What does a library do when they receive a broken link email from their patrons?

Applies to

• WorldCat Discovery
• WorldShare Collection Manager 

Answer

There can be a variety of reasons why an error is received, when a broken link is reported.

• An error page; It fails to load
• The wrong resource. For example, to:
  • An incorrect item with a similar title
  • An item from a different year
  • A print book instead of an eBook
• A journal landing page instead of to an article
• An item you do not own

When you receive "Report a broken link"  email, you will need to do the following first:

• Review your library settings 
  • Open access settings in service Configuration:
  • Navigate to Proxy and Authentication > Open Access in Resolver.
  • Check to see if any of the settings are selected and if so, consider deselecting them.
  • Check your proxy settings to ensure nothing has been changed on your site 
  • Provider settings (list of IDs) Set the provider-ID if a provider specific-ID is required
  • Ensure correct collection has been selected 
     
• If all your settings are correct and have been checked, then Contact OCLC Support with the following information, if you have it:
  • What was the error message seen/ screenshot if possible 
  • Your institution’s name
  • OCLC symbol or Registry ID
  • URL to the item
  • OCLC number of the item, if available
  • (Optional) Proxy credentials to access your resources*

  • *If you are unable to provide test proxy credentials, OCLC might need to conduct a screen-sharing session with your library to troubleshoot.

Additional information

Page ID