LinkOut for Libraries
LinkOut for Libraries is a service that provides access for PubMed users to their libraries' journal collections. It provides direct connections to electronic journals and gives information about print journal holdings. LinkOut saves PubMed users' time and is a valuable way for libraries to publicize their journal collections--both electronic and print. You can test drive LinkOut at the NN/LM LinkOut Demo Site. Type loprovpsrmlib[filter] in the search box; then look at the retrieval in abstract view.
Electronic Journals: LinkOut enables a participating library to display its icon on the Abstract and Citation formats in PubMed so that its patrons can see which articles are available in electronic full text, click on the icon, and read the article.
Holdings of Printed Journals: Via the LinkOut - SERHOLD Interface, any DOCLINE library can also choose to have an icon that indicates which PubMed articles are in that library's print collection. This information is based on the library's SERHOLD data.
The LinkOut home page is a rich source of details for libraries and LinkOut providers. The Overview, FAQ, and Library Files Submission sections are especially useful for libraries which are planning to participate in LinkOut.
Here is a brief overview of the steps you will need to take for LinkOut participation, whether the links will be to ejournal full text or to records of print journal holdings:
- Read -- especially the Overview, FAQ, and Library Files Submission sections of the LinkOut home page. For information about linking to holdings of printed journals, see the Enter Print Holdings -- Display Information from SERHOLD section of the LinkOut and Library Holdings page.
- Manage your journal records -- Discuss the program with your serials staff. To prepare for linking to ejournal full text, analyze your ejournals holdings information, and determine who will maintain serials holdings information in LinkOut. [More information]
- Resolve questions -- If you have questions, contact your regional LinkOut representative (in your region's National Network of Libraries of Medicine office) if you have questions. [More information]
- Register -- with NLM (lib-reg@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) to indicate that your library would like to have its journal holdings represented in LinkOut. Provide the email address and phone number for a contact person from your library. NLM will send your contact a User Name and Password for your library. [More information]
- Choose and register an icon -- Create or find an icon to represent your library. It could be your institution's logo or simply a statement saying "Full text supplied by [library name]" or "[Library name] print collection." Store it in a publicly accessible area on the Web. If your library will be linking to ejournal full text and to holdings of print journals, create two icons that will allow your users to differentiate between formats. [More information]
- Create Identity File -- Use the LinkOut Holdings Submission Utility to establish a LinkOut Identity File with your library's contact information and the location of your icon. [More information]
- Log on to the Holdings Submission Utility. To create links to ejournal full text, input your library's ejournal holdings information. (Note: ejournals must be from participating LinkOut publishers and vendors). If any of the publishers or vendors with whom you have ejournal subscriptions are not on this list, contact them and ask them to become LinkOut providers. To create links to holdings of print journals, use the LinkOut-SERHOLD Interface (available from the left side-bar of the submission utility and at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/linkout/libHld/serhold.cgi). [More information]
- Activate your holdings -- create links and set up cubbies to display your library's icon. [More information]
- Publicize -- tell your users how to activate holdings. [More information]
Managing Ejournal Records
A library's participation in LinkOut depends on the maintenance of that library's ejournal holdings information in LinkOut's Holdings Submission Utility. This password-protected utility is arranged by publisher and vendor (see the list of participating LinkOut publishers and vendors. If any of the publishers or vendors with whom you have ejournal subscriptions are not on this list, contact them and ask them to become LinkOut providers). Have a list available of your ejournal holdings arranged by these publishers or vendors, so that you can key in the holdings information. For each title, you will also need to know what years are included in your subscription (i.e., all years or specific selected years).
Register
To participate in LinkOut for Libraries, send an email to lib-reg@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Please put "LinkOut Registration Request" in the subject and include the following in your message:
Library Name: Good Medical Library
Contact Person: Jane Smith
Email Address: smith@goodmedical.org
Phone Number: 301-123-4567
Address: 123 Medical Ave, SomeCity, SomeState 12345
In a week or so, you will receive your library's User Name and Password, which will provide access to the Holdings Submission Utility. Use the Utility to input your library's holdings -- your work will create links from PubMed to your library's ejournals. These links will be available in PubMed the day after you input your holdings.
Your User Name will also be used to create the PubMed URL which will activate the display of your library's icon: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=[User Name for your library].
Icons
LinkOut libraries may store their icons on a server at their own institutions, or they may upload the icon to NCBI. If you store your icon locally, it must be stored on a publicly accessible site -- not on a private Intranet. Icons should:
- Be no larger than 150 by 35 pixels (recommended size is 100 by 25 pixels)
- Have an outline
- Look like a button
- Not use a white or transparent background
The icon could be your institution's logo or simply consist of text stating "Full text supplied by [library name]" or "[library name] print collection." Make sure that the icon is readable or easily recognizable by your library's users. Here are a few examples of icons (all 100 by 25 pixels):
If you do not supply an icon, the LinkOut system will use one of the default icons:
Register your icon with NLM using LinkOut's Provide Icon function, available from the left-hand side of the Submission Utility. (View example.)
