I have written before about how registries provide ‘intelligence’ in the network. Scalable loose coupling between library services will benefit from good ways to discover those services.
The Worldcat Registry includes data for library services (resolver, catalog, virtual reference) which drives Worldcat Local and Worldcat.org. Worldcat.org’s ‘understanding’ of the library network is captured in the Registry.
A while ago the OpenURL Resolver Registry and Gateway were incorporated into the Worldcat Registry. The Registry is openly available and the Gateway is systematically used by several other parties including Zotero:
Zotero 1.0.2 also includes several new site translators, including translators for social media sites Flickr and YouTube. Zotero’s default Open URL resolver has also been changed to the OCLC OpenURL Resolver Gateway, which will allow many Zotero users to automatically find items from their collections in their campus library through the Locate button without editing their preferences. [Zotero: The Next-Generation Research Tool » Blog Archive » Our Most Stylish Release Yet: Zotero 1.0.2]
My colleague Joanna White tells me that use of the gateway is climbing. In November 2007, over 250,.000 requests were processed. There are currently about 1,600 resolvers registered.
Here are some details about use and update of the OpenURL Resolver registry and gateway.
- Library users and other individuals who wish to associate their personal IP addresses with one or more OpenURL resolvers can create that association in the OpenURL Resolver for Individuals at https://worldcatlibraries.org/registry.
Review this document for more information (Microsoft Word)- Institutions that wish to register their resolver(s) should use either the WorldCat Registry at https://www.worldcat.org/registry/institutions/ or, if they utilize the FirstSearch reference service, their WorldCat Services administrative settings at https://firstsearch.oclc.org/admin/.
Review this document for more information about WorldCat Registry (Microsoft Word)- Individuals can check for a registered OpenURL resolver associated with their IP address at the OpenURL Gateway.
Review this document for more information (Microsoft Word)- Review the XML schema. For more information see schema.doc. The OCLC OpenURL Resolver Registry XML Schema (Microsoft Word).
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