Chapter 2: On the Road to the OpenURL

Abstract

“Imagine a world where library users never reach a dead end, never fail to find the electronic resources they have the need—and the right—to access. This is the ultimate potential of the OpenURL: to link, seamlessly, among a multitude of information providers—proprietary and open access alike. In a world where libraries must acquire, manage, and provide access to a host of search tools and information sources from a variegated group of content providers, the promise of the OpenURL is tantalizing indeed.”
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The latest issue of
LTR
tackles the “appropriate copy problem,” an important issue many libraries deal with when it comes to helping their users link to the “appropriate copies” in their collections‘ electronic resources. Authored by University of Alabama (UA) Libraries electronic-resources librarian and adjunct instructor at UA's School of Library & Information Studies Jill Grogg, the report also serves as a general survey of the OpenURL and context-sensitive linking.

Explains Grogg, “Exploiting the OpenURL, particularly v. 1.0, means linking to more than just the full text of scholary journals.” In one of the chapters, “Innovative Uses of the OpenURL,” Grogg canvasses the efforts of many librarians and “other linking gurus” that are using OpenURL in innovative ways. Additionally, the report examines many other context-sensitive linking issues and includes discussion about Google Scholar and other freely available scholarly search engines, linking for open-access materials and digital objects, and OCLC's linking initiatives.