Linking: An Overview North Carolina Serials Conference Chapel Hill, NC April 4, 2003

Critical Elements u Clean metadata  So content can be found, cataloged, interpreted, USED  Allows for consistent use of terms so making associations are practical u Co-operation  The more participation and agreement on standards, the more useful content becomes u Competition  Healthy; means of encouraging continuing attention paid to user needs, product/service development

Why Link? u Disseminate content as widely as possible  Distribution of metadata (rather than full text) to gateways, databases, portals, etc – easing discovery  Increased visibility to diverse user groups u Make content as functional as possible  Reference resolution: find resources holding cited article; created “on the fly” to ensure currency  Forward citations: link to succeeding articles which refer back to it u Make links as intelligent as possible  Appropriate copy issues

Content Dissemination u Publisher/agent/ u secondary publisher/ et al co-operation needed to build as comprehensive a network as practical u Different links needed for different groups –  intermediaries with subscription activation programs can help with pre-authentication to speed access to full text u The Wish  The web provides users with a simple online interface through which they can seamlessly access all online journals. u The Reality  No one entry way exists, and besides, users favor different starting points…  …So we need to ensure content is available through as many as possible

CrossRef u Perhaps the most significant industry development in recent years:  Provides a repository of metadata (DOI) – like a directory of mobile phone numbers, with automatic dialing  Creates persistent, sustainable links to content, ensuring long-term access to information regardless of location or status of owner  A multi-publisher initiative enabling the linking of references to the cited full text  Facilitates both inbound and outbound linking

Active References user follows link from citation in full text …

On-the-Fly Resources … to external resources page: follow link …

Direct Links … to view result on chosen service

Appropriate Copy u Context-sensitive linking  Allows greater control over what resources are available to users: shows users  Appropriate copy  Most immediately available copy u Link servers  Software enabling context-sensitive linking – helps makes links more useful by filtering as appropriate

No Links?

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