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What can the OpenURL Router do for you?
To provide the best value for money, your OpenURL resolver should be used by as many staff and students as possible. One of the characteristics of OpenURL resolvers is that they are not generally intended to be the first port of call for the end user; the user accesses the resolver via a referring service, such as an abstracting and indexing database. You are dependent on the providers of these services to enable your users to get access to your resolver.
The OpenURL Router aims to simplify the provision of OpenURL links from referring services to resolvers. The goal is that each resolver set up in the UK HE and FE community needs to be registered only once, at the Router, and that it should then be accessible from every potential referring service. The Router is funded by JISC and is free of charge to the user community
Example A: OpenURL links from a JISC sponsored resource
A JISC sponsored resource, such as a abstracting and indexing service, faces overheads in providing OpenURL links. A mechanism must be developed for the user interface so that whenever a user logs in, the system can check for an OpenURL resolver at their institution, and then provide appropriate links. This system must then be populated with information concerning all OpenURL resolvers set up in the UK HE and FE community; this task is likely to fall to the resolver administrators, who will have to repeat the task for all such services to which their institution subscribes.
The OpenURL Router can eliminate this problem. Services can provide OpenURL links to openurl.ac.uk for all users. Resolver administrators register their resolvers once at openurl.ac.uk. The Router will redirect the request to the appropriate resolver in each case.
Example B: OpenURL links free access portals
A free access service, such as a subject portal, faces greater problems in providing OpenURL links. Services that require an UK federation login or offer IP checked access have a mechanism already in place that identifies each users' institution, but free access services have no equivalent. Without any means of identifying the users' institutions, it is impossible to provide OpenURL links to the correct resolver.
The OpenURL Router can solve this problem. Services can provide OpenURL links to openurl.ac.uk for all users, and the Router will identify the users' institution and then redirect the request to the appropriate resolver. This mechanism works by IP address checking when the user is on campus. When not on campus, a WAYF is used (the user selects their institution from a list); if the user has previously made a selection in the WAYF, the link is seamless. Of course, cookies set by the WAYF ensure that the user is never required to perform more than one WAYF selection per session, however many OpenURL links they click on.
This provides OpenURL linkage in situations where it would not be possible without the OpenURL Router.
Example C: International commercial service provider
Large commercial service providers are already likely to offer customers the option to configure OpenURL links to their own resolvers. We will be contacting these service providers with the suggestion that openurl.ac.uk can be used for their UK HE and FE customers, at least as a default option.
Even if a service provider chooses not to use openurl.ac.uk for OpenURL links, individual customer can still configure their own links with openurl.ac.uk as the base URL. This would be transparent to the users, but would mean that the "real" resolver details would be registered only once at openurl.ac.uk: then any future changes to the resolver would only require a single update.
The OpenURL Router within the JISC Information Environment
The JISC is making a considerable investment in the Information Environment (IE). Along with other infrastructure components, the OpenURL Router will enhance the efficiency and value for money of other services within the IE. By registering your resolver at openurl.ac.uk you are contributing to the IE and enhancing the quality of services available to the HE and FE community.
