FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OCLC Openly Informatics

15 January 2007

OCLC Openly Informatics Announces Link Checking Software, 1Cate Enhancements

Today, OCLC Openly Informatics announced the release of two types of software to help libraries manage linking to electronic resources.

Link Evaluator is a free Firefox add-on that helps libraries monitor, evaluate, and maintain links to all types of electronic resources. The add-on takes concepts developed as part of the development and maintenance system for OCLC Openly's vast linking knowledgebases and puts them at the fingertips of any user with access to the Firefox web browser.

Developed with the library community in mind, the Link Evaluator Firefox Add-on allows users to develop web pages that tell them at a glance if an Internet resource in their library has changed or has become inaccessible.

1Cate (ONE-CATE) is an OpenURL linking service developed by OCLC Openly Informatics. With the release of the latest version of this service, 1Cate has added many features designed to help libraries manage their electronic resources. With on-demand ONIX SOH output, 1Cate libraries can export holdings files for use in other resource management services, such as OCLC's WorldCat eSerials program. Title list analysis features allow libraries to characterize their serials collection and to evaluate overlap of collections for possible acquisition or cancellation. Dynamic statistics generation and customizable logging, including COUNTER reports, allow libraries to see how library resources are being used. New features designed for use in corporate sites and consortia allow multiple libraries to transparently share jointly maintained serials lists.

1Cate's unparalleled support for all the world's languages now extends to Japanese, Chinese and Arabic, with language specific features such as katakana and bopomofo search, stroke count ordering, and bidirectional text support. Support for eBooks has also been added. The knowledgebase used by 1Cate includes over 300,000 linking records for ebooks. Enhancements to 1Cate's browsing features enable users to browse publishers, packages, and eBooks. ISBN-13, which became mandatory on January 1, 2007, has had full support in 1Cate for over a year.

"Linking Technology has moved way beyond showing menus of links to journal articles" said Eric Hellman, Director of OCLC Openly Informatics Division. "Libraries need to keep track of all sorts of electronic resources, and we've worked hard to relentlessly improve our software, our linking data, and our services to help them do that."

For more information about Link Evaluator or 1Cate, please visit http://nj.oclc.org/1cate/ or http://nj.oclc.org/linkevaluator/ , or contact: Eric Hellman at hellmane at  oclc.org