1. OpenURL and Canonical Citation Linking in Classics A Collaborative Project at Cornell between Classics and the University Library
Metadata Working Group Forum
Cornell University Library
October 16, 2009
Eric Rebillard
David Ruddy
Adam Chandler

2. Planning grant overview
Mellon Foundation funding
Three components
Canonical citation
OpenURL quality metrics and evaluation
L’Annee interface enhancements

12. Linking solutions Bilateral, direct vendor links
Costly to implement and maintain
Unstable
Does not easily allow one-to-many relationships
Does not address ‘appropriate copy’ problem
A method with more indirection, such as OpenURL

13. Classical text resource
(e.g., JSTOR, L’Annee)
User’s link resolver
OpenURL
HTML page with link options
Source text in original language
Source text in translation
Library catalog
Inter-library loan
Others?

14. Advantages of using OpenURL
System/vendor independent
Uniform linking syntax
Minimizes cost of creating and maintaining links
Easily allows one-to-many linking
Allows for appropriate copy linking

15. Project tasks
Define a metadata format that can reliably reference canonical citations
Work through implementation challenges
Build a prototype

16. Metadata format: Identifying the work
Canonical citations are at the level of the FRBR work
Very little metadata (a title, possibly an author name)
Metadata format includes an undefined work identifier
Community defined
Possibly ISTC

17. Metadata format: Author names
Existing OpenURL metadata formats expect modern, western names (aufirst, aulast)
How to capture ancient author names?
Allowing multiple ways to encode author forms, which may depend on era of author
aufirst auform1
aulast auform2

18. Metadata format: Citation components
Two possible approaches:
Try to define every component
Book, section, canto, stanza, act, scene, etc.
A more abstract approach, recognizing the typical hierarchical structure of works
level_1, level_2, level_3
Second approach adopted, as more generally applicable across heterogeneous material

19. Implementation challenge
Normally, resolution to resource is left to local link resolver
And yet:
Detailed and specialized knowledge
Uncertain commercial incentive for link resolver vendors
Proposed solution: domain-specific, community-supported knowledge bases

20. Classical text resource (e.g., JSTOR, L’Annee)
Classical Works KnowledgeBase (CWKB)
OpenURL
HTML page with link options
Service X Text in original language, Edition A
Service X Text in original language, Edition B
Service Y Text in original language
Service Z Text in translation
Others?

21. Problems with this approach
Doesn’t solve appropriate copy problem
Doesn’t allow for institutional branding, presentation, page layout
Doesn’t allow for local options (library catalog search, etc.)

22. Classical text resource (e.g., JSTOR, L’Annee)
Classical Works KnowledgeBase (CWKB)
OpenURL 1
OpenURL 2
HTML page with link options
User’s link resolver
Library catalog
Inter-library loan
Service X Text in original language
Service Y Text in translation
Others?

23. Advantages of intermediate resolver / knowledge base
Domain specific knowledge base can augment and/or normalize metadata values
Can provide specialized linking information
Can allow direct access to targeted resources for users without a local link resolver
Could provide other potential services to community

24. Classical text resource (e.g., JSTOR, L’Annee)
Classical Works KnowledgeBase (CWKB)
OpenURL 1
OpenURL
CWKB
URL
redirect
service 2
HTML page with link options
User’s link resolver
Library catalog
Inter-library loan
Service X Text in original language
Service Y Text in translation
Service Z
Text in original language

25. Classical Works Knowledge Base (CWKB)
A relational database that stores metadata about classical works
A link resolver software that does the lookup in the relational database

26. CWKB: Author’s name
The Latin form is the international authority form for Latin and ancient Greek authors.
For lookup purpose, CWKB will store the established form of the author in several modern languages and the abbreviations used by the main reference tools.
Draft ISO standard 27729: International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI).

27. CWKB: Work’s title
The Latin form is the international authority form for Latin and ancient Greek titles.
For lookup purpose, CWKB will store the established form of the title in several modern languages and the abbreviations used by the main reference tools.

