[Web4lib] Open-access sites that generating OpenURLs

[McCormick,Timothy]

The two most highest-impact projects in this area currently, I would say, are these two that Mike Taylor mentioned: 
  1) COinS - http://www.ocoins.info/
  2) the OCLC Resolver Registry - http://www.oclc.org/productworks/urlresolver.htm


1) COinS, which is a geeky acronym for Context Object in Spans, is a community-organized (yet now de-facto!) standard for embedding OpenURL invisibly in Web content.  

This allows the OpenURL to be detected and acted upon by "downstream" agents, which could include the following: 
a) a browser.. Firefox v.2.5 perhaps?  
b) until that happens, a browser plugin such as OCLC Openly's "OpenURL Referrer" extension, http://www.openly.com/openurlref/;  or 
c) a proxy-server such as EZProxy. (not yet implemented that I know of, but under discussion). 

More information, specification, COinS generator tool for anyone to use, and list of known implementers so far, is available at:  http://www.ocoins.info/
Current known implementors include Zetoc (British Library Electronic Table of Contents Service); Open WorldCat; Hubmed; CiteBase; and Wikipedia's  "Book sources page" (we're working on broader implementation in Wikipedia as well). 


2) OCLC Resolver Registry 
"OCLC is providing a service for individuals and information partners to maintain OpenURL resolver information in a single location and utilize this information across services in the information industry. OCLC will maintain this registry and provide partners with controlled access to this data to facilitate an improved linking experience for the user."
http://www.oclc.org/productworks/urlresolver.htm

So for example, an online information service could, hypothetically, infer a user's institutional affiliation(s) by IP lookup or other data points, query the Resolver Registry to find appropriate resolver(s), and then display its Web content with this linkage built-in. 

It seems that that combinations of the COinS and Resolver Registry approaches are how OpenURL will likely happen, large-scale, on public Web content. 

Tim

---
Tim McCormick
Global Product Manager, OCLC Openly Informatics
Email: mccormit (at) oclc.org
2 Broad St., Suite 208, Bloomfield, New Jersey 07003 USA
Phone (globally): +(1) 347 416 6418 / Skype: tim_mccormick
Fax: +(1) 206 339 7174
http://www.oclc.org | http://www.openly.com
Public calendar: http://tjm.org/calendar

---
Ranganathan's Five Laws of Library Science:
   1) Books are for use;  2) Every reader his book;  3) Every book its reader;
   4) Save the time of the reader;  5) Library is a growing organism.
full-text: http://ncsi-net.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in:81/7/; http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/1220/
---


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces On Behalf Of Jonathan Rochkind
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 1:55 PM
To: Mike Taylor
Cc: web4lib
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Open-access sites that generating OpenURLs

[...]

Open Worldcat is open-to-the-public, but I don't think it lets the user 
choose their resolver, it chooses based on your IP, using the OCLC Link 
Resolver Registry. There are a handful of other open-to-the-public 
services that use the OCLC Registry, including canarydatabase.com. 

You don't need to use the Openly plugin to get your choice of resolvers 
with Google Scholar!  Without the Openly Plugin, Google Scholar will 
still let you choose (from those registered with Google Scholar).

If you are using the Openly plug-in, then ANY page that embeds "COinS" 
objects will turn into an OpenURL link via the Openly plug-in, to the 
resolver you have set for the plug-in. Look around for COinS implementors.

The NASA Astrophics Data System (http://adsabs.harvard.edu) will let the 
user choose a resolver from a list 
(http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/pref_set?4), or set the resolver via 
a special URL (which ends up setting a cookie) of the format: 
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/pref_set?4&OpenURL=OURL&Icon=ICON 
<http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/pref_set?4&OpenURL=OURL&Icon=ICON>

That's everything I know about, but there are probably a few more.

What are you trying to do exactly?

Jonathan
    <http://ads.harvard.edu>