1. Atlas Systems
  2. Ares
  3. OpenURL

Configuring OpenURL Mapping and Destinations

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Sara Juel
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OpenURL is an industry-standard way of encoding resource metadata into a URL. Ares OpenURL is installed and functional as a part of the standard Ares Server installation and can be used in the Ares Client and through the web pages.

  • Requesting items from the web pages via OpenURL: If your Ares web pages are functional and Ares OpenURL is functional, generally no further installation should be required.
  • Submitting requests from within the Ares Client: Using the Submit via OpenURL button, staff users can submit requests to external systems via OpenURL.

Configuring Ares Requesting From Your Electronic Resources

While the Ares side of OpenURL is functional immediately, in order to allow instructors to request materials from your electronic resources, you will need to configure your OpenURL system to create a link to Ares. 

The following target will need to be added to the OpenURL system at your institution: https://YourAresServerName/ares/ares.dll/OpenURL (example: http://training2.atlas-sys.com/ares/ares.dll/OpenURL).

The Ares OpenURLMapping Table

The OpenURLMapping table is found in the Ares Customization Manager under Web | OpenURL. It is pre-seeded with a setup that should work with most default OpenURL systems. If you need to change the behavior of how OpenURL interprets certain fields or genres, this is where you can make those changes. The OpenURLMapping table consists of the following fields:

ID The order number of the OpenURL mapping items.
URL_Ver

This field has a default value of Default and rarely needs to be changed. Additional entries can be configured in the OpenURLMapping table with modified URL_Ver values targeting a specific OpenURL version if you would like to have separate mappings available based on the version of OpenURL used to place the request. An example of the value for OpenURL version 1.0 would be "Z39.88-2004". 
rfr_id

This field has a default value of Default and rarely needs to be changed. Additional entries can be configured in the OpenURLMapping table with modified rfr_id values if you would like to have separate mappings available based on the source of the OpenURL link used to place the request.

For example, to have all requests of a specified OpenURL genre considered a Book when submitted from FirstSearch, but to have those same requests considered an Article when submitted from Ovid, you could configure separate OpenURLMapping table entries for each of these behaviors with the rfr_id setting on the entries specifying which mappings to use for FirstSearch and which mappings to use for Ovid. 

Please contact your OpenURL source provider to determine the rfr_id value that should be used for that source. An example of the value used for FirstSearch is info:sid/firstsearch.oclc.org:WorldCat. This value will be stored in the CitedIn field in Ares if it is passed over via OpenURL (with the info:sid/ part removed). 
Ares Action

This field is configured with different values based on the direction of the OpenURL request:

Converting a URL to an Ares Item

Three actions requiring separate OpenURLMapping table entries are used to convert an OpenURL request to an Ares item:

As these three actions work in conjunction with each other, please ensure that you create separate entries for each Ares Action below when adding new entries to the OpenURLMapping table targeting a specific rfr_id or URL_Ver value.
  • Substitute:genre: This action is used to set the RequestType (Serial or Monograph) for the generated item request in Ares and to specify the Ares web request form that should be used to place the request based on the genre for the item passed via OpenURL. When configuring this action:
    • The Ares Field Name field for the entry must be set to RequestType. 
    • The Open URL Field Values field for the entry should be set to the genre returned by OpenURL (e.g., article, book, or conference) or to a value of default, which will match any genre not specifically listed in another entry.

    • The Ares Value for the entry should be configured to specify the Ares RequestType that should be set for incoming requests of that genre, the HTML request form that should be used to place those requests on the Ares web interface, and a friendly name for the genre of the request that may be displayed to users in the Ares web interface to indicate the type of request they are placing. This value must be configured in the format: RequestType:HTMLRequestPageToUse:FriendlyName (e.g., Serial:IRFOpenURLArticle.html:Article)

      For more information on setting the friendly name value and how it may be used in the Ares web pages, see Displaying Multiple Request Forms for a Genre.

  • Substitute:rft.genre: This action functions and is configured the same way as the Substitute:genre action, but is used specifically with OpenURL version 1.0.

