NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 24 number 2 - Winter 2004

By Rob Rucker, Distance Learning Services

With the increase in the NCSU Libraries' electronic collections, it is critical that library systems guide users to full text when it is available. The Libraries maintains licenses that permit access to content from hundreds of publishers and data providers, but creating stable connections between them is complex. Citation linking is an emerging solution to this problem. Citation linking creates context-sensitive links associated with citations in the Libraries' electronic databases. A researcher using an online index can, for example, link to the full text of an indexed article, provided it is licensed by the library. The Libraries implemented citation-linking software in August 2003.

Using citation linking is easy. When users click on the "Find Text@NCSU" button in a citation, a new window appears with links to full-text options, if available, as well as to the library catalog. If there is a full-text link, it will take the user directly to the article whenever possible. In some cases, the link will get the user only as far as the "front door" of the journal, and the user can navigate down to the particular issue and page number to find the full text. If full text is not available, a link is provided to pass the search to the library catalog to verify whether the library has print holdings of that particular journal. Finally, if no local copies exist, a Web link passes the citation information to the interlibrary request form.

The Libraries selected SFX by Ex Libris as the best solution, based on its functionality, customizing options, and market leadership. Currently, more than one third of the Association of Research Libraries members have licensed SFX software, as have more than half of the libraries constituting the Digital Libraries Federation, of which the NCSU Libraries is a member.

SFX is based on the Open-URL standard, which provides a means to encode a given citation in a URL. The meta-data might typically comprise an article title, author name, journal name, volume, and date. This information is sent from an online database to which the Libraries subscribes, such as a periodical index, to a server managed by the Libraries running the SFX software. This server acts as a "resolver," comparing the citation against a list of electronic journals held by the library and building a link directly to the online article when it is available. The server can also provide context-sensitive services, such as displaying the link to the interlibrary form only when full text is not found.

Additional features the library will be deploying include a direct citation lookup interface. This allows a user with a citation in hand to enter the citation information, verify online availability, and-if available-link directly to the article. One could also use it to determine online availability of a journal title in general, much as the "E-journal Finder" currently works. Citation-linking software can also receive input from more diverse sources, including library catalogs, learning management software, faculty publications databases, etc. The Libraries will continue to enhance citation-linking capabilities throughout its electronic collections.