any LinkOut libraries have added free full text journals to which they do not subscribe to their library holdings in the Submission Utility, so that their library icon will display on citations with free full text links. To simplify this, LinkOut has developed a special URL that will automatically assign your library icon to all PubMed citations with free full text links.

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) recommends that libraries stop adding to their holdings free full text journals to which they do not subscribe and begin using the new URL instead.

Using this special URL will not override library holdings defined in the Submission Utility. If you have designated a fee-based provider for a publication that is freely available elsewhere, your settings will be maintained. For example, if you selected OVID as a provider for a journal that is available elsewhere for free, your library icon will continue to link to OVID, rather than the free site.

This special URL does not add free full text journals to your library holdings. Your library icon will appear on citations with free full text links, but the related journals will not appear in your library holdings in the Submission Utility, the Libraries list, or the LinkOut Display.

Displaying LinkOut Library Icons on PubMed Citations
To display your library's LinkOut icon automatically on PubMed citations with free full text links (see Figure 1), please use the following URL:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=medlib_fft
Substitute your LinkOut User Name for "medlib".

For example:

When a user accesses PubMed from the URL for the Pacific Southwest Regional Medical Library (PSRML) demonstration library (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=psrmlib), only the provider icon displays (see Figure 1). PSRML does not have this publication in their holdings.

 

When a user enters PubMed using the same URL with _fft appended (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?holding=psrmlib_fft), the PSRML icon also displays on the citation because free full text is available (see Figure 2), reinforcing for library users that they have access to that article.

 

For details about this new format of URL, please see the documentation, Localizing Entrez/PubMed Services with Special URLs: Apply Your Library Icon to Citations with Free Full-Text Links.

Please send your questions or comments to: lib-linkout@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. General information on the LinkOut for Libraries program can be found at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/linkout/doc/liblinkout.html.

By Tansy Szeliga
National Center for Biotechnology Information

Szeliga T. New LinkOut Library Icons Option: Display on Free Full Text Citations. NLM Tech Bull. 2005 Jan-Feb;(342):e8.