    When adding new genre mappings to the OpenURLMapping table, you should create one entry for that genre using the Substitute:genre action and a separate identical entry for that genre using the Substitute:rft.genre action to ensure all potential OpenURL versions are handled by Ares.
  • Replace: This action sets the Ares field that will be used to store the OpenURL information that is sent via the OpenURL link. A separate Replace entry should be created for each individual Ares field used to hold the data sent via OpenURL. When configuring this action:
    • The Ares Field Name field for the entry should be set to the name of the Ares field that will be used to store the data passed from the OpenURL link.

    • The OpenURL Field Values field for the entry should be set to the OpenURL field that will be used to pass the desired information from the OpenURL link into that Ares field.

      This value must be formatted as <#OpenURLTagName>.  See the Open URL Field Values documentation below for more information on additional formatting options for this value.
    • The Ares Value field for the entry does not need a value and can be left blank.
    • For example, if the Ares Field Name is set to Edition and the OpenURL Field Values value is set to <#rft.edition>, the value in the Edition field on the Ares item record will be replaced with the data passed through the OpenURL link via the rft.edition field. 

Building a URL from an Ares Item

Three actions requiring separate OpenURLMapping table entries are used to build an OpenURL link from an Ares item record:

As these three actions work in conjunction with each other, please ensure that you create separate entries for each Ares Action below when adding new entries to the OpenURLMapping table targeting a specific rfr_id or URL_Ver value.
  • ReverseSubstitute:genre: This action is used to map the Ares item's ItemFormat field value to a specific OpenURL genre. By default, there are entries in the OpenURLMapping table to handle mapping for the article, book, and bookchapter formats. When configuring entries for this action:
    • The Ares Field Name field for the entry must be set to RequestType.
    • The Ares Value field for the entry should be set to the specific Ares ItemFormat for which you are configuring the OpenURL genre mapping.
    • The Open URL Field Values field for the entry should be set to the OpenURL genre that should map to the Ares ItemFormat specified in the Ares Value column for the entry.
    The Submit via OpenURL button in the Ares Client is enabled for an item only if there is a ReverseSubstitute:genre action entry for that item's ItemFormat in this table.
  • ReverseSubstitute:Format: This action works in conjunction with the ReverseSubstitute:genre action to determine which fields from an Ares item record should be included in the OpenURL request for a specified OpenURL genre. When configuring entries for this action:
    • The Ares Field Name field for the entry must be set to Fields.

    • The Open URL Field Values field for the entry should be set to the specific OpenURL genre for which you are configuring the mapping.

      There must be a corresponding ReverseSubstitute:genre action entry for this OpenURL genre in the OpenURLMapping table. 
    • The Ares Value field for the entry should be set to the Ares fields that should be included in the OpenURL request for the specified OpenURL genre. 

      • The list of fields in this column must be formatted as a comma-delineated list of fields, e.g. Title,ArticleTitle,Author,JournalYear,Volume,Issue,ISSN

        The Ares Value field cannot contain an unlimited number of fields as it is limited to 100 characters.
  • ReverseReplace: This action determines how the individual Ares item fields listed in the ReverseSubstitute:Format entries in the OpenURLMapping table will be mapped to their OpenURL equivalents. A separate ReverseReplace entry should be created for each individual Ares field. When configuring this action:

    • The Ares Field Name field for the entry should be set to the Ares field for which you are configuring the mapping.

      This field must be listed in a ReverseSubstitute:Format action mapping entry in the OpenURLMapping table.
    • The Open URL Field Values field for the entry should be set to the OpenURL field to which to map the Ares field data. 
    • The Ares Value field for the entry does not need a value and can be left blank.
Ares Field Name
  • For entries with Ares Action values of Replace or ReverseReplace, this should be set to the Ares field name that will populate/be populated by the OpenURL field configured in the Open URL Field Values column. 
  • For entries with Ares Action values of Substitute:genre, Substitute:rft.genre, or ReverseSubstitute:genre, this must be set to RequestType.
  • For entries with an Ares Action value of ReverseSubstitute:Format, this must be set to Fields.
See the Ares Action documentation above for more detailed guidance on configuring the Ares Field Name for each action.
Open URL Field Values

  • For entries with Ares Action values of Replace or ReverseReplace, this should be set to the name of the OpenURL field that will populate/be populated by the value in the Ares field configured in the Ares Field Name column.

