Library Holdings

Library Holdings

You can allow patrons to dynamically link to your library's periodical holdings information at specific points during their searches in Gale resources. In this way, when patrons find a reference to a particular journal or magazine, they can immediately check if the periodical is available in your library's online public access catalog (OPAC) without exiting their search session (note that not all products support the link to library holdings feature).

To provide a dynamic link to library holdings, your catalog system must meet the following criteria:

Your library catalog must use a Web interface for searching.
The Web catalog interface must allow searching by ISSN. The ISSN search must be reproducible through a stable URL (i.e., the search command URL cannot require a unique, server-assigned session identifier).
Link to holdings is not supported for libraries with ASCII client interfaces.

Here is how to configure up to three links to your library holdings:

Navigate to the Location Summary page of the account for which you wish to configure Library Holdings settings.
From the Location Summary page, click Discovery Services in the left-hand sidebar menu. Then select Library Holdings from the submenu.
The Library Holdings page is displayed.
Enter holdings information under LIBRARY CATALOG 1, as described below.
Determine if you want the holdings link that you specified in Step 4 to appear for all periodical results, or only for those results where the source periodical is held in your library. When you want to limit your library holdings links to appear only for those periodicals held in your library, you must upload a holdings file. In this way, the Gale resource can check the user's search results against your list of periodical holdings. Upload a .txt file containing your holdings information, as described below.
Optionally repeat Step 4 to enter holdings information for two additional catalogs. Note: You only need to upload a single .txt file containing all of your holdings data.
Enter the general holdings information under LIBRARY HOLDINGS, as described below.
Click the Save button to save your settings.

Library Catalogs 1, 2, and 3

Many Gale electronic resources support links to up to three of your library catalogs. For example, you may have a Law library and a Humanities library that contain periodicals. You can customize the text and use a custom icon to represent each holdings link to direct patrons to the appropriate catalog.

Enter the following information for each of your library catalogs that you want to make available in your subscribed Gale resources:

Library Catalog Option	Description
Enter the library catalog search command URL	Enter the URL for your library's online public access catalog (OPAC). Examples: http://public.library.org/search/i?SEARCH=[ISSN] http://academic.library.edu/search/[ISSN] Please note that the '[ISSN]' in these examples is part of the search URL definition and should be typed exactly as shown. The actual ISSN from the Gale product will dynamically be inserted at the time of the patron's search.
Enter a name for the library catalog to be used as the link text	Enter a brief description of the library catalog. When you are providing dynamic access to two or more catalogs, make sure the description you enter is specific enough to properly direct patrons to the appropriate catalog.
To apply a customized icon image, enter the image URL here / Current icon	If you have an icon for your OPAC that you wish to use, enter its URL. Otherwise leave the field blank to use the standard (default) icon provided by Gale. For best viewing, your customized icon should be 20 pixels high. The Current Icon will be displayed; if an image does not appear, make sure you entered the correct URL. NOTE: If you specify a customized icon, you should also set the citation style on the General Preferences page to 'Icon.'
Associate ISSN Holdings file with this catalog	Use this setting to indicate if you want the Gale product to check the ISSN associated with the citation or article against your text file of ISSNs. If Yes, the Library Holdings link will only appear for those citations and articles that reference periodicals your OPAC. Refer to 'Upload a Holdings File with ISSNs' below for how to upload your holdings file. Otherwise the link will appear for any citation/article that contains an ISSN, regardless if the ISSN is actually part of your holdings or not.

Upload a Holdings File with ISSNs

To use the upload feature, you must have a holdings file that meets the following requirements:

The holdings file must be an ASCII (text only) file listing the ISSNs of the journals, magazines, and newspapers your library holds in its collection.
For example: c:holdingsissn.txt
Submit only one file, regardless of the number of catalogs you specify.

To upload your holdings file:

On the Library Holdings page, click the Upload a Holdings File with ISSNs button.
The ISSN Holdings Upload page is displayed.
Click Choose File to browse and select your holdings file. The name of the selected file will be displayed next to the Choose File button.
Click Submit to upload your holdings file to Gale. A message will display indicating whether the file upload was successful.