Ex Libris is pleased to announce a strategic alliance with CrossRef whereby, via an SFX Link Server, libraries can utilize DOI and CrossRef linking in a fully integrated way. The combined solutions are now operational at a number of SFX sites that are also CrossRef Library Affiliates.
CrossRef/SFX integration specifically addresses the "appropriate copy" problem, ensuring that CrossRef links resolve to the copy of the resource for which the user has rights of access by virtue of their affiliation. CrossRef/SFX integration also enables article-level linking to articles from those CrossRef publishers whose linking solutions are based on the DOI.
Ex Libris and CrossRef, together with other interested parties, have participated over the past year in a prototype to address localized linking for libraries - the "appropriate copy" problem as it has become known to the library community. The solution, using the OpenURL and local library link servers such as SFX, is now available to all CrossRef Library Affiliates.
Ex Libris SFX customers - including Boston College, University of Chicago, the Czech National Library, Washington State University, University of Rochester, University of Nevada at Reno, Macalaster College and the Max Planck Institute - have already joined the CrossRef Library Affiliate program and are taking advantage of these new linking opportunities. According to Jenny Walker, Director of Sales & Marketing, Information Services Division of Ex Libris (USA) Inc. "SFX customers are very pleased to have this opportunity to further enhance linking between scholarly resources enabling their users to navigate more effectively to relevant research material. Other SFX customers are expected shortly to join the CrossRef Library Affiliate program."
According to Amy Brand, Director of Business Development, “CrossRef intends to provide the scholarly community with a comprehensive network of linked publications, eventually covering all content types and content areas, and to serve as a vehicle for true collaboration among publishers, librarians, and vendors. Our alliance with Ex Libris on SFX/CrossRef integration is a very important advance, in part because CrossRef acts here as a vehicle for OpenURL-compliance on behalf of its member publishers."
About CrossRef
CrossRef (www.crossref.org) is a publisher collaborative that enables researchers to navigate online journals via DOI-based citation links. CrossRef now has 98 members and 37 affiliates from the library and information communities bringing the total number of CrossRef-enabled journals to 5,600, encompassing over 4 million article records. CrossRef, which was established by scholarly publishers as an independent, non-profit membership entity in 2000, uses open standards. It is an official registration agency of the International DOI Foundation (IDF), and is the first full-scale implementation of the DOI system. More information on the CrossRef Library Affiliate Program is available at:
About Ex Libris
Ex Libris is a leading worldwide developer of high-performance applications for libraries, information centers, and researchers. Ex Libris has offices around the world, and ALEPH, our integrated library solution, has been installed at over 700 sites in 48 countries. Other Ex Libris software products include MetaLib, an information portal for library collections that provides libraries, institutions, and consortia with a standardized user interface; SFX, a context-sensitive reference linking solution that provides a one-stop reference system for heterogeneous electronic resources in the scholarly information environment; DigiTool, a solution for building digital collections as components of an overall digital strategy. For more information on Ex Libris, go to: www.exlibris-usa.com. For more information on SFX, go to www.sfxit.com.
