Richard Huffine, Director of USGS Libraries Program, announced on govdoc-l this week that direct links to USGS publications will be changing by September 1, 2011.
- Direct Links to USGS Publications Changing by September 1, 2011, Richard L Huffine, Discussion of Government Document Issues, (11 Aug 2011).
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Publications Warehouse (pubs.usgs.gov) will complete a process to migrate all of its’ on-line publications into Portable Document Format (PDF) files by September 1, 2011. At that time, the USGS will no longer support the previous DJVU format for its on-line publications. Libraries and Web site managers should link to the publications citation page for USGS publications. At sometime after September 1, 2011, direct links to DJVU files will stop working and there will be no automatic redirect to the PDF version of those materials.
A direct link to a USGS DVJU file currently looks like:
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/djvu/B/bull_1967.djvu
Once loaded in PDF, individual publications will have a link like this:However, the preferred link to this publication is:
http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/b1967The citation link is the preferred link because it may include links to plates, maps, appendices, etc. as well as links to the USGS Store to purchase paper copies if they are available. This migration has been sought by members of the research community for some time. The DJVU format offered many benefits at a time when bandwidth was a challenge. The PDF format offers a consistent format for both historical and current publications and it allows users to download and use information from USGS publications in the same way that they use research journal articles and other scientific research products.
Over 70% of all USGS-published reports are available in an on-line format from the USGS Publications Warehouse. The system currently includes citations to over 100,000 research articles, reports, and products produced by the USGS over the last 130 years. The system also offers an RSS feed to keep users of earth and natural science research informed about the products of the USGS.
Richard Huffine, Director
USGS Libraries Program
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