[Asis-l] NISO Launches New Project to Develop Recommended Practice for Tracking Link Origins

[NISO Announce]

*Baltimore, MD - February 17, 2016 - *Members of the National Standards
Organization (NISO) have approved a new project: the development of a
Recommended Practice for Tracking Link Origins in a Networked Information
Environment. As libraries strive to improve the ways in which users access
their collections, gaining a definitive understanding of where a user began
his or her library search before ultimately arriving at library-licensed
content is an important factor for library staff in determining the value
of a platform and how to allocate resources. Additionally, publishers may
turn to web log analysis to track where users are coming from. In many
access scenarios, the use of link resolvers-a crucial technology tool-may
unintentionally obscure the original citation source. This new NISO
initiative will create effective and scalable options to allow content
hosts and individual libraries to determine original sources of links, and
provide information on how to obtain and process more accurate statistics
for this data.

"The project will address a disconnect between academic institutions'
mission to provide their students and faculty with convenient, secure, and
private access to high-quality licensed resources and libraries' and
vendors' needs to collect metadata about how those resources are being
used," states Scott Bernier, Senior Vice President at EBSCO Information
Services and one of the project proposers. "While statistics are generally
available that depict the level of usage of content, this initiative will
help provide a means for assessing how that usage occurs. By having an
accurate, consistent view of the origin of each request for a piece of
content, libraries will have more information on which to base decisions,
and content providers will gain a greater sense of the resources that
create visibility and usage of their content. These points of data will
undoubtedly have an impact on the collective goals to enhance the value of
library services overall."

"Publishers, which supply metadata to various discovery and abstracting and
indexing vendors in hopes of increasing discoverability and use of the
content they create, will often use web log analysis to track where their
users are coming from," adds Oliver Pesch, Chief Product Strategist at
EBSCO Information Services and a project proposer. "However, where
publishers use HTTP referrer analysis on incoming links to determine sites
where users start their research, links sent from link resolvers will
represent the domain of the link resolver and not the platform where the
user originated the search. We hope that by focusing on the full pathway of
the request from user to destination, including options for making use of
DOI handle servers, this initiative will provide more accurate statistics
describing the heterogeneous information environment that many patrons
enjoy from their libraries."

Participation in the NISO initiative is encouraged from libraries,
publishers, discovery providers, providers of abstracting and indexing
databases, content aggregators, link resolver vendors, and associated
technology providers, such as administrators of DOI handle servers.
Committee members should be drawn from the communities that will benefit
from these new features and who have the skill set to produce a
specification that is effective in using current approaches to web
services. The full work item approved by NISO Voting Members is available
on the NISO web site
<http://www.niso.org/apps/group_public/download.php/15858/Tracking%20Link%20Origin%20in%20a%20Networked%20Environment%20Final%20for%20Voting%20Members.pdf>.
Individuals interested in participating in this working group should
contact Nettie Lagace, NISO Associate Director for Programs
(nlagace at niso.org) <nlagace at niso.org>.

*About NISO*
NISO, based in Baltimore, Maryland, fosters the development and maintenance
of standards that facilitate the creation, persistent management, and
effective interchange of information so that it can be trusted for use in
research and learning. To fulfill this mission, NISO engages libraries,
publishers, information aggregators, and other organizations that support
learning, research, and scholarship through the creation, organization,
management, and curation of knowledge. NISO works with intersecting
communities of interest and across the entire lifecycle of information
standards. NISO is a not-for-profit association accredited by the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI). For more information, visit the NISO
website. <http://niso.org/> For More Information, Contact: Nettie Lagace
NISO
Phone: 301-654-2512
Email Nettie Lagace
<http://www.niso.org/news/pr/contact?item_key=c2ab810f6ee30db6113af9bd6638748d5caf94f7&pr_contact=1>
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