JSTOR Web Site Update

JSTOR Web Site Update
Week of February 20, 2007

Revised Search Forms

In response to ongoing feedback from researchers and librarians, we have modified the JSTOR Advanced Search form. These revisions were previewed on the JSTOR Sandbox from July 2006 to November 2006. Based on usability testing and the feedback received during the preview, the Advanced Search form now includes four new fields for entering and combining full text, author, article title, abstract, and caption field search queries. Many users have told us that the new format allows them to more intuitively structure their searches for optimal results. In addition to these changes to the Advanced Search Form, navigation options and help files for the Basic Search and Article Locator forms have been updated, and the Expert Search form has been removed.

Shibboleth Support

JSTOR now supports Shibboleth authentication via a new “Log In” link from the main page at www.jstor.org and from other entry points. Shibboleth is a system of authentication procedures, protocols, and technologies that enable end users to access multiple information resources with one set of credentials, or single sign-on technology. The Shibboleth system allows organizations to exchange information about users in a secure and privacy-preserving manner. More detailed information about Shibboleth can be found on the Shibboleth website.

The page “Shibboleth Authentication and JSTOR” explains the information we need in order to activate Shibboleth access for your institution. JSTOR is currently a member of the InCommon federation and is investigating membership in additional Shibboleth federations. In the interim, we would be happy to work with individual institutions that are members of other federations to test or implement Shibboleth with JSTOR.

Linking Enhancements

New linking functionality in the JSTOR website is now visible on article view and article information pages. In addition to already-existing links to articles in JSTOR that are referenced within a given article (“reference linking”), information about other articles in JSTOR that in-turn cite a given article (“forward linking”) is now displayed. Also displayed are links to articles by authors with the same name as the authors of the article. To further aid in resource discovery, we also provide “forward linking” via Google Scholar which will enable users to see if an article has been cited by others in articles not necessarily present in JSTOR.

Retrospective capture of linking data is still underway for archived content in JSTOR, so the number and availability of these linking options will continue to grow over the next several months. The retrospective portion of this work is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.