Name Resolver/URN Implementation
In Fall 2000 the Libraries implemented a name resolver application
which is now used for access to both licensed and free electronic
resources in our digital collections. The name resolver allows the
creation of persistent URLs (URNs) for display in the library's
OPAC and in Web presentations of electronic resources. Maintenance
and updating of actual e-resource URLs & addresses are now handled
by library systems staff in special directory tables referenced
by the name resolution scripts, rather than in the library's catalog.
As part of the name resolver's implementation, a one time global
update was done against the online catalog in order to add local
956 fields (parallel to MARC 856 fields) containing URNs to all
existing catalog records for eresources. New and changed catalog
records are now identified on a weekly schedule and updated with
956 fields containing URNs. The same process generates a data feed
used to update the actual name resolver tables and to flag resources
that require "proxying" and other types of authorization-related
maintenance. A recent enhancement to the system allows for real-time
ad-hoc assignment of URNs by non-systems staff, e.g., when placing
newly scanned articles and folders on electronic reserve.
Log records are created for all name resolver transactions and
will be used as a way of gathering more complete & consistent
statistics on the use of licensed commercial web resources by the
Columbia community.
|