Newsline from EDINA
March 2004: Volume 9, Issue 1
In the last issue of Newsline (8.2), we told you about the OpenURL standard, and the OpenURL Router initiative. We are pleased to announce that the OpenURL router is now available for use by UK HE and FE institutions.
The OpenURL standard, and a range of OpenURL resolvers, such as SFX and LinkFinderPlus, help address the 'appropriate copy' problem. The OpenURL Router provides the link to the appropriate resolver, linking to the OpenURL resolver in use at a given users institution.
The OpenURL Router was developed in collaboration with UKOLN as a shared service arising from software written for the JISC 5/99 ZBLSA project, part of the JOIN-UP activities. See www.joinup.ac.uk/zblsa for background details. Activity in ZBLSA focused on linking a bibliographic reference found, say, in an Abstract and Index (A&I) database to the means to obtain a copy of the article.
The OpenURL has become the established means for passing on such information, and the use of OpenURL resolvers has flourished. The OpenURL provides the interoperability necessary for a user who has discovered a journal article or book to then locate a copy. Providers of A&I services simply provide users with links to their institutions' resolver, and choice of copy can then be handled by the local resolver.
The OpenURL Router works by offering a central registry of institutions' OpenURL resolvers. An institution registers details of its resolver just once, in the Router registry. When the resolver has been registered, any service provider can provide users from that institution with OpenURL links to their resolver. If an institution changes the URL of its resolver, the details need only be updated once in the Router registry, and the new resolver will be in service with immediate effect.