Skip to page content

Worldwide (English) Change
At a glance Features

OpenURL and LinkServer basics

OpenURL sources
WorldCat Link Manager : At a glance : OpenURL and LinkServer basics

OpenURL and LinkServer basics

Definitions

What is OpenURL?

Remember the card catalog? Everything in a library was represented in the card catalog with one or more cards carrying bibliographic information. OpenURL is the internet equivalent of those index cards. An OpenURL packages bibliographic information into a form that internet services can easily understand. When a user clicks on an OpenURL link, the bibliographic information it contains is sent to a library internet service. The results of that click will vary depending on the library it is sent to—just as a user in a bricks-and-mortar library will be sent to different place to retrieve the item corresponding to the card in the catalog.

What is a link-server?

A link-server is a software agent that knows about services available in a library. Link-servers typically understand the bibliographic data packaged into an OpenURL, and can present links to relevant information for users to click on. Think of a link-server as the internet equivalent of a reference desk—the place you go in a library to get your questions answered using the best information the library has to offer, and the place where the librarian goes to help users.

What is CrossRef?

CrossRef is a linking system developed by a consortium of leading journal publishers. CrossRef has been designed to make it easy to identify and link to journal articles provided by publishers. The CrossRef System is based on a technology called DOI, or Digital Object Identifier, which is used to keep links working even when they change their URL. The DOI system works like a forwarding address in the US Postal service, while CrossRef works like a huge directory of people’s addresses. DOI is like a social security number for electronic documents. Imagine if you could mail letters to a social security number—you’d never have to know where the person lives.

How do CrossRef and OpenURL work together?

Although CrossRef is designed for linking to publishers and OpenURL is designed for linking to libraries, when put together the two technologies become incredibly powerful. OpenURL can embed CrossRef DOI’s, and CrossRef DOI’s can be used to send OpenURL to libraries. This helps publishers and libraries collaborate to optimize the services for the ultimate consumers of their information.

Implications

That’s Interesting, but what can OpenURL do for my library?

You’ve paid a lot of money to gain access to full-text resources, but how do you get your users to use them? Suppose you have full-text of Nature in one of your databases and a user wants an article from Nature? How do you connect the user to the database? If your library runs an OpenURL Link-Server, they just click on a link, and they get their article! How many times have your users NOT come to the reference desk asking for that article, because it never occurred to them that the library might have it available somewhere? OpenURL link servers put your users one click away from the information they need.