Holdings Submission Utility
To participate in LinkOut for ejournals, libraries must enter their ejournal holdings into the Holdings Submission Utility at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/linkout/libHld/. The Holdings Submission Utility is password-protected but you can view screen shots here:
- Identity File: Information and URL for your library
- Enter Holdings
You can obtain a test account to the Holdings Submission Utility from your LinkOut representative in your regional National Network of Libraries of Medicine office. Use this test account to see how holdings are entered, although your work will not display in PubMed.
When you have received your library's User Name and Password, you can log into the Holdings Submission Utility and enter holdings for your library:
- Select the Identity File and add or edit the library name, the organization's Web site, the URL for the library icon, and the name and address of your LinkOut representative.
- Select Edit Holdings to see the list of suppliers, select your first supplier name, and check the appropriate boxes to add the titles to your LinkOut holdings list.
- You do not need to complete all of the holdings data entry at the same time; you can save your work, log off, and continue later.
- Data that you enter will take effect the next day.
How long does it take to enter ejournal holdings? If your library already has accurate records of the ejournals to which it has access, inputting holdings does not take very long. If you have an ejournal from more than one source, you should choose which source you prefer. Make that decision based on factors such as years of availability, interface characteristics, and authentication mechanism. That decision process can delay data entry, especially for large collections. Where you have a choice of sources, choose only one; if you choose two, LinkOut will default to the publisher version. At one academic medical library with a number of titles from more than one source (sometimes as many as three different sources), entering approximately 400 titles into the LinkOut Holdings Submission Utility took less than one week.
How many titles should a library have to make participation worthwhile? This is a very valuable way to publicize your library's journals to its users, so participation is worthwhile even if you do not have a large collection.
Libraries that participate in DOCLINE maintain records of their print journal holdings in the SERHOLD database. The LinkOut - SERHOLD interface allows DOCLINE libraries to take advantage of their SERHOLD records, so that their users can see which PubMed articles are from print journals that their libraries own. Since the SERHOLD records are already kept current as part of DOCLINE participation, there is no need to submit them separately to LinkOut; the LinkOut - SERHOLD Interface uses these records. Links to holdings of printed journals will appear the day after you register your library with the LinkOut-SERHOLD Interface.
Log in to the Holdings Submission Utility and activate the LinkOut-SERHOLD Interface, available from the left side-bar of the submission utility and at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/linkout/libHld/serhold.cgi. This site is password protected but you can view screen shots here. To complete your registration, you will need:
- LIBID(s) for your library. You can enter multiple LIBIDs for one LinkOut username. Holdings information for all LIBIDs you enter will be shown on one print holdings page.
- URL of the icon for your library's print collection.
- A general description, up to 255 characters in length, to inform your library users of the location of your print collection. The URL included in this description is hyperlinked.
- The URL to your library catalog is optional. If this is included, it will be shown on the print holdings information page.
- If call numbers are useful to your users, you can supply this information via the Call Number Submission function by uploading a text file, listing one call number per LIBID, in the following format: LIBID|ISSN|tu|Call Number
Providers
The list of LinkOut providers is updated whenever a new provider joins the service. Libraries should monitor this list for changes, such as inclusion of new providers or new journal titles, by visiting Journal Link Updates, which presents additions that have been made in the last 60 days.
To Activate Your Holdings
Once you have input your holdings, stored an icon on a publicly accessible site, completed your Identity File, and waited until the following day, you're ready to activate LinkOut for your library.
You can activate LinkOut for your library in two ways:
- Go to PubMed using a special URL for your library: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=XXX where XXX is the User Name for your library (assigned to you when you get your Password). Your icon will then display for citations from journals that you own. NLM recommends that libraries create a link from their Web site to PubMed using this URL, and inform their users to use PubMed from the library Web site link. NOTE: You can activate several libraries' holdings at once by separating their abbreviations with commas in the special PubMed URL, for example http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=medlib,medlib2,medlib3.
- Log in to MyNCBI, click Filters, select PubMed, and then Browse or Search. When you have selected a library, check the box labelled "Add a link icon to every item that matches this filter". Then whenever you log into that MyNCBI account, your icon will display for citations from journals that you own.
Publicize
NLM recommends that libraries create a link from their Web site to PubMed using the special URL that activates their icons (i.e., http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=[User Name for your library]), and inform their users to use PubMed from the library Web site link. If you include PubMed's MyNCBI in your library's instruction program, you may wish to add information on how to activate your library's holdings from within the MyNCBI. These activities will help LinkOut for Libraries to achieve its main advantages: to save PubMed users' time and to publicize libraries' collections of journals.
