Alma: Gale: Linking Issues
- Product: Alma, Primo, Summon, 360 KB, SFX
- Product Version: all
- Relevant for Installation Type: all
Gale Linking - Context, Issues, Troubleshooting, and Suggestions
Location ID (LocID) - the backbone of Gale linking
The Location ID (or LocID, LOCID) is how Gale recognizes your account, like a username. It facilitates authentication and linking to Gale's products, and is used in URLs to Gale products.
Why is the correct Location ID critical?
Configuring Ex Libris products to use your Location ID when building or using links to Gale's platform is critical. Without the correct Location ID for your institution, links may lead end users to the wrong page or to errors.
Confirming that you have the correct Location ID, and have it configured correctly across Gale products, should be the first step in troubleshooting any Gale linking issue.
How to get your institution's LocID
To obtain your institution's Location ID, contact Gale Customer Support.
Configuring Ex Libris products to use your Location ID
Primo
For information on how to configure your Location ID in Primo for certain "link in record" (direct) Gale collections (such as Gale Digital Collections and archival content) see: Special links configuration in CDI for Primo and Primo VE.
Summon
For information on configuring your Location ID in Summon for direct links, see: Summon and 360 Link: Index-Enhanced Direct Linking Special Providers.
360 KB
- Client Center: 360 Core: Authentication for Gale Databases
- Intota: Intota: Authentication for Gale Databases
Gale linking issues
A link from Primo/CDI for a particular Gale product does not work. Why?
Links may not work for a variety of reasons.
First of all, confirm that you have the correct Location ID configured correctly across your products, and make sure that the link you are trying has the correct Location ID included. If not, fix issues with your Location ID before testing further - see above.
Other causes and potential solutions to linking issues can be found below. If your situation is not included below, please file a case through the Support Portal.
I click on a link in a Primo/CDI record for one Gale product, but the link sends me to another Gale product - why?
CDI directly maps the correct product for the record as it is ingested into the index. However, link resolver linking matches this result against all of your activated/selected Gale products and titles, and may send you to a different Gale product than the CDI record was intended for.
This can have undesirable results.
Different record Identifiers for different Gale products
Due to the way Gale's products are structured, two or more records may exist in CDI for identical content. These records may (or may not) contain different record identifiers, depending on the type of product the record is for. This causes problems in certain scenarios for link resolver linking, as the link resolver matches this result against all of your activated/selected Gale products and titles, and may mismatch a CDI record (which is intended for a specific Gale product) against other Gale products, using the wrong record identifier.
Link sends the user to a product where the record does not exist
Gale may include portions of content (articles, chapters, reference entries, etc.) as opposed to the whole issue, chapter, or reference work for certain topical or focused products (In Context, Literature Resource Center, etc.). For this type of content, in CDI there tends to be different record identifiers as described above. However, since link resolver linking matches this result against all of your activated/selected Gale products and titles and assumes the entire issue/chapter/reference work is included, this can result in a link to content that does not exist on the Gale product that you are trying to link to.
Both Gale and Ex Libris are planning improvements to address this issue. Gale is working to identify selected-article content programmatically and display this information in their KBART title lists, which Ex Libris can then use to remove or identify selected article content in the KBs. Additionally, Ex Libris are making developments to improve the flexibility of link in record links to allow for customization for parameters like a Gale Location ID. Once this development is complete, we can switch many Gale collections to link in record, which will allow only those records confirmed to exist in that Gale product to receive a link to Gale's platform.
Since Link Resolver linking has these issues with Primo/CDI, can you switch to "link in record"/direct linking?
We do use "link in record" (direct) linking for some Gale resources where link resolver does not work and is not an option, such as for Gale archival products.
However, for "traditional" serial and monograph content, there are limitations on customization of links (e.g. the Location ID) and other functionality using "link in record". Additional development is needed to make "link in record" functionality more flexible before we switch to it for all Gale resources, which would resolve many of the current issues for Gale content.
As stated above, Ex Libris are making developments to improve the flexibility of link in record links to allow for customization for parameters like a Gale Location ID. Once this development is complete, we can switch many Gale collections to link in record, which will allow only those records confirmed to exist in that Gale product to receive a link to Gale's platform.
- Article last edited: 27-Mar-2025