Related Objects - Menu Configuration

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Related Objects

For an overview of related objects, see Related Objects.

The following is an example of the SFX menu with services for a related object.

SFX Services for This Record

In the example, the object sent in the OpenURL has no full-text available. However, SFX has detected that a full-text service exists for a related object, and this is presented in the SFX menu. The related services—for example, Full text for related titles—is displayed by default as a section of the SFX menu, as are other service types (for example, Full-text or Holding information).

Relation information is stored in the SFX KnowledgeBase KB_RELATIONS table and can be seen in the Search Object results in KBManager. For more information on objects, see Objects.

For example:

Title Civil engineering systems

ISSN 0263-0257

OBJECT_ID 954926969983

Is continued by:

Title Civil engineering and environmental systems

ISSN 1028-6608

OBJECT_ID954925587322

Relation Types Used in SFX

See Table Relation Types Used in SFX for an explanation of the relation types used in SFX.

If the related object feature is turned on in the SFX menu, a distinction is made between close relations—where the full text of the related object is identical or very close to the original object requested—and more remote relations.

Close Relations

If the object requested in the OpenURL has related objects with close relations, services from the related object can be included in the SFX menu with no indication that these are services for the related object.

Close relation types are:

Proceeding series
Proceeding
Other book edition

To the end user, it appears as if these services are for the object sent in the OpenURL. Since the relation type is very close, it can be considered equivalent, and as far as the user is concerned no distinction has to be made.

The display of closely related object services can be configured. For more information, see Configuring Related Objects.

Remote Relations

For more distant relation types defined in the SFX KnowledgeBase, the services of the related object are not displayed in the SFX menu as regular services, but are displayed separately with an indication that these services are for related objects. This is the case for the following remote relation types:

Absorbed by
Absorbed in part by
Continued by
Continued in part by
Continues
Continues in part
Formed by the union of
Merged into
Other edition
Related to
Split into
Supplement parent
Supplement
Translated as

If two objects are related to each other and are available via the same target, the following behavior occurs:

For closely related objects, the service for the related object is not displayed in the SFX menu. Only the target for the core object, for which the OpenURL is sent, is displayed. This is called deduplication of services for related objects.
For remote related objects, where a link to the same service may be valuable, the same service is displayed for both the core object and the related object. Deduplication of services does not occur.

The behavior of remote related objects can be changed so that deduplication occurs using the related object configuration options.

In order to avoid very large sets of services for related objects, SFX does not display in the SFX menu, services of type SERIES_ITEM (especially in case of parent – child relations, from SERIES to a list of series items).

Additionally, if there are more than five related objects for an object, the RSI index is checked regarding active services for the request before performing augmentation. Augmentation and calculation of services is done only for those related objects where RSI indicates that there is at least one service that is displayed in the SFX menu.

For more information on building the RSI index, refer to the Rapid Service Indicator section of the SFX System Administration Guide.

Configuring Related Objects

To configure Related Objects, click the Related Objects tab. The following is displayed:

Related Objects

The following configuration options are available:

Include related object services in SFX menu
- Serials – Select On to include related object services for Serials in the SFX menu. By default, the related object display is on.
  Using the arrows, move the relation types for serials that you want allowed to the box on the right.
- Monographs – Select On to include related object services for Monographs in the SFX menu. By default, the related object display is on.
  Using the arrows, move the relation types for monographs that you want allowed to the box on the right.
Choose the service type that you would like to be displayed for related objects – The following options are available: getAbstract, getFullTxt, getSelectedFullTxt, getTOC, or getHolding. By default, getFullTxt and getSelectedFullTxt are selected.
Choose how closely related objects should be displayed
- with no indication that these services are for the related object – Select to display closely related objects together with services for the object sent in the OpenURL.
- separately from regular services with an indication that these services are for related objects – Select to display closely related objects in a separate list. Closely related objects are displayed in the location you select to have remotely related objects displayed.
Choose where remotely related objects should be displayed
- right below services of the same type – Select to have services displayed right below services of the same type
- in the SFX menu Advanced section – Select to have services displayed in the advanced section of the SFX menu. By default, services for related objects are displayed in the advanced section of the SFX menu.
Do not display services for related objects if same service type (e.g. fulltext) is available for the original object – Select to prevent the display of related objects with the same service type as the original object.
Use deduplication of target services for remote related objects – If selected, a service for remotely related objects is not displayed if the same target service (for example, full text for Ebsco Academic Search Elite) is displayed in the SFX menu for the core object or closely related object.

Full-Text for Related Object

Translation

The wording for the relation types and default service grouping headers can be changed and translated. In the Relation Types tab, under Translations & Display, it is possible to define the wording for the display of the different types of relations. See Translations and Display for more information.

Related Book Services in SFX

Unlike related object information for journals and e-books that is stored in the SFX database, related object information for books is available only from services such as LibraryThing’s ThingISBN.

Related book services allow for lookups of ISBNs. It is possible to send an ISBN and receive a set of related ISBNs in return (that pertain to the same text but to different manifestations of it, such as paperback versus hardback, first edition versus second edition, or different language editions of the same text). This may be useful for linking when a user clicks the SFX button and sends one ISBN to SFX, but the active full-text portfolio or OPAC record exists for another edition and a different ISBN.

SFX uses the ThingISBN from LibraryThing book service.

ThingISBN is a service that retrieves a list of ISBNs associated with a submitted ISBN, based on the LibraryThing database of books. LibraryThing is a social cataloging Web application for storing and sharing personal library catalogs and book lists. Its database contains books and other material cataloged by LibraryThing members. The service is free and available for non-commercial use only. You cannot send more than one ThingISBN request per second, and you must notify LibraryThing if usage of the service exceeds 1,000 requests per day.

