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OpenURL linking without the Router
Without the OpenURL Router, linking requires configuration of links between each institution with a resolver and each service provider on a pairwise basis. Each institution must arrange for links to be set up with each service to which they subscribe, and if the resolver is changed, this process must be repeated. Each service provider has to maintain tables mapping each of their end users to their institutions, and institutions to resolvers.
Service providers who use UK federation or IP address checking can build resolver configuration around the authorisation mechanism, which permits them to identify users' institutions. Free access services do not use authorisation, which is a major problem for providing OpenURL links: without an existing mechanism to identify users or which institutions they belong to, the service has no means of determining the correct resolver to link to. The service provider would have to implement a system such as IP address checking just to support OpenURL, but the overheads are so large that this is unlikely to be a realistic proposition. As well as denying the benefits of OpenURL linking to these services, this situation restricts the value for money offered by resolvers by eliminating potential "entry points" for their intended users.
