(Not) connecting search engine users to library resources
Now that the many of the content kings we work with in the library world (publishers, aggregators, etc.) have begun to expose their treasures to the spidering efforts of Google et al., we're beginning to see searchers encounter this content locked down tight. If someone finds a great article on JSTOR, say, from a Google search (or more likely, a Google Scholar search), how can we in the library world help connect that person to the article. Here are the usual options:
- if the user is in the library itself (or on a college campus) IP authentication lets them right in if the user's library is a subscriber to that content
- if the user is savvy enough to have bookmarked their link resolver or, even better, downloaded and correctly installed a bookmarklet like OCLC's OpenURL Referrer (Firefox only) that helpfully provides a "find it" link next to the resource listing in search results, then the user can navigate the treacherous shoals between discovery and access (assuming that the library's info about access is up-to-date and accurate)
- the poor soul can ask a librarian for help (maybe the library has online or print access or is willing to ILL it)
FYI: I found Matrullo's post via David Weinberger's site, Joho the Blog. I'm eagerly awaiting for my ILLed copy of Everything Is Miscellaneous to arrive any day now.
Labels: access, databases, JSTOR, search engines
2 Comments:
Stephen, you should register your library's link resolver with Google Scholar. This will enable you and your patrons to see what articles are accessible through your library. Here is an example of what this looks like:
http://scholar.google.com/intl/en/scholar/librarylinks.html
Google has worked with the major link resolver vendors (ex libris, serials solutions, iii, etc.) to make this a simple configuration option in order to put it in place. You should contact your support contact at your link resolver and ask them to enable it with Google Scholar. If, however, your library doesn't have a link resolver, you can register with Scholar SFX, a free hosted solution offered by Ex Libris.
Once this is in place, users coming from the library's IP range will automatically see links in the Google Scholar results that identify what is accessible via the library, and clicking these links will take users to your link resolver to get access. Users from off-campus can enable such links from Google Scholar's preferences.
Were you aware of this option?
Thanks for reminding me of that option That does help for on campus users, and, I suppose, for the off campus users who are savvy enough to tinker with their Google Scholar settings, it's a nice service too.
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