28. CWKB: work identifiers
They may come from a range of well-established registries such as:
The Canon of the TLG
The Clavis Patrum Latinorum
The Clavis Patrum Graecorum
The CHS Canon of Greek Literature
The Stoa Canon of Latin Literature
CWKB will maintain a concordance between them
One development to follow: the ISTC standard (ISO 21047)

29. CWKB: the link resolver
Classical text resource
(e.g., JSTOR, L’Annee)
Classical Works KnowledgeBase (CWKB)
OpenURL 1
OpenURL 2
HTML page with link options
User’s link resolver

30. CWKB actions Identifies the work
Provides a normalized authority form of author and title
Provides a list of services pertaining to the work
Service package identifier
URL directly to citation

31. OpenURL 1 (to CWKB) Baseurl: http://cwkb.org/in/r.php?
OpenURL version: ctx_ver = Z
Metadata format: rft_val_fmt = info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:canonical_cit
Citation: rft.auform1 = Aeschylus
rft.titleform1 = Suppliants
rft.slevel1 = 40
rft.elevel1 = 57
User’s resolver: res_id =
Referrer ID: rfr_id = info:sid/aph

32. OpenURL 1 (to CWKB) Baseurl: http://cwkb.org/in/r.php?
OpenURL version: ctx_ver = Z
Metadata format: rft_val_fmt = info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:canonical_cit
Citation: rft.auform1 = Aesch.
rft.titleform1 = Supp.
rft.slevel1 = 40
rft.elevel1 = 57
User’s resolver: res_id =
Referrer ID: rfr_id = info:sid/aph

33. OpenURL 1 (to CWKB) Baseurl: http://cwkb.org/in/r.php?
OpenURL version: ctx_ver = Z
Metadata format: rft_val_fmt = info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:canonical_cit
Citation: rft.work-id = info:cwkb/tlg:
rft.slevel1 = 40
rft.elevel1 = 57
User’s resolver: res_id =
Referrer ID: rfr_id = info:sid/aph

34. OpenURL 2 (to local resolver)
Baseurl: OpenURL version: ctx_ver = Z Metadata format: rft_val_fmt = info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:canonical_cit Citation: rft.auform2= Aeschylus rft.titleform2 = Supplices rft.slevel1 = 40 rft.elevel1 = 57 Available services: svc_id=info:sid/cwkb.org:perseus_eng:url: tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text: : line=40 svc_id=info:sid/cwkb.org:tlg_demo:url: tlgpost.php?package_id=tlg_demo%26local_package_id= %26scheme=z%26hidden_z=40 Referrer ID: rfr_id = info:sid/cwkb.org

35. Local Link Resolver CWKB will provide a set of instructions for:
Creating a resource profile for each canonical citation package the library licenses or supports;
Establishing rules for displaying the full text links;
Creating rules for mapping canonical citation metadata to non-full text services, such as the library catalog searches.

36. Local Link Resolver
Recognize the format of the incoming OpenURL. Each one will contain this string: rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:canonical_cit
Parse each incoming canonical citation in its key value components:
Pull out each svc_id into two parts (name of the service; full text url);
Use auform2 and title2 for the display of the citation requested and for the search in the local catalog.

37. Local Link Resolver
The OpenURL 2 is thus interpreted by the local link
resolver to produce a page such as this:

38. Demo

45. Wider application
Useful to any discipline that cites works independent of specific editions or translations
Potential model for chaining link resolvers / knowledge bases together to provide enhanced services to users
Potential for providing other information services to community

46. Next Steps Complete a proposal for a two-year project, including:
Metadata format: finalize and submit for registration to the OpenURL Framework community
CWKB resolver: additional development work, populate the database
Citation encoding in L’Année
Submit final proposal to Mellon, Jan 2010, for start date of July 2010

47. Additional information