The document discusses how OpenURL resolvers help academic researchers with their information seeking behaviors such as browsing, chaining, differentiating, extracting, managing, and accessing information. OpenURL resolvers act as an unmediated recommender system that is transparent to users and helps users find relevant resources. It also helps library staff with tasks like verifying, recommending, organizing, and informing users. An example is provided of how an OpenURL resolver can help a user find a record and then provide options to access, manage, and end their information seeking process through chaining, differentiating, and accessing other relevant sources.

1. OpenURL Resolver The Perfect Librarian! LACASIS OpenURL Workshop John McDonald California Institute of Technology April 2, 2004

2. A persistent user looks for information…

3. Some typical information behaviors… Starting : activities associated with the initiation of information seeking Chaining : following chains of citations and hyperlinks Browsing : scanning for information in areas of interest or near relevant items Differentiating : using differences between resources to filter information Monitoring : keeping up to date with information in the area Accessing : physical & intellectual act of locating & acquiring information Extracting : identifying and selecting information systematically from a source Verifying : using other resources to establish the authenticity of information Networking : communicating and interacting with others to build information archives, gather information, and share information Managing : filing, organizing, and storing information for later use or re-use Ending : making sure nothing was missed earlier, or finalizing the project Ellis (1993), Ellis & Haugan (1997) & Meho & Tibbo (2003)

4. OpenURL Resolvers Accentuate the information seeking strengths of academic researchers Unmediated recommender system that is transparent to the user Helps the user with a variety of information actions: browsing, chaining, differentiating, extracting, managing, and accessing. Helps the library staff with complementary information actions, such as verifying, recommending, organizing, and informing.

5. Let’s look at an example…

6. You find your record…

7. Accessing Managing & Ending Chaining & Differentiating Accessing & Browsing

8. Options for staff… Link to Books in Print or other vendor databases Link from ILL/Document Delivery forms to verify citations and locate online & print holdings Customized targets to inform users about particular journals, publishers, or policies Locate or verify citations at service desks Consolidate cataloging & management of hyperlinks Provide Usage Information

9. What are we not yet doing? Monitoring Many information providers have e-alerts, repeat saved searches, etc. Networking Users may want to email a citation to a colleague or another student. Extracting Passing the bibliographic information to another database to search. Analyzing Including user behavior information in the OpenURL to study how our patrons interact with our collections.

10. But otherwise, it’s the Perfect Librarian !

11. Questions? LACASIS OpenURL Workshop John McDonald California Institute of Technology April 2, 2004