Tony:

I am a little confused about some of the previous respondents using the
terminology of link resolver links for journal title level access,
wouldn't the source of such links come from a journal tracker A to Z
list not an OpenURL resolver, e.g., TDNet A to Z list not TOUR (TDNet
OpenURL Resolver)? Our intentions of using a resolver are to ultimately
link beyond the journal level to the article level. It strikes me that a
purchase of a tracker would be sufficient for linking at the journal
title level; why spend the extra money on a resolver if your primary
concern is to link to a source at the title level not article level?

We have a type of hybrid system where we use a local system to store
subscribed e-journal titles and the 856 fields in our OPAC link to these
records. However, we use TDNet Main Site to list our e-journal titles,
either publisher direct, vendors or aggregators. Our local system also
encodes our proxy server settings for IP authentication; it would be a
complex operation to migrate these settings to our tracker/resolver. We
are hoping to do the reverse and load TDNet's information into our
e-journal list/proxy server, which by the way necessitates an extra fee.
If you are using a proxy server, it would be of definite importance to
consider any potential tracker or resolver's compatibility with such a
system.

If you would like any additional information on our local process or
setup, I would be glad to provide it.

Sincerely,

Kyle D. Winward
Assistant Collection Development Librarian/Assistant Professor
Duane G. Meyer Library
Southwest Missouri State University
901 South National Avenue
Springfield, MO 65804-0095
Office: 417-836-7695
Fax: 417-836-4764
Email: kylewinward@smsu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Tony Goodwyn
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 11:23 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] A-Z Lists vs. the OPAC

Hello, serialists!

Recently, the idea was raised about taking an A-Z List
from a link resolver and using it almost completely in
lieu of the library OPAC to search for journal
information.

I'm wondering a few things about this, and, being
pretty new to serials, I'd really like some opinions
about it.  I'm intrigued by the idea, but I'm not sure
I have the perspective to see what some potential
problems might be.  Does anyone on this list have
experience in dealing with this subject?  Any advice,
issues, or considerations I should know about?

Any input would be appreciated.

Best,
Tony

Tony Wren Goodwyn
Serials/Electronic Access Librarian
St. Olaf College
1520 St. Olaf Ave.
Northfield, MN 55057

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