SFX 3.0

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Jun 09, 2006Version comment
3 min read

SFX is an commercial OpenURL link resolver product from the Ex Libris Group . The information on this page generally applies to most OpenURL link resolvers currently available (there are no special SFX features highlighted on this page)

Terminology

There are certain terms used within the SFX community to describe the context of SFX and how it operates. Below is a listing of some key terms, their definitions and an illustrative example.

Term & Definition

Example

OpenURL: a query used to describe a resource, the services requested for that resource and the context from which the request is being made.

Requesting, from Google Scholar, for full text of a scholarly journal article from Nature Magazine held by ProQuest.

Source: the place an OpenURL originates.

Google Scholar

Target: the place where the user needs to be directed to get what he wants.

ProQuest

Service: the kinds of things the user can do with information from the OpenURL (i.e., get full text, get an abstract, search for the author's name, search by the genome ID, etc.).

Fulltext

Menu: the list of potential services a user sees and selects from after he clicks on an SFX link.

An SFX link provided by Google Scholar will result in an SFX Menu being presented to the user. If full text is available, the option to retrieve it from ProQuest will be on the Menu.

SFX Link Server: the server where information that SFX uses to connect Sources with Targets resides, contains the SFX Link Resolver.

Google Scholar's SFX Link will send an OpenURL to the user's SFX Link Server for processing.

SFX Link Resolver: the application that uses information on the SFX Link Server to parse an OpenURL and provide the user with services relevant to their citation information.

The OpenURL sent from Google Scholar will be processed by the SFX Link Resolver residing within the user's SFX Link Server.

Global Knowledge Base: a database containing what Ex Libris knows about the availability of OpenURL Sources, Target Services and the scripts used to create links from OpenURLs.

The Global Knowledge Base knows that Google Scholar provides OpenURLs and knows that ProQuest provides full text and knows enough about ProQuest's internal article-linking structure to construct a link to the full text of the article from Nature Magazine.

Local Knowledge Base: a database containing information similar to the Global Knowledge Base, but customized to reflect our local collections.

what does the Local Knowledge Base actually do/know?

Portfolio: a group of titles provided by a particular vendor package.

ProQuest holds Nature, Discover, The Economist, etc...

Object: the smallest part in the Knowledge Base, usually a book or journal title.

Nature Magazine at ProQuest.

Threshold: the parameters used to filter what the user sees in a Menu, almost always either affiliation with a particular library (i.e. UM, Flint, Kresge) or the date range of a particular title we have licensed from a particular vendor.

The user's organization sets a Threshold that limits full text articles from Nature Magazine through ProQuest by only presenting articles published after 1999 (even though ProQuest has Nature articles published earlier). The article linked to from Google Scholar is published after 1999, so the user will get the option to retrieve the full text in the Menu.
SFX user flow diagram

  • SFX Overview - official SFX Overview site from Ex Libris.
  • SFX article listing - listing of articles on SFX and SFX-related technologies (i.e. Linking in the scholarly information environment).
  • Ex Libris Documentation Center - the Ex Libris Documentation Center contains documentation on all Ex Libris products including SFX. Most useful are the SFX Admin and User Guides. Login required.