"search for resolvers" gives out-of-date information

howelll
edited September 30, 2019
The registry used by the "search for resolvers" function (in Preferences -> Advanced) has been discontinued by OCLC and is returning stagnant, out-of-date results that can't be corrected by the institution.

I've found several references in the forum telling people that the information is drawn from the WorldCat Registry (http://www.worldcat.org/registry/Institutions), but that isn't the source for the http://worldcatlibraries.org/registry/lookup?IP=requestor lookup Zotero uses. I assume it was when those messages were written (2014, 2015, etc.), but it isn't now. I contacted OCLC to confirm that and to see if I could find a replacement URL, and they said that there isn't one.

My question to OCLC was "Is there an API for searching the WorldCat Registry programmatically, analogous to the old OpenURL registry's http://worldcatlibraries.org/registry/lookup?IP=requestor? I'm specifically looking for the OpenURL resolver information and need results in XML (or possibly JSON or another parsable format)." After some internal consultation, the answer I got back was that they had "confirmed that OCLC does not does not offer what you need via the newer WorldCat Registry API".

I'm not sure when the old API stopped reflecting changes made to the WorldCat Registry, but I know my institution updated our library name there in November or December, and it isn't reflected. So it's been at least that long.
  • dstillman
    Hmm, that's too bad — thanks for investigating.

    So then I suppose we should 1) remove http://worldcatlibraries.org/registry/gateway as the default resolver, 2) remove the "Search for resolvers" button, 3) add a link to the OpenURL resolvers wiki page from that prefs section, and 4) show an alert with a link to that page if you try to use Library Lookup without a resolver entered.
  • bwiernik
    Perhaps this might also be a good time to implement a general way to add Lookup engines other than manually editing engines.json?
  • dstillman
    @howelll (or anyone else who knows): Do they still give you a place to enter your OpenURL resolver info and authorized IP ranges? Is there any public documentation of this deprecation? It's a bit odd that both the Gateway and the Registry API are still up and running, and there are even still pages that mention Zotero's use of these services on their site.

    Registry search API aside, is there really no replacement for the Gateway?
  • dstillman
    We still need to do something here if the current gateway is deprecated. We can make the changes I suggest above, but I'd like to make sure there's not a better option.

    If anyone reading this manages their institution's WorldCat entry, I'm still curious whether there's a place to enter your OpenURL resolver and authorized IP ranges in the current interface.
  • dstillman
    In the latest Zotero beta, we've replaced the OpenURL resolver search with a list of resolvers drawn from our directory.

    The default resolver is now https://www.worldcat.org/registry/gateway, which is the same as the old one but with HTTPS support.
  • dbs
    Late reply, but there is indeed still a place in OCLC to maintain entries for your OpenURL resolver and authorized IP ranges, accessible from https://worldcat.org/config/

    OCLC's new Services & Configuration website relies on authenticating with an OCLC Services Account (which is also new), but I was able to dig and find this entry point that still works with a WorldCat account that had been previously authorized to edit the registry entry...
  • dstillman
    Oh… And that still applies to https://www.worldcat.org/registry/gateway ?

    Given that people will often be off-campus these days, having the directory is still useful, but it's good if the default resolver will still work for on-campus access.
  • dbs
    Well... assuming that https://www.worldcat.org/registry/gateway is supposed to recognize an incoming IP address, associate it with a resolver that is registered to a corresponding IP range, and hand off the OpenURL, it's not working for me. I just see "No article provider was found for your location".

    But I *just* updated our WorldCat entry, so maybe there's some lag time.

    First I had to find our resolver ID (by hovering over a blank space in our registry so that the *Edit* button popped up) so that I could then associate it with our IP range. Apparently there's no default association, even if you only have one IP range and one resolver, which is strange and (if true) means that it's unlikely most sites will have sorted that out.

    The documentation lives at https://help.oclc.org/Librarian_Toolbox/OCLC_Service_Configuration/IP_Addresses/010Manage_IP_Addresses#IP_Address_Range_Attributes and https://help.oclc.org/Librarian_Toolbox/OCLC_Service_Configuration/OpenURL_Resolvers/Manage_Resolvers
  • dbs
    One more update: I was on campus yesterday and can confirm that the WorldCat Registry gateway *does* detect your IP address and redirect (albeit in a frame) to the corresponding OpenURL resolver.

    Not sure why my test using a campus proxy failed, other than that perhaps there was a lingering cookie that misled the WorldCat Registry gateway.
  • Esuelzer
    Question about using the default "https://www.worldcat.org/registry/gateway" library look up for the general public.

    When I try this library lookup on my personal laptop and when I'm not connected to my institution's VPN, I get an error from WorldCat, "Oops, something went wrong."

    Is this a useful feature for the general public who may not be affiliated with an institution that provides library access?
  • dstillman
    If I recall, even without an institutional IP address, that gateway would still show library resources based on your IP address — I'm pretty sure I remember seeing local public libraries listed there. Maybe someone else can confirm.

    But WorldCat has been making major changes to their site lately, and they may have just broken that URL by accident. Seems possible it's broken currently even for people with an institutional IP address.
  • Esuelzer
    Is this the API that Zotero is using?
    https://www.oclc.org/research/activities/registry.html

    I reached to OCLC about the error message I was seeing, and they said they no longer support the OpenURL Registry.
  • adamsmith
    I'm pretty sure I remember seeing local public libraries listed there. Maybe someone else can confirm.
    Yes, that used to be the case and I'm getting the same consistent error message, so this just appears to be broken
  • dstillman
    OK, thanks. I've removed the default resolver in the latest beta and for 6.0.15, with a prompt to set a resolver in the prefs if not set.
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