LinkSource^® Frequently Asked Questions and Glossary

LinkSource Frequently Asked Questions

• What is item-level linking?
• Does LinkSource provide an interface for database searching?
• Is LinkSource a metasearch tool?
• How will end users access LinkSource?
• Will the library need to add a link to LinkSource on their library resources page?
• What is a Cookie Pusher and how does it work?
• How can I find out which OpenURL-enabled resources need to be activated with a cookie pusher script?
• How does LinkSource relate to EBSCOhost CustomLinks and SmartLinks?
• Does LinkSource have a separate administrative interface?
• If a customer buys LinkSource, will CustomLinks still be active on the Result List and Full Display?
• If a customer has LinkSource active, will SmartLinks on EBSCOhost still show?
• How is LinkSource different from CustomLinks and SmartLinks?

• What is item-level linking?
  Most databases allow the end user to find items (articles, books, documents, etc.) on a particular topic. Links provided at the item level to either the full text of an item, or to other resources related or relevant to the item, are referred to as item-level links. LinkSource provides item-level links.
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• Does LinkSource provide an interface for database searching?
  No, LinkSource is not a search interface. Its role is to find and present the user with links for a single item, such as an article reference.
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• Is LinkSource a metasearch tool?
  No, LinkSource is not a search interface. See the definition for “Metasearch Engine” in the Glossary below.
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• How will end users access LinkSource?
  LinkSource is accessed from links that will be found, at the item level, in a variety of online information systems. A user’s research starts in an OpenURL-enabled system (such as EBSCOhost) and once an item of interest is found, they click on the LinkSource icon to view the menu of links that A-to-Z provides.
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• Will the library need to add a link to LinkSource on their library resources page?
  No, LinkSource is accessed from within other online information resources and not directly. LinkSource needs to be activated from within each of these systems.
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• What is a Cookie Pusher and how does it work?
  Before an OpenURL-enabled resource such as EBSCOhost or CrossRef can add links to a user’s link resolver (e.g., LinkSource), it needs to know the following:
  

  – If the user has access to a link resolver
  – What the URL is for the link resolver

  Some services, like EBSCOhost, have an administrative module that allows the customers to input information on their link resolver. Other services, such as CrossRef, have no admin module and thus need to discover the link resolver information another way. They do this through the use of a cookie on the user’s browser. This cookie, if it exists, indicates that the user does have access to a link resolver and the content of the cookie is the link resolver’s URL.

  The trick is getting the cookie written in the first place. Web servers can only read cookies that they have written; therefore, a mechanism is needed to have the resource (e.g., CrossRef) write the cookie. To accomplish this, some OpenURL resources will have cookie pusher scripts on their site. These scripts are normally activated from the library’s online resources web page. Activation of the cookie pusher scripts is achieved by including icons for the OpenURL-enabled resources on the web page. The URL for the icons is really a link to the cookie pusher script for that site. The act of displaying the icon pushes the cookies to participating resources.

  In most cases, the cookies have a life span of a day or so; therefore, users must access their online resources through the library’s website to have LinkSource with A-to-Z active.
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• How can I find out which OpenURL-enabled resources need to be activated with a cookie pusher script?
  Documentation on the LinkSource website (http://www.linkresolver.com) and at http://support.ebsco.com lists the OpenURL-enabled resources and how to activate them. Included will be the URL to the cookie pusher script, if one is needed.
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• How does LinkSource relate to EBSCOhost CustomLinks and SmartLinks?
  LinkSource is built on the foundation provided by EBSCOhost SmartLinks and CustomLinks. SmartLinks are used to locate the full text for a particular item and to check the user’s rights to see the full text; CustomLinks technology is used in generating links to other web-based resources.
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• Does LinkSource have a separate administrative interface?
  LinkSource is managed through the EBSCO A-to-Z Administrator Site (http://admin.atoz.ebsco.com/admin). LinkSource is powered by EBSCOs Integrated Knowledge Base, shared by EBSCO A-to-Z, and is unique in that it includes your institutions order history for resources acquired from EBSCO, automatically determining coverage rights and updating holdings.
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• If a customer buys LinkSource, will CustomLinks still be active on the Result List and Full Display?
  This is a customer choice. Some customers may find it helpful to continue to use CustomLinks with EBSCOhost, while using LinkSource for their other OpenURL-enabled services. The advantage to using CustomLinks is that the user can see immediately the additional link options, without first having to view the link menu.
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• If a customer has LinkSource active, will SmartLinks on EBSCOhost still show?
  Yes, SmartLinks will continue to appear on the EBSCOhost Result List and Full Display when there is full text to link to. This provides the end user with immediate knowledge of available full text, without having to check the link menu. SmartLinks will also appear on the LinkSource menu.
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• How is LinkSource different from CustomLinks and SmartLinks?
  First, LinkSource extends the power of CustomLinks and SmartLinks to other resources beyond EBSCOhost. A library can now have access to these powerful item-level links from virtually any OpenURL information resource regardless of the vendor.
• In terms of functional differences, where possible, LinkSource enhances citation information using resources such as data from CrossRef or MEDLINE to improve the linking. For example, ISSNs can be added, providing the crucial information for OPAC linking. LinkSource is also able to provide links to items when the incoming request only contains an item identifier, such as a DOI or PubMed ID.
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LinkSource Glossary

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