    The OpenURL field must be formatted as <#OpenURLTagName> (e.g., <#rft.edition>) for Replace action entries. Other text is allowed, so in the case of an Author's Name, you can separate the last name and first name with a comma and a space, i.e., <#rft.aulast>, <#rft.aufirst>. 
  • For entries with Ares Action values of Substitute:genre, Substitute:rft.genre, or ReverseSubstitute:genre, this should be set to the OpenURL genre (article, book, bookitem, etc.) that should map to the Ares ItemFormat/RequestType indicated in the Ares Value column for the entry. 

  • For entries with an Ares Action value of ReverseSubstitute:Format, this should be set to the specific OpenURL genre for which you are configuring the mapping.

    The genre specified in the Open URL Field Values column for ReverseSubstitue:Format entries must have a corresponding ReverseSubsitute:genre entry in the OpenURLMapping table.
See the Ares Action documentation above for more detailed guidance on configuring the Open URL Field Values for each action.

Assigning Multiple OpenURL Values to the Same Ares Field 

Entries in the OpenURLMapping table configured to use the Ares Action 'Replace' can have separate OpenURL values assigned to the same Ares field in a single OpenURLMapping table entry. This is useful for handling different OpenURL mappings that end up going to the same Ares fields.

You can separate these values with a pipe character (|). When Ares sees the pipe, it interprets everything up to that point in the expression. If it has no values for the OpenURL fields up to that point in the expression, then it continues and uses the next expression. If it already has a value, then it ignores everything after the pipe. You can have as many pipe/field value combinations as you need.

Example:

This example uses the default OpenURL Field Values configuration in the OpenURLMapping table entry for the Author field:

<#rft.au>|<#rft.aulast>, <#rft.aufirst> <#rft.auinitm>|<#aulast>, <#aufirst> <#auinitm>

  1. If the first part, <#rtf.au>, has a value, then that is what is sent back to Ares.
  2. If not, then Ares looks at the second part: <#rft.aulast>, <#rft.aufirst> <#rft.auinitm>. If any part of that has a value, then it is used.
  3. If not, then Ares uses the last expression: <#aulast>, <#aufirst> <#auinitm>.
  4. If none of the OpenURL values are returned, then Ares puts no value into the field.
Ares Value

The value in this column is configured differently for each Ares Action type. See the Ares Action documentation above for more detailed guidance on configuring the appropriate Ares Value for each action.

Entries with action types of Replace or ReverseReplace do not need a value configured in this column. 

Linking from the Ares Client to another OpenURL System

You can configure Ares to send requests from the Client to another OpenURL system such as ILLiad. 

The OpenURLDestinations Table

The OpenURLMapping table is accessed in the Ares Customization Manager. If a site has placed values in the OpenURLDestinations table, they can send a request from the client to any external system to be filled (including ILLiad) via OpenURL. Ares will build an appropriate URL from the citation info in Ares, send it to the external system you select, then forward the Ares Item request to the status designated in the table.

The OpenURLDestinations table can have multiple entries for the external systems you may want to use. The OpenURLDestinations table consists of the following fields: Destination, DestinationURL and Destination Status.

Destination

The name of the external system.

Destination URL

The OpenURL formatted URL for the external system.

Destination Status

The status queue that the Ares Item request should move to when
the request is sent to the external system.

To include ILLiad in your OpenURLDestinations table, the Destination value must be ILLiad and the DestinationURL value would be the OpenURL formatted URL of the ILLiad server: http://your.illiad.server/illiad/illiad.dll/OpenURL. The Destination Status would be Awaiting ILL Processing.

 

 

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