Hi Rachael,
This is a great first topic for the list :)
This is something that we've been looking at in the Telstar project at the Open University, so I'll share the current practice at the OU and the thoughts and possible solution that has come out of the project.
Current practice at the OU is to create persistent URLs for each web resource being linked to. This involves a system that is called 'ROUTES' locally (actually a commercial product called Index+, but that doesn't have the same ring to it!). This is quite a powerful system for cataloguing different types of resources, but in this context we use a couple of functions. Firstly, when a web resource is added to ROUTES, you can generate an alternative URL, which looks something like 'http://routes.open.ac.uk/blahblahblah'. This new URL is given to the course to use instead of the original link. When a student clicks on the link, it immediately redirects them to the original resource - that is, the student shouldn't be aware of the ROUTES system and never sees anything except the web page they wanted.
ROUTES also supports some 'link checking' - so we can run regular reports within the library which alert us to any broken links. When these can be fixed, we can simply update the record in ROUTES - we don't need to go back to the course to get them to update it, as we have updated it in a central place. Also, where a link is used in several different courses, they are all going through the same ROUTES link - so updating it in one place means that it works for all courses.
However, there are some issues - the link check reports can generate quite a bit of work - and we may be correcting links that aren't actually being used by students. It also means that all courses have to 'buy in' to the system, and make sure they contact the library to get a ROUTES link for each resource - creating work for both the library and the academics. Also, as I indicated above, ROUTES is actually a sophisticated system that does more than the simple link checking etc. - probably overkill if all you want to achieve is avoiding dead links.
In the Telstar project we have created a way of enabling courses to add links to library resources to their course websites by integrating the RefWorks reference management system with the Moodle learning environment. Although not quite the same as a traditional reading list perhaps, it serves some of the same purposes, and suffers from many of the same issues. While we could see the 'ROUTES' approach would still work, we felt that it would be worth exploring an alternative approach.
Because we were thinking of the items in the reading list as 'references' we wanted to preserve the original URL in the reference - not have it replaced with a special 'Open University' link. However, we knew this would mean that we would get broken links. So, our solution was to put in an intermediate step.
In the reference we store the original URL - so courses can create the reference themselves including the link - they don't have to ask the library for a special link. However, when they put the reference into a reading list in Moodle, we wrap the URL up in another URL - so for example http://www.bbc.co.uk might become http://redirect.open.ac.uk?url=http://www.bbc.co.uk (in reality they are more complicated that this - but hopefully this gives the idea)
This essentially means that when the student clicks on the link they actually get taken to a local system, that first of all checks that the link works, before redirecting them onto the actual webpage they wanted. If the original link is broken at the point they click on the link, we will pick this up, notify someone in the library by email, and show the student a nice error message. We can go even further, and if we know that a resource has moved, we can actually redirect the student to the correct new URL.
In this way we know we are notified of broken links for things that people are actually using, and for all the links that are ok, we don't have to do anything at all.
As part of the Telstar project we've written a toolkit called ReMIT - and this includes both information about general approaches to providing persistent links and also describes in more detail about the approach taken by Telstar (which is more complex than I've described here I'm afraid as it covers not just websites but e-journals, e-books etc. etc.)
The toolkit is currently in draft form, and we are looking for feedback to make improvements before we publish the final version probably in July. The relevant parts are:
Persistent linking: http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/telstar/remit-toc/remit-integrating/ (go to section 5.3)
The Telstar approach: http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/telstar/remit-toc/remit-the-open-university-approach/remit-providing-links-to-resources-from-references/ which describes in detail the current OU approach, and the Telstar approach to linking to all kinds of resources - it is quite detailed and technical in places
Hope this is helpful
Owen
Owen Stephens
TELSTAR Project Manager
Library and Learning Resources Centre
The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
T: +44 (0) 1908 858701
F: +44 (0) 1908 653571
E: [log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rachael Morgan [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 27 May 2010 10:19
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Dead links in reading lists
>
> Dear Colleagues
>
> Here at the University of Glamorgan we've been using
> Talislist for a number of years but haven't managed to
> resolve the issue of locating dead links in reading lists.
>
> Our current solution is to add a statement at the top of each
> list, asking for dead links to be reported to an attached
> e-mail address. However, we've only received messages from
> this e-mail address a handful of times and know that there
> are many more dead links out there than have been reported!
>
> We will soon be implementing the SFX link resolver, solving
> the problem for many of our resources, but we will still be
> left with general web links potentially going dead. There
> are currently over 4,000 resources in our reading lists that
> won't be dealt with by SFX - too many to check manually - and
> this number keeps growing.
>
> We would be grateful if colleagues could share with us their
> experiences of locating dead links in their online reading
> lists, even if it's a method that hasn't been effective.
>
> Many thanks,
> Rachael Morgan
> Digital Resources Librarian
> Learning Resources Centre
> University of Glamorgan
> 01443 482607
> [log in to unmask]
>
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