honor page-level and server-level robot exclusions, and report with a unique status code Customize multi-threading rate Output report in CSV (comma-delimited) format
M. Strouse ILUG URL Checker Documentation Millennium Manual (Rls. 2003) Permissions (#105370) Reports (#105371) Edit/Replace capability (#105372) URLBlock (#105373)
M. Strouse ILUG URLVerify Documentation Innopac manual, pages Maintaining Hyperlinks in the WebPac: Tools and Tradeoffs (IUG 8, May 2000) w/index.html Tom Tyler’s freeware
M. Strouse ILUG URL Display WWWOptions DISPLAY_856 – Defines the order and placement of subfields that form the hypertext link in an OPAC display (default is |z then |u) Multiple subfields (including access and usage notes) display as a single underlined link. Enhancement request: separate WWWoptions to control display of link and notes.
M. Strouse ILUG URL Display WWWOptions LINK856TEXT – Defines the phrase that appears above the hypertext link in a full display (Default is “Click here to:”) ICON_856LINK – controls display of 856 link in a brief display (Manual #102168)
M. Strouse ILUG Contact: Mary M. Strouse DuFour Law Library, Catholic University of America Thank you!