This page provides an index to our Basics and Resources series to introduce some common library technology topics. In each article we introduce the basic concepts and list resources where you can learn more. This is an ongoing series and more articles will be added.
Altmetrics
Altmetrics are “alternative metrics” to measure the influence and reach of scholarly output on the Web through peer-review counts, influential news sites and blog posts, citation manager bookmarks such as Mendeley, Wikipedia citations, and social media mentions on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Read Basics and Resources: Altmetrics.
API
API stands for Application Programming Interface which allows external applications to access software or Web services data, in the latter case by using HTTP request messages, for recombination (mashup) or custom presentation by the external application.
Read Basics and Resources: API.
BIBFRAME
BIBFRAME is a bibliographic framework for the description of physical and online objects to make them accessible on the Web by using a standard Linked Data model. It is a replacement for MARC.
Read Basics and Resources: BIBFRAME.
COUNTER
COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of NeTworked Electronic Resources) is an organization and a set of standards to report usage of library electronic resources by vendors and publishers.
Read Basics and Resources: COUNTER.
DOI
A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique and persistent identifier which provides a link to an object on the Internet via a registration and indexing service.
Read Basics and Resources: DOI.
Discovery Services
A discovery service is an online library searching tool that provides an all-in-one interface for finding both local library items and online subscription and open access resources.
Read Discovery Services: Basics and Resources.
Linked Data
Linked Data is a set of practices which involves the publishing, sharing, and connecting of related data across the Web in a structured format, preferably using an open access license.
Read Basics and Resources: Linked Data.
OAI-PMH
Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is a set of specifications for making structured open repository metadata accessible to other service providers issuing requests.
Read Basics and Resources: OAI-PMH.
Proxy Servers
A proxy server is a service that provides authentication and mediation between database or publisher websites and the end user by routing Internet traffic through its system.