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How to Find Your Library's OpenURL Resolver

Every library link resolver has a base URL. Here is how to find yours, what it usually looks like, and where to use it.

The base URL is the part of an OpenURL before the ?: the address of your institution's link resolver. You need it to set up Zotero's library lookup, to build links in a reading list or LMS, or to test a citation. Libraries do not always advertise it, but it is easy to find.

Where to look

  1. The library website. Search the library's help pages for "OpenURL", "link resolver", "Find it", "Get it" or "full-text finder". Many libraries publish the base URL for Zotero, EndNote or Google Scholar setup.
  2. Copy it from a working link. In a library database, run a search, then right-click a "Find it @ …", "Check availability" or "View it" button and copy the link. Everything before the ? is the base URL. If the link starts with your proxy (for example https://login.ezproxy.example.edu/login?url=), the resolver URL follows url=.
  3. Google Scholar. Under Settings, then Library links, search for your institution. Scholar then shows your library's link next to results. Hover over that link to see the resolver address.
  4. Ask the library. E-resources or systems librarians can confirm the correct base URL and any required parameters (some resolvers need an institution or profile code).

Typical patterns

The exact form depends on the product. These are the usual shapes; the capitalised parts are institution-specific, and your library's own value always takes precedence.

ProductTypical base URL
Ex Libris Alma link resolverhttps://DOMAIN.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/uresolver/INSTITUTION_CODE/openurl
Ex Libris SFXhttps://sfx.LIBRARY.edu/INSTANCE (local host name and instance name vary)
360 Link (Ex Libris, formerly Serials Solutions/ProQuest)https://LIBRARYCODE.search.serialssolutions.com/
EBSCO Full Text Finder / LinkSourcea resolver.ebscohost.com/openurl address with customer parameters such as custid=
OCLC WorldCat Discovery / WorldSharehttps://INSTITUTION.on.worldcat.org/atoztitles/link

Test it

Append a known OpenURL query to the base URL and open it in a browser while on campus or logged in:

BASE_URL?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft_id=info:doi/10.1103/PhysRev.47.777

If the resolver is right, you get a full-text link or a menu for the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paper. The OpenURL builder can assemble test links for any citation.

Using it in common tools

Zotero
In Zotero's settings, choose your institution under the library lookup (OpenURL resolver) option, or pick "Custom" and paste the base URL. "Library Lookup" on an item then sends an OpenURL for it.
Google Scholar
Library links are configured by the library, not by you. You only choose your institution in Settings, Library links.
Reading lists, LMS and websites
Build links as base URL + ? + KEV query. Prefix the proxy if off-campus users need it. Use the validator to check them.

Note. This site does not run a resolver and cannot look up institutions. A resolver URL only works for members of the institution that runs it (on campus, over VPN or through its proxy).

Sources