[Eril-l] LexisNexis OpenURL failures

[Mandi Schwarz]

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your responses! I have compiled them, along with my original message, into this document: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByZdFwoUk3oRQWNhRUt1OUc2XzA/view?usp=sharing

The consensus is that LexisNexis is a terrible platform - which is no surprise to those of us who work with it.

I have continued to ask LN to send their title list to link resolvers, and I finally got this response:
"The A to Z lists for LN Academic are available for download from this site by region:  http://www.amdev.net/rpt_download.php?reg=CAN (this is the link for the Canadian reports.)  These reports are updated on a quarterly basis.

These lists can be shared with any customers or link resolvers.  I do have a list of a few list resolver providers (ProQuest - Serials Solutions, EBSCO) that I do notify when the list is updated, so Serials Solutions should be aware of when the lists are updated.  Link resolvers typically use the list labeled "Open URL" to determine how to construct the links to LNA, while the A to Z list provides a comprehensive view of all of the content in the LNA menu."

This is much better than the original response, which was essentially "we don't send lists to link resolvers."

Thank you again - I'll be taking all of this information to our librarians so they can make a decision about access points specifically, and continuing our subscription.

Best,
Mandi

Mandi Schwarz
Library Assistant - Electronic Resources
University of Northern British Columbia
250-960-6455; Mandi.Schwarz at unbc.ca<mailto:Mandi.Schwarz at unbc.ca>





From: Eril-l [mailto:eril-l-bounces at lists.eril-l.org] On Behalf Of Mandi Schwarz
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2016 3:36 PM
To: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum (SERIALST at LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG<mailto:SERIALST at LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG>); eril-l at lists.eril-l.org<mailto:eril-l at lists.eril-l.org>
Subject: [Eril-l] LexisNexis OpenURL failures

Hello colleagues,

(Apologies for cross-posting.)

We have noticed a distressing number of OpenURL failures for LexisNexis content. Using our Summon instance, I located 100 articles (each in a different, mostly-randomly-chosen publication [1]) to test; 34 of them failed to get from our link resolver (360 Link) to the full text in LexisNexis. There are two errors that we encounter: "No Documents Found: You can edit your search and try again." and "Error: The document section name you entered is invalid. Please check for spelling errors or duplicate information." Comparing the citation in Summon with the article in LexisNexis, I often see no glaring errors. Serials Solutions maintains that the disconnect occurs with LexisNexis' unique indexing; to date, LexisNexis has been uninterested in rectifying this.

A 34% failure rate also indicates the inverse: a 66% success rate. Our librarians will be reviewing this to see if this meets the minimum success threshold; if not, we will discuss what we can do to minimize the impact on our users, which may include removing LexisNexis article-level results from Summon.

Our question to you is: Have you noticed similar failures at your institution? If so, have you changed how you present LexisNexis content to your users?

Thank you,
Mandi

[1] Using an updated title list from LexisNexis, I would randomly scroll through the list with my eyes closed and click on a cell. I would check that publication for language (I searched only English publications, because I was using an English search term) and format; I discovered that may publication types are not fully indexed in Summon, including: Boards, Panels & Tribunals; Cases; Decisions; Legislation, Statutes & Codes; and, Web-based Publications. As such, I chose publications listed as: Law Reviews & Journals; Magazines & Journals; or any type of 'News' item. I would then combine a publication title search with a truncated keyword, such as 'increas*', and work down the list until I found a title that returned at least one article for testing, which I would also choose by blind scrolling. Then I'd scroll the spreadsheet for the next title and repeat the process. While this method isn't scientifically random, it met the needs for this test.

Mandi Schwarz
Library Assistant - Electronic Resources
University of Northern British Columbia
250-960-6455; Mandi.Schwarz at unbc.ca<mailto:Mandi.Schwarz at unbc.ca>
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