URLs in Catalog

[Stacy Pober]

I noticed a while back that links to FirstSearch and some other
online vendors like Elsevier's Science Direct had suddenly
sprouted up in our catalog records for certain periodicals. 

The problem in our case is that our patrons cant use FirstSearch or
Science Direct for those journals, so the links are effectively
useless.  We DO have the journals in question in the library in 
paper or microform, and in many cases, we have access to an online
version of them through ProQuest or Ebscohost.  

I was told that the links were a new feature 'helpfully' added
to the records (I presume by OCLC, but I'm not certain.)  

This is a problem, since AFAIK there is no global way to suppress 
those links. I was told that our cataloging staff would have to 
manually find and remove the links from each record (and I don't think
that those fields are searchable in our catalog, so just finding 
them would be a chore.)  Meanwhile, we have these frustrating dead-end
(though not technically "dead") links in our catalog.

Does anyone know of a good way to suppress these, or to selectively
display only the e-links that go to databases for which we have 
patron access?

-- 
Stacy Pober
Information Alchemist
Manhattan College Libraries
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.manhattan.edu/library/

> From: Yuliya Lef <ylef at coloradomtn.edu>
> A colleague of mine has asked me a question quoted below, which left me
> quite puzzled.
> How stable government docs pages are? Is it possible to do a link check
> within a libcat?
> Any advice would be highly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks so much,
> 
> Yuliya Lef
> Virtual LRC Coordinator
> Colorado Mountain College
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: URLs in Catalog
> Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 13:56:45 -0700
> From: Sharon Moller <smoller at coloradomtn.edu>
> Reply-To: Sharon Moller <smoller at coloradomtn.edu>
> Organization: Colorado Mountain College
> To: Yuliya Lef <ylef at coloradomtn.edu>
> 
> What happens when I add a URL to a Marc record (the 856 field) that
> accompanies a Gov Doc (print copy) that we have in our collection - How
> do I keep track of such URLs so I know when the URL no longer words?  I
> can see that the print item might be valid in the collection for several
> years, but will the Government entity maintain that link forever?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Sharon Moller