Link Resolver Usage

Create reports that provide both specific details of link resolver usage.

The fields of the Link Resolver Usage subject area can be used to create reports that provide both specific details of link resolver usage as well as a broad perspective of how the Alma link resolver is used. This provides libraries with a useful means of determining proper electronic collection development.

This subject area supplements the Usage Data subject area, which includes data from vendors, while the Link Resolver Usage subject area takes data directly from the Alma link resolver.

Users can turn OFF “Link resolver usage” information in search results and the overlap analysis tool by setting the customer parameter: "allow_link_resolver_usage_indications" to false. For more information on the customer parameter, see Configuring Other Settings (Resource Management).

Using the Link Resolver Usage area, the Design Analytics you can create reports/dashboards for the Link Resolver Usage area and are able to answer the following types of business questions:

How many times did users select View It in all sources over a specified period of time?
How many times did users select View It in a specific source?
How many times did users select View It and no results were produced?
How many times did users select View It for a particular source that resulted in no full text?
How many times did users select View It for the most frequently requested full?text journals from a particular source?

Star Diagram – Link Resolver Usage

Field Descriptions

The following lists the fields available in Link Resolver Usage.

Link Resolver Usage – Field Descriptions

OpenURL Context Measures

The OpenURL Context Measures table is a fact table that stores all measures relating to the OpenURL Context. All fields are taken from the CONTEXT_OBJECT table. The primary key is CONTEXT_OBJECT_ID.

OpenURL Context Measures
Field	Description	Additional Information
Number of Requests	The number of times an OpenURL request was sent to the Alma Link resolver.
Number of Clicked Requests	Indicates if at least one of the services was selected	Values are 1 and 0. Each time a request is selected, 1 is added to the total sum.
Number of Requests Without Services	The number of incoming OpenURLs that do not result in any services
Number of Services (total)	The total number of services offered per incoming OpenURL request	The number of services offered per incoming open URL request from: the “View It” tab within Primo the links and availability section in Leganto the electronic services page after clicking from another source
Number of Electronic Services	The number of electronic services that appear when a user selects View it	The number of electronic services that appear when a user selects View it.
Number of Digital Services	The number of digital representations that appear when a user selects View it	In order for this field to have data, you must select the Include Representation services in link resolver statistics check box (Configuration > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic > Other Settings).
Number of Clicked Services (total)	The total number of services selected
Number of Electronic Clicked Services	The number of electronic services a user selects from the View it menu
Number of Digital Clicked Services	The number of digital representations a user selects from the View it menu.	In order for this field to have data, you must select the Include Representation services in link resolver statistics check box (Configuration > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic > Other Settings).
% Clicks from Requests	The percentage of incoming OpenURL requests that were selected	% Clicks from Requests = (Number of selected requests / Number of Requests) * 100
% Requests Without Services from Requests	The percentage of incoming OpenURL requests that do not have services	% Requests Without Services from Requests = (Number of requests without services / Number of requests) * 100

OpenURL Context Details

The OpenURL Context details table is a dimension table that stores the details of the OpenURL context object. The primary key is CONTEXT_OBJECT_ID. The context object is the part of the OpenURL that contains the metadata information that identifies the resource to which the OpenURL links.

OpenURL Context Details
Field	Description	Additional Information
Title	The title of the OpenURL Context
Author	The Author of the OpenURL Context
ISSN	The ISSN of the OpenURL Context
ISBN	The ISBN of the OpenURL Context
Material Type	The Material Type of the OpenURL Context
Network Inventory Group	The network inventory group	This field allows you to filter and display link resolver usage by library or campus. This is relevant for institutions using the inventory network groups.
Request ID	The Request ID of the OpenURL Context
Request Type	The request type of the the OpenURL Context	Possible values are: viewit – the OpenURL Context Object is configured to display the Services page. single_service – the OpenURL Context Object is configured for direct linking.
Article Title	The Article Title of the OpenURL Context
EISSN	The EISSN of the OpenURL Context
Source	The Source of the OpenURL Context	The database/index that generates an OpenURL to the link resolver in order to obtain context-sensitive services for an electronic resource citation/reference.
Normalized Source	A standardized and human-readable name based on the provider of the resource in the open URL
Open URL	The OpenURL
Source Type	The Source Type	This field allows libraries to easily gather data about from where users are coming when using the Alma Link Resolver. The following are the possible values for the Source Type field: Alma – the link was selected from within Alma staff user interface Primo and Primo Central – the link was selected from Primo or Primo Central Leganto – the link was selected from Leganto The source – when the link is selected from another source, such as Web of Science, Ebsco, Pubmed, Google Scholar, and all other external sources, the name of the source is used as the source type. See The Source Field below.

The Source Field

The Source field indicates the database/index that generates an OpenURL to the link resolver, which is used to obtain context-sensitive services for an electronic resource citation/reference. It appears in the OpenURL after the dash—for example, after &rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com-. It also appears in the Primo PNX record and can be found within the OpenURL in either the ‘sid' or the ‘rfr_id' parameters, as described below:

OpenURL Includes	Extracted Source	Normalized Source	Extraction Logic
rfr_id=info:sid/Elsevier:SD	info:sid/Elsevier:SD	Elsevier	If the sid/rfr_id do not include dashes, the entire parameter value is taken as the source.
sid=EBSCO	EBSCO	EBSCO	If the sid/rfr_id do not include dashes, the entire parameter value is taken as the source.
rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com-alexanderstreet	alexanderstreet	Alexander Street	If the sid/rfr_id include dashes, the source will often be extracted from the last portion of the parameter.
sid=ProQ:_1999-05732-009	ProQ:_1999-05732-009	ProQuest Ebook Central	In case the section after the dash is not meaningful, the entire sid/rfr_id value will be considered as source.

