JISC

The purpose of the ZBLSA project is to enhance the operation of the DNER by providing portals with a broker that will help connect the discovery of the reference to a journal article with the location of services that provide the full-text of the article, in printed or electronic form. ZBLSA will directly benefit the Abstract & Indexing (A&I) database services that operate at the JISC datacentres and the  Resource Discovery Network subject hubs. Using ZBLSA, they will be able to identify the location of services providing journal articles whose existence has been discovered in other ways.

ZBLSA is part of Join-UP, a cluster of four projects (ZBLSA, Docusend, zetoc, and Xgrain) which aims to realise the full potential of bibliographic services by informing users about the location of third-party services on the materials referenced therein and the means, where appropriate, to connect automatically to request and delivery mechanisms. Join-UP contributes to the Discover/Locate/Request/Access structure of the DNER.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of the ZBLSA project is to develop a broker that will provide portals with the means to identify the location of services pertaining to journal articles.

The specific objectives are to:

• Develop a prototype ZBLSA server, serving one or more datacentre portals and subject portals
• Extend access to location information in OPACs and union catalogues via Z39.50
• Develop an HTTP demonstrator that provides end users with direct access to ZBLSA services
• Identify suitable electronic resources, including linkage to full texts at publishers’ sites
• Produce technical documentation to enable portal designers to integrate portal operation with ZBLSA

Project design

The project will be undertaken in the following stages:

• Investigation of recent developments in linking technology
• Design, including selection of specific technologies for implementation, links database schema, interfaces and output formats
• Implementation, involving prototyping, review and refinement
• Evaluation, conducted by an external independent group

Outcomes

The ZBLSA project is a proof-of-concept exercise in reference linking. If the evaluation of the work proves positive, work will begin on planning a roll-out of ZBLSA as a national linking service available to further and higher education.