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EZB Linking Service

1. What is the EZB Linking Service?

The EZB Linking Service is a link resolver based on the OpenURL standard. It checks the availability of electronic journals by means of license data stored in the EZB database and returns, if available, a link to the desired content. Currently, there are already thousands of these article links available with the number continuously rising.

 

2. What is OpenURL?

OpenURL is a standardized format for transporting the metadata of a document by URL and thereby being able to provide a link to it without having to know its exact storage location. Since many publishers support the OpenURL standard a link usually can be generated automatically if enough bibliographic data is provided.

 

3. What is the Open Access extension of the EZB Linking Service?

With the Open Access extension the EZB Linking Service now provides links to freely available journal articles which are e.g. published via institutional repositories. Thus, an additional link to the freely available article (if one is available) can be provided in addition to the publisher link. This is especially useful if no access to a publisher link or the full text can be made available. To generate these links we currently cooperate with Crossref, BASE und Unpaywall. In the HTML output the Open Access extension is available by default, in the XML output it is available starting from version 3.

 

4. Who can use the EZB Linking Service?

The EZB Linking Service can be used by library systems, database portals, specialist portals, regional databases and such. Once integrated, it provides a direct link to a document in the hit list of the search. A traffic light icon shows if a user has access to a journal depending on his IP address.

 

5. How to integrate the EZB Linking Service into the library catalog?

If a library allows to search for articles in its catalog (for example with TouchPoint), the EZB Linking Service service can be used to provide a direct link to the searched electronic resource. With the Open Access extension of the EZB Linking Service is also possible to link additionally to a freely accessible version of an article (if available). This is very interesting if there is no access to the publisher’s version in the library.

Implementation example in the catalog of the University Library Eichstätt-Ingolstadt:
https://opac.ku.de/s/uei/de/4/0/crossref10.1103/PhysRevB.69.014304

The technical implementation of the EZB Linking Service integration into the library catalog needs to be done by the library itself or by its library network. The EZB is providing the interface of the EZB Linking Service, but can not provide technical support for integration in a library catalog. The requirements of each library are too different. However, if you have any questions or suggestions about the EZB Linking Service itself, you are always welcome to contact info.ezb@ur.de.

 

6. How to apply for using the EZB Linking service

Send an email with the following information to info.ezb@ur.de:

  • name and URL of the website/portal for which the OpenURL linking should be provided
  • name and email address of the person responsible for integrating the EZB interface

after this an SID will be generated to identify you when querying.

 

7. Overview over all OpenURL parameter

Paramater

Specification

Description

sid

always necessary

  • unique ID of user of the EZB Linking Service

  • is assigned via info.ezb@ur.de

pid

necessary for XML output

  • Sending the IP address of query used to determine access rights: pid=client_ip%3D132.199.243.34

  • XML output version control:

    • XML output version 1: pid=format%3Dxml

    • XML output version 2: pid=format%3Dxml%26xmlv%3D2

    • XML output version 3: pid=format%3Dxml%26xmlv%3D3

    • XML output version 4: pid=format%3Dxml%26Xmlv%3D4

  • Sending the ZDB-ID: pid=zdbid%3D1234567-8 (If ISSN and ZDB-ID are sent, the ISSN takes precedence.)

    Multiple ZDB IDs separated by commas: pid=zdbid%3D2213531-5,2190029-2

  • Licence entries with the same link get automatically joined by the EZB linking service. To display all of the licence entries separately in the XML output, you have to add the parameter separate=1 in pid:

    • Example output for XML output version 4: pid=format%3Dxml%26xmlv%3D4%26separate%3D1

lang

 

  • language control

  • possible values:

    • lang=de (german)

    • lang=en (english)

bibid

 

  • ID of the inquiring EZB partner institution

  • is used to determine access rights

genre

necessary for both, HTML and XML output

  • type of the requested resource

  • possible values:

    • genre=journal

    • genre=article

issn, pissn, eissn

always necessary

  • identifier of the requested journal

  • can be supplied as ISSN, Electronic ISSN or Print ISSN

rlink

 

