Transcript Link Resolvers and Knowledge Bases – Why are they so important? Sarah Pearson University of Birmingham Co-Chair KBART Working Group Agenda  What is OpenURL technology? 

Link Resolvers and Knowledge Bases –
Why are they so important?
Sarah Pearson
University of Birmingham
Co-Chair KBART Working Group
Agenda
 What is OpenURL technology?
 Why are knowledge bases important?
 Problems with knowledge base metadata
 How to make content more visible to users
 The role of KBART
 Feedback from you!
print
collections
gateways
metadata string
database
publisher
website
article title = …
first author = …
journal name = …


article citation



OpenURL query (base URL
+ metadata string)
link resolver’s
knowledge base
repository
base URL of
link resolver
publisher/provider
holdings data
resolver.institution.edu
predictable link
library
holdings data
institution
content licence
target (cited)
article
Which bits do publishers do?
 Make their content OpenURL compliant by:
OpenURL query (base URL
+ metadata string)
– Creating outbound OpenURL links
 Make their content “KB compliant” by:
– Telling the knowledge base what content they have and how to link to it
link resolver’s
knowledge base
 Together: “link-resolver compliance”
publisher/provider
holdings data
What does the link resolver do?
 Takes an OpenURL and extracts the article metadata
– http://baseurl.institution.edu/content?genre=article&issn=
1234-5679&volume=53&issue=3&page=14
 Compares article metadata to knowledge base
– where is the article available?
predictable link
– which version is preferred by the library?
 Puts together a predictable link to this version
target (cited)
article
What bits do libraries do?
 Have a link resolver! And register it with providers
 Customise its knowledge base with their own
holdings data
link resolver’s
knowledge base
base URL of
link resolver
resolver.institution.edu
library
holdings data
institution
Link Resolver Services
Link resolver services
2 full text targets
Full text article
What is a knowledge base?
 A database
 Contains information about web resources
– e.g. what journal holdings are available in JSTOR
– and how you link to articles in them
 Contains information about the resources a library
has licensed/owns
– May contain electronic and print holdings (in addition to a
number of other services)
So why is it so important?
 It knows where all the content is
 It knows which versions the library is able to access
 So – it’s the only place that can get a user to an
“appropriate copy”
And that means?......
 More content visible to end users
 Content linking is more accurate for end users
 Increase in content usage
 Maximum reach for authors and editors
 Better return on investment for library
 Favourable renewal decision
 Protection of revenue for content providers
Knowledge Bases – Measure of Success
 Better access for users
– Fewer false positives: saying it’s available when its not
– Fewer false negatives: saying it’s not available when it is
 Best-case scenario:
– IF a user is seeking an item, and the library offers access to it
through exactly 3 online resources,
– THEN the OpenURL resolver returns exactly 3 accurate links to the
full text
– AND the ‘best’ resources appear first
Problems in the supply chain
 Wrong data
– Content provider gives wrong metadata for title to knowledge
base
– Link resolver uses bad metadata to make link
– Link does not resolve to correct target
– Dead end 
Problems in the supply chain
 Outdated data
– Provider tells knowledge base it has a particular issue
– Link resolver links to an article from it
– Issue has been removed
– Dead end 
– Or, provider doesn’t notify that issue is now live
– So no traffic from link resolvers to that issue!
That’s
not
good!
Problems in the supply chain
 Lack of knowledge of its importance means:

some content providers aren’t using it

many others aren’t investing in more accurate & timely
metadata transfer
And when the supply chain breaks …
 Researchers will go to …
Right. So. What is KBart?
 Knowledge Bases And Related Tools
 UKSG and NISO collaborative project
 UKSG 2007 research report,
“Link Resolvers and the Serials Supply Chain”
 To improve navigation of the e-resource supply chain by
 Ensuring timely transfer of accurate data to knowledge bases,
ERMs etc.
What is KBart’s mission?
Guidelines
Education
Information hub
Definition of the problems
1. Lack of uptake of OpenURL technology
2. Poor metadata held in knowledge bases
3. Inaccurate implementation of OpenURL syntax by
OpenURL sources
4. Poor inbound URL syntax management by
OpenURL targets
Areas which KBART is addressing

Identifier inconsistencies

Title inconsistencies

Incorrect date coverage

Inconsistent date formatting

Inconsistencies in content coverage description

Embargo inconsistencies

Data format and exchange

Outdated holdings data

Lack of customisation
Recommendations
 Phase I – encompasses the more fundamental
recommendations from original research:
– File format
– Mandatory and optional fields
– Common approaches for presenting data within fields
– Handling of packages
– Frequency of data update
– Collection mechanism
Mandatory and optional fields

Publication title

Print-format identifier (ie, ISSN, ISBN, etc.)

Online-format identifier (ie, eISSN, eISBN, etc.)

Date of first issue available online

Number of first volume available online

Number of first issue available online

Date of last issue available online (or blank, if coverage is to present)

Number of last volume available online (or blank, if coverage is to present)

Number of last issue available online (or blank, if coverage is to present)

Title-level URL

First author (for monographs)

Title ID

Embargo

Coverage type (abstracts/fulltext)

Coverage notes

Publisher name (if not given in the file’s title)
Going public
 Final Phase I KBart report now released!
www.uksg.org/kbart
http://www.niso.org/workrooms/kbart
 Feedback and suggestions welcomed!
 Phase II started in March
Phase II / Next Steps
 Change of leadership and team members
 Endorsement / Compliance / Engagement
 Definitions for global vs local updates
 Consortia-specific metadata transfer
 Institution-specific metadata transfer
 Review of metadata transfer for e-books
 Open access material
Phase II Working Group

Jason Price
Claremont Colleges / California Digital Library

Elizabeth Stevenson
Edinburgh University

Chad Hutchens
University of Wyoming

Sarah Pearson
University of Birmingham

Paul Moss
OCLC

Sheri Meares
EBSCO

Christine Stohn
Ex Libris

Sherrard Ewing
Serials Solutions

Matthew Llewellin
Royal Society

Andreas Biedenbach
Springer

Marieke Heins
Swets

Ruth Wells
Taylor & Francis

Rose Robinson
Publishing Technology
Let’s look at those benefits again……
 More content visible to end users
 Content linking is more accurate for end users
 Increase in content usage
 Maximum reach for authors and editors
 Better return on investment for library
 Favourable renewal decision
 Protection of revenue for content providers
Learn more
 www.uksg.org/kbart
 http://www.niso.org/workrooms/kbart
 Sarah Pearson – KBart co-chair
[email protected]
 KBart interest group
http://www.niso.org/lists/kbart_interest/
Your Turn!
 Comments on knowledge base engagement
 Feedback on KBART recommendations to date
 Suggestions for future work
 Endorsement / take-up
 Supply chain involvement