National Library for Health goes live with WorldCat Link Manager

BIRMINGHAM, UK,18 June 2008—The National Library for Health (NLH) has successfully implemented an OpenURL link resolver service for NHS library holdings using OCLC's WorldCat Link Manager.

The National Library for Health (www.library.nhs.uk) aims to organise the best current knowledge to ensure not only easy immediate access to the knowledge needed, but also the incorporation of best current knowledge in clinical decision tools and the workflow of the NHS. WorldCat Link Manager has been implemented as their OpenURL resolver solution, allowing NLH library users to link to full text holdings within the NLH search interface from journal articles and eBooks that have been purchased by the NHS. A link to the full content is displayed next to the reference.

Ian McKinnell, Head of Development, NLH, comments, "After a rigorous evaluation process we chose WorldCat Link Manager. We were extremely impressed with the quality of the customisable knowledgebase which provides links to over 90,000 journals and 2.5 million records of aggregator/provider data. Other key factors in the decision making process were its ability to support the complex authentication structures in the NHS and integrate with NLH technologies through flexible API’s."
 
"The project is the result of collaboration with NHS libraries across England - for the first time, the NHS now has an OpenURL compliant resolver, a key component in the Service Oriented Architecture we are building for NHS digital library services. The expertise of OCLC has been essential in delivering this service."

Eric Hellman, Director of OCLC's New Jersey office, the part of OCLC that develops and supports WorldCat Link Manager, commented, "We are extremely pleased to assist NLH in their mission to deliver shared, innovative digital library services to NHS libraries in England. We welcome NLH to our growing community of WorldCat Link Manager customers and wish them every success with their implementation."

For more information on WorldCat Link Manager visit www.oclc.org or email uk@oclc.org.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit library service and research organisation that has provided computer-based cataloguing, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation, library management and Web services to 60,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for finding library materials. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.

About NLH
The National Library for Health (NLH) is a modern, integrated, hybrid service that aims to be 'the best, most trusted health related knowledge service in the world'. It comprises NHS funded services across the country and, a digital hub, plus commissioned information services and products. Please visit www.library.nhs.uk for further information.

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