An OpenURL is similar to a web address, but instead of referring to a physical website, it refers to an article, book, patent, or other resource within a website.
31-448: OpenURLs are similar to permalinks because they are permanently connected to a resource, regardless of which website the resource is connected to. Libraries and other resource centers are the most common place to find OpenURLs because an OpenURL can help Internet users find a copy of a resource that they may otherwise have limited access to. The source that generates an OpenURL is often a bibliographic citation or bibliographic record in
62-467: A ContextObject . The ContextObject is most often bibliographic data, but as of version 1.0 OpenURL can also include information about the requester, the resource containing the hyperlink , the type of service required, and so forth. For example: is a version 0.1 OpenURL describing a book. http://resolver.example.edu/cgi is the base URL of an example link-server. In version 1.0, this same link becomes somewhat longer: The above query string consists of
93-452: A Misplaced Pages article named Example, which is http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Example , is generated via URL rewriting from the more human-readable external URL, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Example . An entry in a blog with many entries is accessible from the site's front page for only a short time. Visitors who store the URL for a particular entry often find upon their return that
124-518: A database. Examples of these databases include Ovid Technologies , Web of Science , Chemical Abstracts Service , Modern Language Association and Google Scholar . The National Information Standards Organization (NISO) has developed standards for OpenURL and its data container as American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard ANSI/NISO Z39.88-2004. OpenURL standards create a clear structure for links that go from information resource databases (sources) to library services (targets). A target
155-751: A draft specification for embedding OpenURLs in HTML, which later became COinS. A ContextObject is embedded in an HTML span element. The adoption of COinS was pushed by various publications and implementations. The specification was OCOinS.info , which includes specific guides to implement COinS for journal articles and books. From OpenURL 1.0 COinS borrows one of its serialization formats ("KEV") and some ContextObject metadata formats included in OpenURL implementation guidelines. The ContextObject implementation guidelines of COinS include four publication types (article with several subtypes, book, patent, and generic) and
186-430: A framework to provide context-sensitive links . The OpenURL link server implementation called SFX was sold to Ex Libris Group which marketed it to libraries, shaping the idea of a "link resolver". The OpenURL framework was later standardized as ANSI/NISO Z39.88 in 2004 (revised 2010). A core part of OpenURL was the concept of "ContextObjects" as metadata to describe referenced resources. In late 2004, Richard Cameron,
217-532: A permalink such as an asterisk , a dash, a pilcrow (¶), a section sign (§), or a unique icon. Permalinks can be indicated within the HTML of a page to allow automated browsing tools to detect the permalink and use it for linking instead of the stated URL . The link element should include the following attributes: COinS ContextObjects in Spans ( COinS ) is a method to embed bibliographic metadata in
248-533: A permalink-style feature with Blogger co-founders Evan Williams and Paul Bausch the previous weekend, and Bausch had pointed out that it was technically feasible to produce permanent links in Blogger, using a feature (written by him) that allowed the ID of a post to be placed in a Blogger template. In response to Kottke's blog , on March 6, 2000, Haughey posted the technical details on his own weblog, which helped open
279-453: A persistent URL, and redirect to the location of the requested web resource . The main differences in the concepts are about domain name and time scale : PURL uses an independent dedicated domain name, and is intended to last for decades ; permalinks usually do not change the URL's domain, and are intended for use on timescales of years. Many blogging and content management systems do not support versioning of content, that is, if an entry
310-509: A reporting tool and research summary in 2013 noting the benefits of data analysis to improve link resolution. In June 2006, NISO designated the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) as the "maintenance and registration agency" (or "registry agent") of the OpenURL standard, for an initial term of five years. In 2011, OCLC researchers highlighted their work in a NISO journal article, noting that "the OpenURL standard
341-422: A research report found some problems affecting the efficiency of OpenURL linking and recommended the creation of a group to establish best practice solutions. The KBART ( Knowledge Bases And Related Tools ) working group has been set up to progress the recommendations of the research report. OpenURL standards and reporting work continues with NISO's IOTA (Improving OpenURLs Through Analytics) project, which produced
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#1732790604018372-482: Is a resource or service that helps satisfy a user's information needs. Examples of targets include full-text repositories, online journals, online library catalogs and other Web resources and services. OpenURL knowledge bases provide links to the appropriate targets available. OpenURL was created by Herbert Van de Sompel , a librarian at the University of Ghent , in the late 1990s. His link-server software, SFX ,
403-595: Is changed, renamed, or moved within the internal database, its permalink remains unaltered, as it functions as a magic cookie that references an internal database identifier. If an item is deleted altogether, its permalink can frequently not be reused. Permalinks have subsequently been exploited for a number of innovations, including link tracing and link trackback in weblogs, and referring to specific weblog entries in RSS or Atom syndication streams. Both permalink and PURL (persistent uniform resource locator) are used as
434-458: Is dependent on the durability of the content management system itself. In the early years of the web, all content was static, and thus all hyperlinks pointed at a filename. Soon, though, many web pages became dynamic , and many URLs began to include query terms. One cited early use of the term permalink in its current sense was by Jason Kottke on March 5, 2000, in a post titled: "Finally. Did you notice the". Matthew Haughey had discussed
465-430: Is one of the most heavily used NISO standards". As registry agent, OCLC was responsible for reviewing proposed extensions to the standard and maintaining a listing of those it approved. Per the standard, registry entries could specify particular metadata fields and their representation. The registry had the canonical URL http://www.openurl.info/registry . In 2022, OCLC updated its OpenURL Registry webpage to state that