By comparing the Source with other parameters such as Number of Clicked Requests, you can analyze trends in the use of electronic resources.

The following are some guidelines that indicate how the source is determined:

If a patron selects on a title in Primo that is in Alma, the source is the source ID of the system, which is located in the Control section of the Primo normalized XML (PNX) record.
If the source has a colon in it, either the user was a staff member testing the link within Alma, or the user received access to an article from within a database by being referred back to the uresolver to see if the user has a subscription that covers it.
If the source has an underscore or consists of letters such as wj (Wiley journals), the user received access to the article from a PCI record in Primo.
If the user accessed a resource from Leganto, the source is leganto_ followed by the course code for the course to which the citation was associated.

The source google does not have a colon and means Google Scholar.

The following is an example of an OpenURL with the source in bold:

http://ap01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/uresolver/64OTAGO_INST/openurl?debug=true&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_id=10_1&ctx_tim=2019-09-09T14%3A46%3A59IST&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com-proquest&req_id=&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Mandatory%20death%20penalty%20unjustified%20where%20no%20death%20or%20wounding%E2%80%94ICCPR%20Art%206(2)%20(Zambia)&rft.jtitle=Commonwealth%20Law%20Bulletin&rft.btitle=&rft.aulast=&rft.auinit=&rft.auinit1=&rft.auinitm=&rft.ausuffix=&rft.au=&rft.aucorp=&rft.date=1996-07-01&rft.volume=22&rft.issue=3&rft.part=&rft.quarter=&rft.ssn=&rft.spage=1114&rft.epage=&rft.pages=&rft.artnum=&rft.issn=0305-0718&rft.eissn=&rft.isbn=&rft.sici=&rft.coden=&rft_id=info:doi/&rft.object_id=&rft.eisbn=&rft.edition=&rft.pub=Commonwealth%20Secretariat.&rft.place=London&rft.series=&rft.stitle=&rft.bici=&rft_id=info:bibcode/&rft_id=info:hdl/&rft_id=info:lccn/&rft_id=info:oclcnum/&rft_id=info:pmid/&rft_id=info:eric/((addata/eric%7D%7D&rft_dat=%3Cproquest%3E1791678607%3C/proquest%3E%3Curl%3Ehttps://search.proquest.com/docview/1791678607/%3C/url%3E,language=eng,view=DUNEDIN&svc_dat=viewit&rft_pqid=1791678607&rft_galeid=&rft_cupid=&rft_eruid=&rft_nurid=&rft_ingid=
                                        

OpenURL Service Details

The OpenURL Service Details table is a dimension table that stores the details of the OpenURL service. You can use the fields of this dimension to determine how many times a service was clicked and other information.

Data in this section starts from the implementation of the feature in August 2022.

OpenURL Service Details
Field	Description	Additional Information
Electronic Collection ID	The electronic collection ID
Electronic Collection Name	The electronic collection name
Has Service	Indicates (Yes\No) if the request has services
Interface Name	The interface name
Is Clicked Service	Indicates (Yes\No) if the service was clicked
Is Digital Service	Indicates (Yes\No) if the service is a digital service
Is Electronic Service	Indicates (Yes\No) if the service is an electronic service
Is Network Service	Indicates (Yes\No) if the service is from the Network Zone
Portfolio ID	The portfolio ID
Service Type	The service type

Request Date

The Request Date table is a dimension table that stores the details about the date of the request. The primary key of the table is DATE_KEY.

Request Date
Field	Description	Additional Information
Request Date	The date of the request.
Request Start of Week	The date of the first business day of the week
Request Week Number	The number of the week of the year
Request Month Key	The month key of the request (for example: 1, 2, 3).	This field is recommended if you want to sort by month.
Request Month	The month of the request.	For example: January, February).
Request Full Month	The month and the year of the request.	For example: January 2014.
Request Quarter	The quarter of the request.	For example: Q1, Q2.
Request Year	The year of the request.	For example: 2014.
Request Fiscal Month Key	The fiscal month key of the request (for example: 1, 2, 3).	This field is recommended if you want to sort by the fiscal month.
Request Fiscal Year	The fiscal year of the request.
Request Date Filter	Used to filter report results by date.
Request Year-Month	The year and the month in a format such as 2023-1
Request Date	Stores the Hierarchy column that allows the user to drill down from the year to the month to the specific request date.	Using this column, a user may view the accumulative measures in each level of the hierarchy.

Bibliographic Details

The Bibliographic Details table is a dimension table that stores the bibliographic details of the physical item. The primary key of the table is MMS_ID.

The field descriptions can be found in the Bibliographic Details shared dimension.

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LC Classifications

Using this dimension, the user may drill down from Group1 to Group4. In each level, the user may see measures accumulated to the relevant group and see the number of items grouped by classification.

The field descriptions can be found in the LC Classifications shared dimension.

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Dewey Classifications

Books can be classified with Dewey Classifications.

In Dewey Classifications, topics are ordered in a hierarchy that is indicated by a three digit number. The highest level of the hierarchy is indicated by a number with one significant digit followed by two zeros, such as 600. The second level in the hierarchy is indicated by a number with two significant digits followed by one zero, such as 630. The third level in the hierarchy is indicated by a number with three significant digits such as 636.

The field descriptions can be found in the Dewey Classifications shared dimension.

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Other Classifications

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Institution

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Shared Dimensions with Other Subject Areas

For information concerning shared dimensions with other subject areas, see Shared Dimensions.