Linking to the abstract if there is no licensing (if there is a linking rule) with rlink = 1 (otherwise a link to the homepage)

id

 

Digital Object Identifier (DOI) as: DOI:xxxx

volume

 

journal volume of requested resource

issue journal issue of requested resource
date journal year of publication of requested resource
spage starting page of requested resource
epage last page of requested resource
pages pages of requested resource
aufirst first name of author of requested resource
aulast last name of author of requested resource
auinit initials of author of requested resource
title journal title of requested resource
atitle title of requested resource

 

8. ISSN query

Application: Is a journal available in the EZB?
Necessary parameters: sid, issn/eissn
URL example: https://ezb.ur.de/vascoda/issn_info?sid=test&issn=0001-5229
Response: XML

ISSNInfoResponse: status=”ok” (query ok)
found: journal found
notfound: journal not found
fault: noISSN, ISSNfault (ISSN is missing or faulty)
 

 

9. Traffic light icon output

Application: Which access rights to a journal does a user of a certain institution have?
Necessary parameters: sid, issn/eissn
URL example: https://ezb.ur.de/vascoda/get_image?sid=test&issn=0001-5229
Response: GIF

There are 4 different traffic lights. The decision as to which traffic light is displayed is made according to the following logic:

Result(s)Traffic light icon
ISSN not found(empty 1px image)
exactly 1 yellow light with license via EBSCO or PROQUESTtraffic light all colors
exactly 1 yellow light; journal title contains the years of publication of the journaltraffic light all colors
at least one yellow and no red lightstraffic light only yellow
red and yellow lightstraffic light all colors
at least one red-yellow lighttraffic light all colors
only green lightstraffic light only green
red and green lightstraffic light all colors
rest: only red lightstraffic light only red

 

10. HTML output

Application: Which access rights to an electronic resource for users of a certain institution are stored in the EZB and what is the link to it?
Necessary parameters: sid, issn/eissn, genre
URL example: https://ezb.ur.de/vascoda/openURL?sid=test&lang=en&genre=article&issn=1091-6490&date=2002&volume=99&issue=1&spage=529&id=doi:10.1073/pnas.012611199&bibid=UBR
Response: HTML

 

11. XML output

Application: Which access rights to an electronic resource for users of a certain institution are stored in the EZB and what is the link to it?
Necessary parameters: sid, issn/eissn, genre, pid
Versioning of the XML output:
Currently, there are three different versions of the XML output which are operated simultaneously to ensure the availability of older versions.
New features in version 2:

  • ZDB-ID extension in the XML output
  • call via PID parameter: pid=format%3Dxml%26xmlv%3D2

New features in version 3:

  • Open Access articles extension in XML output
  • call via PID parameter: pid=format%3Dxml%26xmlv%3D3

New features in version 4:

  • Additionals extension in XML output
  • call via PID parameter: pid=format%3Dxml%26xmlv%3D4

URL example: https://ezb.ur.de/vascoda/openURL?sid=test&lang=en&genre=article&issn=1091-6490&date=2002&volume=99&issue=1&spage=529&id=doi:10.1073/pnas.012611199&bibid=UBR&pid=format%3Dxml%26xmlv%3D4

 

Overview over all XML response parameters:

ParameterSince versionDescription
OpenURLResponse 

Query response

  • Attribut: status
    “ok”, if link resolver could distinctly determine access rights
OpenURLQueryInfo Query information
bibid unique ID of EZB partner institution determined by parameter bibid, client-ip or IP address
bibname full name of EZB partner institution
lang 

language control; possible values:

