PURLS

[Stacy Pober]

I've started a large online serial/journal database, and one thing I 
discovered is that PURLs aren't all THAT stable - even the GPO PURLS.

Plus, when a PURL breaks, it's harder to detect the broken link 
using link-checking software and it's more challenging to find the 
new URL for the page than is the case when a plain old URL breaks. 

In most cases, when a URL changes, you can find the same material 
elsewhere on the site. You might have to link to a homepage rather 
than an internal page.  If a link is accidentally broken - as in the
file was deleted or moved or something like that rather than a link 
breaking due to a deliberate site redesign - then you can often find 
a webmaster contact email to notify them.  It's tough to find PURL
maintainers.  I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time just to 
notify people of their site's broken links, and I think I'm probably a 
typical surfer in that regard.  So, a broken URL is more likely to be 
brought to someone's attention than a broken PURL.


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

> Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 16:22:06 -0500
> From: "Jerry Kuntz" <jkuntz at ansernet.rcls.org>
> To: <web4lib at webjunction.org>
> Subject: Re: [Fwd: URLs in Catalog]
> Message-ID: <200203201622.AA41615674 at ansernet.rcls.org>
> 
> GPO uses PURLs, so they're pretty stable. We dumped 16000+ into our WebPAC using MARCIVE's Documents Without Shelves service, which seem like a very good bargain. The monthly service seems to average about 200 changed records, which overlay existing records.
> 
> --
> Jerry Kuntz
> Electronic Resources Consultant
> Ramapo Catskill Library System
> jkuntz at rcls.org
> 
> --