Developments in Linking: OpenURL

1. Developments in Linking: OpenURL Eric F. Van de Velde California Institute of Technology evdv@library.caltech.edu

2. Developments in Linking: OpenURL What? Why? Who?

3. 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

4. Caveat………. • Concrete examples for illustration only† • Standardization has not yet started. • Vocabulary may change. • NOTHING is final. †Adapted from OpenURL Syntax Description, Draft May 16th 2000, Herbert Van de Sompel, Patrick Hochstenbach, and Oren Beit-Arie.

5. OpenURL Draft Example 1 • http://serv.uni.edu/rmenu?id=doi:123/3456 • http://serv.uni.edu/rmenu 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.

6. OpenURL Draft Example 2 • …?id=oai:arXiv:physics/0003005 &id=pmid:202123 OpenURL of Object with • Open Archives Identifier (LANL arXiv) and • PubMed Identifier.

7. OpenURL Draft Example 3 • …?issn=1234-5678&date=1998&volum e=12&issue=2&spage=134 OpenURL of Journal Article • In journal with ISSN 1234-5678 • Published in 1998 • Volume 12 • Issue 2 • Starting Page 134

8. Caveat………. • Concrete examples for illustration only† • Standardization has not yet started. • Vocabulary may change. • NOTHING is final. †Adapted from OpenURL Syntax Description, Draft May 16th 2000, Herbert Van de Sompel, Patrick Hochstenbach, and Oren Beit-Arie.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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)

12. 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.

13. Who works on OpenURL? • NISO Committee AX • First meeting is June 28th and 29th. • Subscribe to the OpenURL listserv at: http://library.caltech.edu/OpenURL