This presentation was provided by Ken Varnum of the University of Michigan during a NISO webinar, Tracing Discovery and Subsequent Use, held on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017.

1. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Tracking Link Origins
Working Group
It’s Complicated
Ken Varnum // @varnum
Co-Chair, NISO Tracking Link Origins Working Group
Senior Program Manager, University of Michigan Library
Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use:
Harvesting and Analyzing the Data
6 December 2017

2. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Tracking Link Origins Working Group
Charged in September 2016 to:
! Investigate effective and scalable options to allow the content host and
individual libraries to determine the original source of the link;
! Provide all parties in the information supply chain with guidance on how to
implement the recommended solutions; and
! Provide content hosts with information on how to leverage the proposed
solution to obtain more accurate statistics on the source of traffic to their
site so that they can more accurately assess the value and effectiveness of their
various discovery partners.
http://www.niso.org/workrooms/linkorigins

3. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Nasreen Arain - Taylor and Francis
Sacha Arnold - Innovative Interfaces, Inc.
Jacques Doux - Elsevier
Cristian Dumitrescu - OCLC
Michael Fernandez - American University Library
Theodora Hein - ITHAKA
Paul Jessop - International DOI Foundation (IDF)
Chuck Koscher - Crossref
Nettie Lagace - NISO (non-voting)
Eddie Neuwirth - ProQuest
Membership
Gary Pollack - EBSCO Information Services
Danielle Reisch - John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Emily Singley - Boston College Libraries
Mike Sollars - Cengage Learning
Matthew Treskon - Loyola Notre Dame Library
Robert Tupelo-Schneck - Corporation for National
Research Initiatives (CNRI
Ken Varnum - University of Michigan Library
Peter Vlahakis - ITHAKA/JSTOR/Portico
Stephanie Wical - Boston University
Julie Zhu - IEEE
Bold -- Co-chair. Italic -- former member.

4. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Process: Data Flow Drafting
! Knowledge of Team Members
! Data Flow Drafting
! Data Flow Survey

5. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Generic Data Flow Survey

6. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Institution-Specific Data Flow

7. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Broad findings
! Discovery Platforms: 80% of libraries were using one of EDS, Primo,
Summon, WorldCat Discovery/WorldCat Local, or Encore
! Link Resolver: 83% of libraries were using one of EBSCO, 360Link, SFX,
Alma, or WorldCat
! Proxy: 84% of libraries were using EZProxy
! Authentication confused with authorization
Survey

8. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Discovery Service & Link Resolver Pairs

9. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Discovery Service & Proxy Server Pairs

10. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Common Challenges
! Referring URLs are extremely “brittle” and easy for outside actors to
compromise
! HTTPS to HTTP links
! Authentication interrupts referrer chain
! Thousands of sources, thousands of destinations, handful of intermediaries
! Challenging to envision a universal approach

11. Tracing Discovery & Subsequent Use: Harvesting and Analyzing the Data 6 December 2017
Thank You
Ken Varnum
Co-Chair
NISO Tracking Link Origins Working Group
Senior Program Manager
University of Michigan Library
varnum@umich.edu