Using WebLinks to Display Holdings
Information
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University of Texas at Austin
Digital Library Services Division
"WebLinks" is OVID Technologies' name for a new feature which allows users access to local holdings information from within individual item records. This feature is now available to those Texshare and UT System libraries that request it.
WebLink RequirementsWebLinks are only available through the OVID Web interface. Users of the telnet or Windows Client interfaces cannot take advantage of this feature. Your local library catalog must provide a Web interface for searching. The ISSN and ISBN fields should be searchable through your library Web catalog. These are the fields most commonly used for creating reliable "hooks" between OVID and your local holdings. It must be possible to perform these ISSN or ISBN searches in your Web catalog through a reproducible or stable URL (ie. we cannot use a URL which requires a unique, server assigned session identifier as part of the URL -- such URLs only work for a single search session). A Good Example: http://my.university.edu/search/i?SEARCH=[some ISSN] |
What It Looks Like In Use
Individual item records in OVID will include the WebLink, its text customized to fit a library's needs. The Link's position within the record cannot be changed, it must appear at the top. When the user selects the WebLink, the search specified by the URL is performed within the library Web catalog. In most cases, a search of the library Web catalog is run for the ISSN or ISBN found in the OVID item record currently displayed. The results of the search will appear in a second browser window -- either an existing additional browser window on the user's desktop or, in the absence of a second window, a new one will be launched.
The following sample is taken from the UT System OVID PsycINFO subscription. It shows how a typical record from this database now displays for UT-Austin users. Keep in mind that this is a sample and not an actual session. However, you can select the SEARCH link to see how it searches UTNetCat for this item.
http://www.lib.utsystem.edu/about/ovid/linksample.html
WebLink Options
Multiple WebLinks
While it is assumed that most Texshare or UT System libraries would want the
WebLinks to search their local Web catalog exclusively, it would also be
possible to include additional links within the display that allow users to
search the holdings of other libraries in the area. Because of the implications
such additional links could have on the Interlibrary Loan Service of the
libraries displayed, we would want the consent of all libraries involved before
adding WebLinks such as these.
Databases which cite multiple formats
For those OVID databases which contain records with either an ISSN or ISBN, the
feature can handle searching on either possibility.
Item records missing certain OVID fields
Sometimes item records in OVID databases contain neither an ISSN or ISBN field
on which to search your local library catalog. For those records, the WebLink
will not appear at the top of the display.
Database specific WebLinks
It is possible to have WebLinks apply only to the databases an individual
library selects, rather than everything to which they subscribe. Sometimes,
there may be databases for which the use of WebLinks seems inappropriate, like
the fulltext Nursing Collection.
Using other OVID fields as hooks to holdings
It may also be possible to create WebLinks which perform library catalog
searches on the basis of information from other fields in OVID item records
(title or source). However, variations in formatting and the nature of the
information found in these fields make this a less reliable "hook" in
most cases.
To Request WebLinks For Your Library
1. Review those OVID databases to which your library subscribes. Decide in which databases you want this feature turned on (pay particular attention to ERIC since the ERIC Document item records contain neither an ISSN or ISBN field in most cases).
2. Determine what the URLs your library Web catalog uses to perform ISSN and/or ISBN searches look like. Capture examples of each.
3. Determine what restrictions, if any, your catalog places on how ISSN or ISBN searches can be written (hyphens required, no hyphens allowed, no spaces allowed, anything goes, etc.).
4. Using the sample screen included above, determine how you want the WebLink labelled and explained in the OVID item record displays for your school. (Note: We cannot make the wording database specific. The wording you supply will apply to all databases on a given server for which you wish the feature to work. Example: ABI/Inform, Periodical Abstracts and ERIC all reside on the Texshare database server. You request the URL Links feature in your ABI and Periodical Abstracts subscriptions. The wording you supply will display the same in both databases. We cannot customize the wording for just one of the two.)
5. Email Fred Gilmore at the Digital Library Services Division with this information.
updated August 26, 2003