Developments in Linking: OpenURL Eric F. Van de Velde California Institute of Technology
Developments in Linking: OpenURL What? Why? Who?
What is an OpenURL? Transportable Metadata Format Transportable Between information services Metadata Initial Focus: bibliographic Down the road: any information society Format Embedded in HTTP GET or POST request
Caveat………. Concrete examples for illustration only† Standardization has not yet started. Vocabulary may change. NOTHING is final. †Adapted from OpenURL Syntax Description, Draft May 16 th 2000, Herbert Van de Sompel, Patrick Hochstenbach, and Oren Beit-Arie.
OpenURL Draft Example The resolver that takes OpenURL as input. The resolver is NOT part of the OpenURL. Resolver actions are NOT part of the OpenURL. The resolver may be proprietary. id=doi:123/3456 OpenURL (before escape encoding) of an Object that has a Digital Object Identifier.
OpenURL Draft Example 2 …?id=oai:arXiv:physics/ &id=pmid: …?id=oai:arXiv:physics/ &id=pmid: OpenURL of Object with Open Archives Identifier (LANL arXiv) and PubMed Identifier.
OpenURL Draft Example 3 …?issn= &date=1998&volum e=12&issue=2&spage=134 OpenURL of Journal Article In journal with ISSN Published in 1998 Volume 12 Issue 2 Starting Page 134
Caveat………. Concrete examples for illustration only† Standardization has not yet started. Vocabulary may change. NOTHING is final. †Adapted from OpenURL Syntax Description, Draft May 16 th 2000, Herbert Van de Sompel, Patrick Hochstenbach, and Oren Beit-Arie.
Why do we need OpenURL? Persistent Links Embraces DOIs: Provides alternate resolution of DOIs.† Allows for other persistence mechanisms For example, OpenURL resolver database may keep track of ownership and location at a coarse-grain (publisher/journal) level. †Open Linking in the Scholarly Information Environment Using the OpenURL Framework, Herbert Van de Sompel and Oren Beit-Arie, D-Lib Magazine, Vol. 1, Nr. 3, March 2001.
Why do we need OpenURL? Multiple Links per Object With OpenURL input, resolver may produce a menu of services. For example: From journal-article citation to: Full text A&I service Web search engine From book citation to: Book reviews On-line bookstore
Why do we need OpenURL? Context-Sensitive Links Resolver may know the user. Resolver may process the OpenURL information in a manner appropriate to the user’s context. For example: From journal-article citation to: Appropriate copy Local document-delivery system From book citation to: Local holdings (OPAC)
Why do we need OpenURL? Log of User Actions User jumps from one resource to another. Resolver may keep track of user actions. At end of session, resolver may produce a log according to user specifications. For example: Create a bibliographic database.
Who works on OpenURL? NISO Committee AX First meeting is June 28 th and 29 th. Subscribe to the OpenURL listserv at: