checking GPO PURLs?

[Luck, Deanne]

Some have asked for a summary of responses to my question (below), so here
goes:

The consensus seems to be that it is a good idea to check the GPO PURL links
and to report needed changes to AskLPS
(http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/tools/asklpsin.html) or Theodore M.
Defosse <tdefosse at gpo.gov> at GPO.  Although broken links don't seem to be
rampant, everyone agrees that there are times the PURL is broken, or due to
typos points to a totally different resource.  Some libraries put the direct
URL somewhere in their MARC records if the PURL is wrong or for use if the
PURL server is down.  If you subscribe to the changed records through
marcive, you should get the changes, deletions, etc.

While I am happy to report PURLs that I might find are pointing to the wrong
resource, I'm wondering why broken links found with an automatic link
checker need to be reported.  Why can't someone at GPO (Mr. Defosse?) run a
check on their own PURL links, instead of 100 different libraries
duplicating the same work?  CyberSpyder is what, about $40?  Surely the
government is not *that* strapped for cash.

DeAnne Luck
Electronic Resources Librarian
Austin Peay State University
LuckDL at apsu.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: Luck, Deanne [mailto:LuckDL at apsu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 2:50 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: [WEB4LIB] checking GPO PURLs?


We've just added a large number of government web sites to our OPAC using
MARCIVE data.  The URLs are all PURLs (purl.access.gpo.gov).  Is there any
point to doing a link check on these?  I know the idea of PURLs is that
they'll always be correct, but out of the five-hundred-something we just
loaded I show 9 of the redirected URLs broken (I use CyberSpyder).  Does it
do me any good to have this information, since I can't change what the PURL
points to?  What if a site disappears altogether?

Thanks,
DeAnne Luck
Electronic Resources Librarian
Austin Peay State University
LuckDL at apsu.edu