public services
Serials Solutions: Article Linker
In November and December 2006, Serials Solutions' Article Linker was activated in all currently subscribed databases that work with this OpenURL link resolver. The University Libraries OpenURL Link Resolver Team will monitor the Serials Solutions' website for new databases and will activate any that are appropriate.
- Download the current list of UB Article Linker Enabled Vendors - April 2008 [Excel]
Feedback
The Link Resolver team (Don Gramlich, Cindy Hepfer, Scott Hollander) encourages staff to provide feedback through
- the e-journal problem report form about links that do not work.
The team would also appreciate knowing about particular databases/providers that are working especially well.
The Link Resolver team, plus Mike Lavin (who has significant experience with SFX) are willing to meet with reference/selection teams or other groups within the Libraries to talk about Article Linker and to get additional feedback.
Background Info
There is a NISO standard for OpenURLs -- ANSI/NISO Z39.88-2004, The OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive Services -- but there are no standards police to require publishers and vendors to adopt and use the standard. As a result, some publishers and providers offer consistent linking syntax while others do not. If a publisher does not offer consistent linking syntax, OpenURL resolvers such as Article Linker and SFX cannot generate a successful article-level link. In such cases, Serials Solutions supplies a journal-level link in order to get users as close as possible to the content they are seeking. Also, if publishers do not provide consistent linking syntax but assign their articles DOI (digital object identifiers), Serials Solutions provides a Cross-Ref article-level link which you may occasionally see with some journals.
The reasons that linkers may not work are many and frequently idiosyncratic. However, now that the University at Buffalo Libraries is using Serials Solutions both for our A-Z e-journal list and for our link resolver, we need to maintain only one knowledge base and can concentrate our efforts on getting both products to work as well as possible. The OpenURL Link Resolver Team will continue to work closely with Serials Solutions to ensure that together we do whatever is feasible to make links work.
Learn More
If you are interested in learning more about Article Linker and the complexities of OpenURL, you can find basic information at the following links:
- OpenURL Framework for Context-Sensitive Services
- Serials Solutions information on Article Linker; including a section, "What is OpenURL?"
Content provider: Cindy Hepfer
Comments: lib-staffweb@buffalo.edu
Last update:
1 April, 2008