COinS, question and answer, sfx link resolver

Bringing MPG/SFX buttons to your reference list?

Two questions from my mail inbox today:

Can I add MPG/SFX buttons to my individual reference list? And if yes: Does this make any sense?

The answer to the first question is straight forward: Yes, you can link every reference to the corresponding MPG/SFX service menu. This requires you to create OpenURL links including all relevant bibliographic information and to add these links to the HTML code of your reference list. Our OpenURL generator (in German) may help you with this task.

But there is no definitive answer to the second question. Obviously, a link to the MPG/SFX resolver is especially helpful to staff of the Max Planck Society because the menu will offer relevant services for this specific target group. But users outside the MPG IP ranges are not assisted in such a comfortable way. The only help provided is a link to OCLC’s OpenURL Resolver Registry which can be used to redirect the request to a local resolver.

If you want to share your reference list with the public, you may consider adding COinS alternatively. COinS (“ContextObjects in Spans”) provide a measure to embed bibliographic information into the HTML code of a web page. Afterwards, the information can been used by your browser to display links to an OpenURL link resolver (such as MPG/SFX) or to download the record into a reference manager.

Further reading: