I believe Jonathan is thinking about the OCLC Knowledge Base API (http://www.oclc.org/developer/develop/web-services/worldcat-knowledge-base-api.en.html) which does provide a way to do openurl for institutions in the resource.  Of course, the information in the resource would need to be valid, and that is dependent on member libraries keep it up to date, which they may or may not be doing depending on if they are depending on a service from OCLC that might require OCLC knowing that information.

--tr

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jonathan Rochkind
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2017 11:31 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] LibX, Google Scholar with "library links", and other interfaces to licensed resources

I don't have numbers and this is really just my guess impression, but I'd be shocked if there weren't a lot more libraries in Google Scholar than in LibX.  It should be possible to get both numbers from publically available lists though.

I think the google scholar search is a good one.

The other thought would be letting users somehow direct themselves to their _own_ link resolvers, just like vendors do. You'd need to either build a directory of link resolvers for them to choose from, or I have some memory that there is _some_ relevant OCLC service. I don't recall if it's actually sufficient or has a decent API, or how extensive it's directory is.

On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 10:16 PM, Kevin Hawkins < [log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I've got two simple questions but first a long statement of background 
> so you know why I'm asking.  If you're in a hurry, feel free to skip 
> to the questions.
>
> == Background ==
>
> We've got a research group on campus that has built up an annotated 
> bibliography of literature in their topic of study over the years, 
> which graduate students have carefully organized according to a 
> taxonomy of topics.  They are happy to continue to host this 
> bibliography online as a searchable database.
>
> However, they've asked us in the library to help them think through 
> what it would mean for them to help people reach the full text when 
> available online (often through licensed library resources).  
> Supporting users at our institution is easy -- we can prepend the 
> proxy server string to the DOI, or query our link resolver, or query 
> our library discovery product.  But I'd also like to offer some 
> options for what they could do to help users not at our institution.
>
> Including a hyperlinked DOI or other publisher-provided permalink will 
> allow users at other institutions who are on campus and using VPN to 
> reach the resource directly, assuming their institution subscribes.  
> So while that's an easy solution, it only helps certain users.
>
> In brainstorming with a colleague, we've come up with two other 
> options that we might offer to the research group for helping users at 
> other institutions reach the full text:
>
> a) They could recommend that users install LibX and then use its 
> "magic button" feature to select the citation and search for it 
> through their institution's library.
>
> b) They could build queries that go to Google Scholar and suggest that 
> Google Scholar users configure "library links" in order to prepend 
> their institution's proxy server link or send them to their link resolver.
>
> While I know that Google Scholar's database includes plenty of bare 
> citations (without any links to full text), I'm not sure it's big 
> enough to actually include the sorts of book chapters and possibly 
> obscure journal articles found in this bibliography.  But I'm content 
> to leave that to the research group to experiment with.
>
> == The questions ==
>
> 1. Does anyone have a sense of the number of institutions with "editions"
> for LibX versus the number of institutions with "library links" set up 
> in Google Scholar?  I can't find full lists on the websites of either, 
> but if we know that one is more comprehensive than the other, I'd just 
> as soon recommend that.
>
> 2. Are there other options you'd suggest besides LibX and Google 
> Scholar (with "library links") for helping people people find a 
> library-licensed version of a resource when you don't know what institution the user is at?
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts,
>
> Kevin
>