This is indeed an interesting problem - we are all dependent on a
centralized service node.  

Just got off the phone with GPO 9 am 9/1/09.  
I was told they are now up to 50% or PURLs restored but the script is
running very slowly line-by-line since the server (they're updating the
production server while it is up) is experiencing unusually heavy load
from the user community and bots scheduled to troll at beginning of the
month.  

Jonathan LeBreton 
Sr. Associate University Librarian
Temple University Libraries
voice: 215-204-8231
fax: 215-204-5201
email:  [log in to unmask]
email:  [log in to unmask]






> -----Original Message-----
> From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of
> James Jacobs
> Sent: Monday, August 31, 2009 6:06 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] GPO PURLs
> 
> Hi all, (cross-posted to purl-dev)
> 
> I'm a documents librarian (and member of the Depository Library
> Council)
> and usually just a lurker over here. Thanks Keith and Patricia for the
> easy workaround. I shared this with govdoc-l and on my blog:
> 
> http://freegovinfo.info/node/2704
> 
> See especially the comment that as of today, only 3,677 PURLs out of
> 116,237 have been restored (3.1%). I would love to hear your
> thoughts/ideas for how this kind of critical system failure can be
> averted in the future from a technological standpoint. Is it possible
> to
> mirror a purl server? Will the same issue occur when GPO moves to
> handles in FDsys (http://www.handle.net/)? Will a distributed
> infrastructure as I've briefly mapped out be able to handle these
types
> of critical system crashes better?
> 
> Please let me know and I'd be happy to share your ideas with GPO and
> the
> documents community.
> 
> Best,
> 
> James Jacobs
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Keith Jenkins wrote:
> > Thanks to everyone who helped me confirm that the GPO PURL server is
> > down.  An official announcement on the GPO Listserv said:
> >    "The PURL Server is currently inaccessible. GPO is working with
IT
> > staff to restore service as soon as possible. We regret any
> > inconvenience caused by the server problems. An updated listserv
will
> > be sent once service is restored."
> >
> > While the server is down, here is one workaround (thanks to Patricia
> Duplantis):
> >    1. Go to http://catalog.gpo.gov/
> >    2. Click "Advanced Search"
> >    3. Search for word in "URL/PURL", enter the PURL
> >    4. Click "Go"
> >    5. The original URL at the time of cataloging should appear in a
> 53x note.
> >
> > This incident, however, illuminates a weakness in PURL systems:
> access
> > is broken when the PURL server breaks, even though the documents are
> > still online at their original URLs.
> >
> > Maybe someone more familiar with PURL systems can tell me... is
there
> > any way to harvest data from a PURL server, so that a backup/mirror
> > can be available?
> >
> > Keith
> 
> --
> James R. Jacobs
> International Documents Librarian
> Green Library, Stanford University
> P: (650) 725-1030 E: [log in to unmask]
> AIM: LibrarianJames T: @freegovinfo
> 
> The more beautiful questions demand the more beautiful answers,
> and if we can learn to ask them, we stand a chance of steering
> clear of shipwreck on our jury-rigged and not so distant star.
> --Lewis Lapham, Lapham's Quarterly I(3), Summer, 2008, p.17.
> 
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