496-813: Is updated, a uniquely accessible version is not created. Thus, in the context of these systems, a permalink may refer to different content over time. In the context of systems that support versioning, such as most wikis , a permalink is commonly understood as a link to a specific version . Here, both the link itself and the resource it refers to should not change over time. MediaWiki , the software that runs Misplaced Pages , supports this type of permanent link. In its current implementation, old versions of specific articles, images, and templates are referenceable by unique unchanging URLs, though current entries may not use old versions of images and templates. Permanent links to specific versions are recommended for citing articles from sources such as Misplaced Pages and Wikinews , to ensure that
527-442: Is used to create them. A permalink is a type of persistent identifier and the word permalink is sometimes used as a synonym of persistent identifier. More often, though, permalink is applied to persistent identifiers which are generated by a content management system for pages served by that system. This usage is especially common in the blogosphere. Such links are not maintained by an outside authority, and their persistence
558-487: The Code4Lib community maintains a list of these. OpenURL is usually implemented by information providers by dynamically inserting an appropriate base URL into web pages sent to an authenticated user. OpenURL COinS is a specification that allows free services like Misplaced Pages to provide OpenURLs by cooperating with client side software agents. Federated search software presents OpenURL links in record fields by employing
589-402: The HTML code of web pages . This allows bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata . The metadata can also be sent to an OpenURL resolver. This allows, for instance, searching for a copy of a book at a specific library. In the late 1990s, OpenURL was created at Ghent University as
620-434: The content remains unchanged for review. A reviewer can then view the cited revision, the current revision, and the differences between the two. Blog entries are usually laid out as follows: Permalinks are usually denoted by text link (i.e. "Permalink" or "Link to this Entry"), but sometimes a symbol may be used. The most common symbol used is the hash sign, or #. However, certain websites employ their own symbol to represent
651-460: The creator of CiteULike , drew attention to the need for a standard way of embedding metadata in HTML pages. In January 2005, Daniel Chudnov suggested the use of OpenURL. Embedding OpenURL ContextObjects in HTML had been proposed before by Herbert Van de Sompel and Oren Beit-Arie and a working paper by Chudnov and Jeremy Frumkin. Discussion of the latter on the GPS-PCS mailing list resulted in
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#1732790604018682-418: The desired content has been replaced by something new. Prominently posting permalinks is a method employed by bloggers to encourage visitors to store a more long-lived URL (the permalink) for reference. Permalinks frequently consist of a string of characters that represent the date and time of posting, and an identifier that denotes the author who initially authored the item or its subject. Crucially, if an item
713-406: The entity creating that content. Increased volume of content and difficulty of management led to the rise of database-driven systems, and the resulting unwieldy and often-changing URLs necessitated deliberate policies with regard to URL design and link permanence. For example, Misplaced Pages's internal Common Gateway Interface-based URLs are made more readable by simplifying them. The internal URI for
744-881: The following key-value pairs: Keys always consist of safe characters and are not encoded, but values are URL-encoded . Several companies market link server systems. Some proprietary options include OCLC (as part of WorldCat Local ), Ex Libris ( SFX and Alma UResolver), Serials Solutions ( 360 Link Archived 2009-06-01 at the Wayback Machine , formerly known as Article Linker), Innovative Interfaces, Inc. (WebBridge), EBSCO Information Services ( Full Text Finder ), Ovid (LinkSolver), SirsiDynix (Resolver), Fretwell-Downing (OL2), TDNet , Inc. (TOUResolver), WT Cox Information Services ( Journal Finder ), R. R. Bowker (Ulrichs Resource Linker) and Infor (Vlink). Open-source link resolvers include CUFTS and Umlaut . There are also open-source tools for manipulating OpenURLs and
775-405: The hyperlink (for example, the journal publisher) to handcraft different URLs for different contexts. For example, changing either the base URL or a parameter in the query string can mean that the OpenURL resolves to a copy of a resource in a different library. So the same OpenURL, contained for instance in an electronic journal, can be adjusted by any library to provide access to their own copy of
806-539: The library's subscriber links to link servers facilitating access to full-text resources from bibliographic record hyperlinks. Permalinks A permalink or permanent link is a URL that is intended to remain unchanged for many years into the future, yielding a hyperlink that is less susceptible to link rot . Permalinks are often rendered simply, that is, as clean URLs , to be easier to type and remember. Most modern blogging and content-syndication software systems support such links. Sometimes URL shortening
837-418: The referenced resource itself, and context information — both the context in which the OpenURL occurs (for example, a page of search results from a library catalog) and the context of the request (for example, the particular user making the request). If a different context is expressed in the URL, a different copy ends up resolved to. Changes in context are predictable, and do not require the original creator of
868-657: The registry is no longer supported or maintained, saying it had been an "experimental research project" and "research prototype application". The standard registry URL now redirects to an archived version of the site, described as "the Frozen (deprecated) version of the Registry for the OpenURL Framework". The most common application of OpenURL is to assist in the resolution of a request for a web resource (such as an online article). An OpenURL includes information about
899-424: The resource, without completely overwriting the journal's hyperlink. The journal provider, in turn, is no longer required to provide a different version of the journal, with different hyperlinks, for each subscribing library (See also COinS ). An OpenURL consists of a base URL , which contains the address of the user's institutional link-server, followed by a query string , consisting of key-value pairs serializing
930-424: The way to widespread adoption. Permanence in links is desirable when content items are likely to be linked to, from, or cited by a source outside the originating organization. Before the advent of large-scale dynamic websites built on database -backed content management systems, it was more common for URLs of specific pieces of content to be static and human-readable, as URL structure and naming were dictated by
961-405: Was purchased by the library automation company Ex Libris Group which popularized OpenURL in the information industry. In 2005, a revised version of OpenURL (version 1.0) became ANSI/NISO standard Z39.88-2004, with Van de Sompel's version designated as version 0.1. The new standard provided a framework for describing new formats, as well as defining XML versions of the various formats. In 2006