RefWorks uses OCLC's OpenURL Gateway to deliver access to full-text resources

RefWorks' sharing feature, RefShare, now offers users the option to include OCLC's OpenURL Gateway in a shared folder or database.

The Gateway, a part of the WorldCat Registry, is an OpenURL resolving Web service that allows users direct access to full-text articles and other online resources available from their library, if their library participates in the WorldCat® Registry.

The WorldCat Registry includes details for over 1,000 institutional resolvers, including more than 80 percent of Association of Research Libraries institutions.  Registration is free to all libraries.

This feature is available for anyone using RefShare to share a folder or database with a collaborator, regardless of whether their organization uses another OpenURL resolver within RefWorks. RefShare users will have the option to include an OpenURL provider, to include the WorldCat OpenURL option, or to use their organizations' OpenURL, if applicable.

 "Facilitating research and information discovery is what RefWorks is all about," says Colleen Stempien, Executive Director of Operations for RefWorks-COS. "Giving our users easier access to WorldCat resources really furthers our mission."

 "OCLC's goal is to provide access to library information where and when people need it," says Chip Nilges, OCLC Vice President, Business Development. "Including OCLC's OpenURL Gateway in RefWorks makes it possible for library patrons to link directly to full-text information available through their library from anywhere they can access the Internet."

(2009 02 19)