Have link resolvers helped or hurt? The relationship between ILL and OpenURL at a non‐SFX library

Abstract

Purpose -This paper's purpose is to describe an investigation of whether the addition of an interlibrary loan link as an option in the OpenURL link resolver menu has an effect on interlibrary loan requests for articles. Design/methodology/approach -Four years of link resolver clickthrough data were analyzed in conjunction with ten years of interlibrary loan article request data. Findings -The data showed that requests to ILL increased at first, then fell, and then rose again. There is a correlation between link resolver clickthroughs and ILL requests. Research limitations/implications -This paper employed data gathered over a longer time period than previous research on this topic and thus provides a broader exploration of the effect of providing links to ILL through a link resolver. While most OpenURL clickthrough data employed in research are gathered from the SFX OpenURL resolver, here the authors used WebBridge. Originality/value -This paper offers an example of how non-SFX institutions can employ clickthrough data to explore issues such as user behavior with regard to ILL.