[WEB4LIB] context-sensitive linking products

[Thomas Dowling]

At 10:54 AM 1/22/2003, Oberg, Steve wrote:
>In light of recent postings to this list relating to Wilson's SFX 
>implementation and the movement of many vendors to implement 
>context-sensitive linking of some sort as a "value-added service" to 
>libraries, I wanted to share a citation to a new article on this topic 
>that I think is well worth reading:
>
>Maria D. D. Collins and Christine L. Ferguson, Context-Sensitive 
>Linking:  It's a Small World After All, Serials Review, Volume 28, Issue 
>4, 2002, Pages 267-282.
>(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W63-47RHXT5-3/1/1803c65b2fd71f9d3e430f1ef2e5117d)

[Does anyone else get a giggle out of seeing a citation like this in 
connection with a technology designed to solve the appropriate copy 
problem? :-) ]



>This article provides a review of costs, features, setup issues, etc. for 
>four major products:  SFX, LinkFinderPlus, SIRSI's OpenURL Resolver, and 1Cate.
>
>SFX was the first such product to market and is certainly the market 
>leader with the most implementations of the major players thus far, but it 
>bothers me that there is routine substitution of the brand name "SFX" for 
>"context-sensitive linking" or the OpenURL protocol.


I care.  I compare it to calling all library catalogs "Innovative."

As one of the few people on the list to have written an OpenURL resolver 
from scratch, I can tell you it ain't rocket science ("Hey, if Dowling can 
do it...").  I know that free software is not always worth what you pay for 
it, but we're happy with the cost effectiveness of our solution.



Thomas Dowling
OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
tdowling at ohiolink.edu