Following on from Lesley's comment about IEEE/ACM, I've also
recently had problem with the syntax of Catchword URLs. Catchword include
details on their site of the syntax for OPACS
(http://www.catchword.com/opacs.htm). This includes the information that UK
academic users need to use the URLs of two specific UK servers
(Pinkerton/Dandini).
I duly set up our links to point to Pinkerton. The problem is,
this means whenever that server falls over (which it has done a lot
recently), our links stop working, even if the journals are still available
on other servers. I raised this problem with Catchword a few weeks ago and
was told that we now no longer needed to point to a specific server in this
way, and it would be best to change all our OPAC links to
www.catchword.com. However, they've still got the same information as
before on their website!
So I'm left a) not being sure which bit of Catchword to believe,
and b) having only found out about a fairly major change to their policy
about URLs by chance. Catchword are more helpful than some other electronic
suppliers, in that they at least give information on OPAC links, but it's
not a lot of good if it's inaccurate.
Rachel
At 12:40 04/09/2002 +0100, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
>There are a host of issues/problems which face librarians and others in
>trying to keep their records on their ejournals up to date, one problem
>that raises its head from time to time is when the syntax of the URL
>changes completely without warning or communication from the relevant
>publisher. This happened with Kluwer journals a while back.
>
>Our two recent examples are with the IEEE Xplore and ACM Digital Library
>changing their URL syntax - one of these was found out by accident when
>checking the URL for a new title on the ACM site, the other was found
>out with the assistance of a member of this list. There is urgent need
>for some communication from publishers when such changes take place. We
>understand the need for change, we just like to find out about it in
>advance, not from our users or by accident.
>
>No doubt many others of you will have already discovered this, but we
>recently found out that the syntax of the URLs we have for the
>journals/magazines we have access to through IEEE/IEE Electronic Library
>(IEL) changed completely from:
>
>http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/lpdocs/epic03/RecentIssues.htm?punumber=2217
>
>to
>
>http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/servlet/opac?punumber=2217
>
>Not only that but our journal links based on the previous syntax for the
>URLs gave the following error message:
>
>"The IEEE Xplore internal file structure has been changed to improve
>site performance.
>
>Please update any bookmarks.
>
>Click here to begin using the new file structure. Thank you."
>
>We have now changed all our records to the new format, but as far as I
>am aware there was no email sent out from the IEEE to inform their
>institutional subscribers of this syntax change for their journal URLs.
>Once again it a member of staff who noticed that the syntax had changed
>when she went to check the URL for a new title + a member of
>lis-e-journals who pointed this out to me.
>
>On a positive note the IEEE Xplore site has been upgraded and improved
>and now provides useful information for librarians etc.
>
>We also found the same with the ACM journals where the syntax we had
>been using changed, however in this case our links still worked, but for
>how long we don't know. We have now changed all our links to reflect the
>new syntax from:
>
>E.g. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction
>
>http://www.acm.org/pubs/contents/journals/tochi/
>
>to
>
>http://portal.acm.org/tochi/
>
>In the case of the ACM Digital Library the information on their site for
>librarians is appalling or non-existent. I did receive a reply to a
>recent email I sent to them about this, but unfortunately it didn't
>answer the questions posed.
>
>That's all for now folks.
>
>Cheers
>Lesley
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Lesley Crawshaw, Faculty Information Consultant,
>Learning and Information Services,
>University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB UK
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>phone: 01707 284662 fax: 01707 284666
>web: http://www.herts.ac.uk/lis/subjects/natsci/ejournal/
>list owner: [log in to unmask]
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rachel Stone
Information Resources Manager (Electronic Journals), Learning and
Information Services, University of Hertfordshire,
Hatfield Campus LRC, College Lane, Hatfield, Herts. AL10 9AB, UK
Tel +44 1707 284668
Email: [log in to unmask]
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