  • de (german)
  • en (english)
source_identifier unique identifier of EZB Linking Service user
OpenURLFaults list of syntactically wrong meta tag parameters
fault incorrect parameter as attribute together with passed value
OpenURLIssnsInEZB list of all ISSNs found for requested resource
issn found ISSN of requested resource
OpenURLZdbidInEZBas of version 2list of all found ZDB-IDs
zdbidas of version 2found ZDB-ID of requested resource
OpenURLBibliography bibliographic data of requested resource
author author name of requested resource
year publication year of requested resource
title journal title of requested resource
atitle title of requested resource
volume volume of journal of requested resource
issue issue of journal of requested resource
pages page (from to) of requested resource
OpenURLResult Result of OpenURL query
found ISSN was found
notfound ISSN was not found
genrefault 

incorrect genre; currently possible genres:

  • journal
  • article
availableOA extension as of version 3
  • best result of all links to requested resource with attributes status, color, level, oastatus
  • order of determination of best result (if no result is found next in line is tested):
    • link to publisher full text with licensed journals (yellow light)
    • link to publisher full text with freely available journals (green light)
    • link to the free full text found via the Open Access extension
    • table of content (toc)
    • issue list of a journal with licensed (yel-low light) or freely available (green light) journals
    • volume list of a journal with licensed (yellow light) or freely available (green light) journals
    • link to homepage of a journal with li-censed (yellow light) or freely available (green light) journals
    • link to abstract with not licensed journals (red light)
    • link to the homepage with not licensed journals (red)
  • attribute: status, possible values: sure (no restrictions) not_sure (access could be restricted)
  • attribute: color, possible values:
    • 1 (green light)
    • 2 (yellow light)
    • 3 (green-yellow)
    • 4 (red)
    • 5 (green-red)
    • 6 (yellow-red)
    • 7 (all colors)
  • attribute: level, possible values
    • fulltext
    • abstract
    • toc
    • issuelist
    • volumelist
    • homepage
  • attribute: oastatus (only appears if OA link is best result), possible values:
    • Open Access
    • Unknown (attribut status is not_sure)
notavailable not available
LinkToEZB_openURLpage URL to HTML output of query
Resultlist result list
ResultOA extension as of version 3Information to the respective hit
accessOA extension as of version 3
  • attribute: status, possible values:
    • sure (no restrictions)
    • not_sure (access could be restricted)
  • attribute: color, possible values:
    • 1 (green light)
    • 2 (yellow light)
    • 3 (green-yellow)
    • 4 (red)
    • 5 (green-red)
    • 6 (yellow-red)
    • 7 (all colors)
noaccess no access (red light)
LinkToJournal URL to journal homepage
LinkToEZB_Frontpage URL to EZB detail page
LinkToArticleOA extension as of version 3
  • link to requested resource depending on access rights
  • attribute: level, possible values:
    • fulltext
    • abstract
    • toc
    • issuelist
    • volumelist
    • homepage
  • attribute: oastatus (only shows if link to OA ver-sion), possible values:
    • Open Access
    • Unknown (access status is not_sure)
  • attribute: oatype (only shows if link to OA ver-sion) corresponds to resource type, e.g. article, conference paper
  • attribute: oasource (only shows if link to OA ver-sion), possible values:
    • BASE
    • oaDOI
LinkToReadme URL to EZB ReadMe
LinkToJournal_viaEZB same as LinkToJournal, but call can be logged this way
LinkToArticle_viaEZB same as LinkToArticle, but call can be logged this way
Additionals 

Attribut type, possible values

  • JournalTargetname
  • full_title
  • first_date
  • first_volume
  • first_issue
  • last_date
  • last_volume
  • last_issue
  • moving_wall
  • available
  • intervallstr

 

12. Are there logos and images that can be used?

Yes, at https://www.ur-library.de/en/materials/ you can find a number of logos and images you may freely use on your website.

 

13. Who can I contact if I have comments or an error?

There is a mailing list aimed at all users of the EZB linking service. Here you can get service-specific information from the EZB team, report linking problems or ask questions about the integration of the EZB linking service into your system. You also have the opportunity to openly discuss implementation options or linking rules with other users of the EZB linking service.
Link to registration: https://www.listserv.dfn.de/sympa/info/ur-ub-ezb-linkingdienst

In case you found an error, please send an email to: info.ezb@ur.de

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