Additional information regarding the ThingISBN service can be found at:

https://blog.librarything.com/?s=ThingISBN

xISBN is no longer supported.

Configuring Related Book Services

Determine the following options before proceeding with the configuration of related book services:

The point during the SFX workflow at which the related book service is queried. It can occur during one of the following operations:
- Related Book Augmentation – Augmentation with additional ISBNs when loading the SFX menu for all book requests
- Related Book Target Lookup – Lookup of additional ISBNs only when linking to the OPAC (Aleph or Voyager). In the future, all catalogs that allow multiple ISBN searching with Boolean or statement will be adapted.
How to handle ISBNs for editions of the book in different languages.

Related Book Augmentation

SFX performs an ISBN lookup for every OpenURL with an ISBN that is sent to the SFX server. This occurs at the start of the SFX flow, when the OpenURL is received by SFX, before the augmentation from the SFX KnowledgeBase starts.

After the related book service lookup of an ISBN, the array of related ISBNs is added to the ContextObject. This array of related ISBNs is used from this point going forward, for the following purposes:

Checking for active portfolios in the SFX KnowledgeBase
Querying the OPAC using the Aleph plug-in
Target linking in the Aleph and Voyager OPAC
Linking to the Google Book Search target

This option is recommended, as it allows the maximum use of related ISBN information and is also good for customers using the Aleph plug-in. Note that this option may have an impact on the performance of the SFX menu, since the lookup takes place before the SFX menu is displayed. A time-out value is configured to limit the delay if the related book service is down.

The following is an example of a related ISBN array in the ContextObject:

sfx.related_isbn| => {

|close| => [

|0-374-11394-7|,

|0-15-600329-5|,

|0-571-16892-2|,

|0-571-22525-X|

|remote| => [

|965-07-0793-X|

]

}

Related Book Target Lookup

SFX performs an ISBN lookup only after the user has selected to link to the Aleph or Voyager OPAC target. The lookup is performed as part of the target parser. In the future, all catalogs that allow multiple ISBN searching with Boolean OR statements will be adapted to use multiple ISBNs.

The following are the advantages of the related book target lookup:

It is performed before searching the OPAC, avoiding any impact on SFX menu performance.
It involves lower usage of the related book service.

The disadvantage of the related book target lookup is that it can be performed only when a target is selected. Additional book information cannot be used for SFX menu augmentation or plug-in purposes.

Handling Editions in Different Languages

By default, SFX works only with the ContextObject related ISBNs that are in the same language as the original ISBN requested. These related ISBNs behave in the same manner as other closely related objects defined in the SFX KnowledgeBase.

This means that:

When an active full-text object portfolio exists for a related ISBN, the full-text service is presented in the SFX menu as if it is a service for the original object.
When performing an Aleph plug-in check, all related ISBNs are used in Boolean OR searches.
When performing a search in the Aleph or Voyager OPAC, all related ISBNs are used in Boolean OR searches.

However, it is possible to configure the service to also use other language editions. This needs to be defined in the configuration file described in Handling Editions in Different Languages. Other language edition ISBNs are treated as remote related objects. This means that:

When an active full text portfolio exists for a remotely related ISBN, the full text service is presented in the SFX menu with an indication of the relation and the ISBN of the related object.
Remote related ISBNs are not included when performing an Aleph plug-in check or when searching the Aleph or Voyager OPAC.

Implementation Instructions

To implement a related book service:

Add the following section to the config/ctx_object.config configuration file:

Section "related_isbn"

<include:$ENV{SFXCTRL_HOME}/config/related_isbn.config_>

EndSection

Configure the config/related_isbn.config file with the following text:

Section "general_settings"

use_related_isbn_lookup "0"

# possible methods are xISBN or thingISBN

method "thingISBN"

# base url for OCLC xISBN service

xISBN_baseurl "http://xisbn.worldcat.org/webservices/xid/isbn/"

# base url for thingISBN service

thingISBN_baseurl "http://www.librarything.com/api/thingISBN/"

# possible types are augmentation or target_parser

query_type "augmentation"

# related ISBN query timeout in seconds

query_timeout "3"

maximum_results_to_use "10"

# use/do not use ISBNs in languages different from originating ISBN

use_additional_languages "1"

# include/do not include OCLC affiliate id in request for statistics

use_affiliate_id "0"

EndSection

Section "subscription"

use_subscription "0"

# possible values are token or ip

subscription_type "ip"

# ip address of SFX server or gateway

ip ""

# for access token subscription

token ""

# for access token subscription: secret token value

secret ""

# for ip controlled access and statistics

affiliate_id ""

EndSection

General Configuration

To configure related services:

Turn on the related book feature by setting the value of the parameter to 1:

use_related_isbn_lookup "1"

Define thingISBN as the book service to use:

method "thingISBN"

Define when to retrieve related book information. Either augmentation for related book augmentation when loading the SFX menu or target_parser for related book target lookup when linking to the Aleph or Voyager OPAC.

query_type "augmentation"

Define whether to accept ISBNs in languages different than those in the original ISBN. Set this value to 0 to block these ISBN values, or to 1 to accept them:

use_additional_languages "1"

If you set this parameter to 1, you must also define which additional languages should be accepted as related ISBNs in the languages section at the bottom of the configuration file.

In the example below, changing the value next to the language Afrikaans from 0 to 1 enables the acceptance of ISBNs for editions of the original book in Afrikaans as related to the original ISBN:

Afrikaans "0"