File this as a future wish-list item for your online catalog:
There is a new and interesting way to connect an OPAC search result for a journal to the full-text journal articles, and it is called ticTOC. The application of this shows just how effective a well thought out mashup can be.
Last December, I ran across a blog post on RSS4Lib about the TicToc project, which has been in existence for a couple of years, but had just officially launched. I never got around to posting it, but I made a point to watch for further information.
TicTOC provides, via an RSS feed, the table of contents for the current issue of whatever journal you search for. There are currently over 12,000 journals included in their service. Read the RSS4Lib post (above) for a more detailed description.
There is now at least one library, Wageningen UR Digital Library in the Netherlands, that has created a mashup in their OPAC that shows just how powerfully this can enhance an OPAC search.
Locate a journal using their e-journal search, or go straight to the result screen for the Journal of zoology : proceedings of the zoological society of London.
- Click on “Show recent articles” on the right side of the screen.
- To display an article’s abstract in the OPAC, click on “Show abstract”.
- To get to the full text of an article, click on the title of the article, then click the full text link on the publisher’s site.
Two clicks from the journal result in the opac to the full text of an article in the current issue. I am not sure what would need to be done to deal with proxys and journal databases, but for articles retrieved through the publisher’s web site, this is very straightforward and useful.
This appears to be a great service, and the Wageningen UR Library has done a fantastic job in creating the mashup. I look forward to seeing how this is integrated into other collections.
found via RSS4Lib
