Wikipedia:COinS

In this example, Zotero is displaying the references it can retrieve. The OpenURL referrer is responsible for the Find in a library links.

ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method of embedding latent OpenURL ContextObjects in web pages. This allows client software to retrieve bibliographic metadata and to use an OpenURL resolver to find a mediated link. A principal advantage of using COinS, rather than giving a static OpenURL, is that the client can determine which resolver to use. This allows, for instance, searching for a copy of a book in one's own library.

COinS have been added to various parts of the Wikipedia. They are basically just a chunk of bibliographic information stored in a way that machines can read. This has two applications:

• The information can be converted into a full OpenURL and resolved by your local OpenURL resolver. For instance, if you have LibX, OpenURL referrer, or a similar extension or bookmarklet installed in Firefox, a link will appear after many of the books and journal articles in a Wikipedia article's References section. If you have the extension configured correctly, you can click the link after a book to go directly to your school library's site and find out if they have a copy. If you click the link after a journal article and your library has access, you can go directly to a copy of the article.
• The information can be stored by bibliographic tools like Zotero. You can use this tool to download the bibliographic information from an article into your personal library, for future research and retrieval.
  • Zotero also has Wikipedia export, which allows you to select references and drag them into a Wikipedia edit box, where they will appear formatted as Wikipedia citation templates.

So far COinS have been added to:

• Wikipedia:Book sources – just contains the ISBN
• MediaWiki:Citethispage-content – generated when you click Cite this article; contains information for citing Wikipedia itself in other documents
• Some citation templates and infoboxes – see: Category:Templates generating COinS

Template

For use on templates generating COinS:

{{UF-COinS}}

It adds pages to the above category.

Templates needing COinS

COinS could, and should, be added to these templates:

• {{Infobox comics character}}
• {{Infobox graphic novel}}

COinS in citation templates

The COinS keys used in most Citation Style 1 templates are listed at Module talk:Citation/CS1/COinS.

For example:

Markup	Renders as
{{cite book |last=Bloggs |first=Fred |editor-first=John |editor-last=Doe |title=Big Compilation Book with Many Chapters and Distinct Chapter Authors |publisher=Book Publishers |date=January 1, 2001 |pages=100–110 |chapter=Chapter 2: The History of the Bloggs Family |isbn=978-1-234-56789-7}}	Bloggs, Fred (January 1, 2001). "Chapter 2: The History of the Bloggs Family". In Doe, John. Big Compilation Book with Many Chapters and Distinct Chapter Authors. Book Publishers. pp. 100–110. ISBN 978-1-234-56789-7.

Which renders the following HTML:

<cite class="citation book">Bloggs, Fred (January 1, 2001). "Chapter 2: The History of the Bloggs Family". In Doe, John. ''Big Compilation Book with Many Chapters and Distinct Chapter Authors''. Book Publishers. pp.&nbsp;100–110. [[International Standard Book Number|ISBN]]&nbsp;[[Special:BookSources/978-1-234-56789-7|978-1-234-56789-7]].</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3ACOinS&rft.atitle=Chapter+2%3A+The+History+of+the+Bloggs+Family&rft.aufirst=Fred&rft.aulast=Bloggs&rft.btitle=Big+Compilation+Book+with+Many+Chapters+and+Distinct+Chapter+Authors&rft.date=2001-01-01&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.isbn=978-1-234-56789-7&rft.pages=100-110&rft.pub=Book+Publishers&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;">&nbsp;</span></span>

Picking out the COinS keys:

Key	Data
fr_id	info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:
rft.atitle	Big Compilation Book with Many Chapters and Distinct Chapter Authors
rft.au	Bloggs, Fred
rft.aufirst	Fred
rft.aulast	Bloggs
rft.btitle	Chapter 2: The History of the Bloggs Family
rft.date	January 1, 2001
rft.genre	bookitem
rft.isbn	978-1-234-56789-7
rft.pages	100-110
rft.pub	Book Publishers
rft_val_fmt	info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:book

Pollution

Incorrect data in fields can pollute the metadata. For example, adding all of the authors into the |authors= field:

Markup	Renders as
{{cite book |authors=Smith, John; Johnson, Joe; Green, Ethan |title=Big Compilation Book with Many Chapters and Distinct Chapter Authors |publisher=Book Publishers |date=January 1, 2001 |pages=100–110 |chapter=Chapter 2: The History of the Bloggs Family |isbn=978-1-234-56789-7}}	Smith, John; Johnson, Joe; Green, Ethan (January 1, 2001). "Chapter 2: The History of the Bloggs Family". Big Compilation Book with Many Chapters and Distinct Chapter Authors. Book Publishers. pp. 100–110. ISBN 978-1-234-56789-7.

<cite class="citation book">Smith, John; Johnson, Joe; Green, Ethan (January 1, 2001). "Chapter 2: The History of the Bloggs Family". ''Big Compilation Book with Many Chapters and Distinct Chapter Authors''. Book Publishers. pp.&nbsp;100–110. [[International Standard Book Number|ISBN]]&nbsp;[[Special:BookSources/978-1-234-56789-7|978-1-234-56789-7]].</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AWikipedia%3ACOinS&rft.atitle=Chapter+2%3A+The+History+of+the+Bloggs+Family&rft.btitle=Big+Compilation+Book+with+Many+Chapters+and+Distinct+Chapter+Authors&rft.date=2001-01-01&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.isbn=978-1-234-56789-7&rft.pages=100-110&rft.pub=Book+Publishers&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988"><span style="display:none;">&nbsp;</span></span>

Key	Data
rft.au	Smith, John; Johnson, Joe; Green, Ethan
rft.aufirst	not used
rft.aulast	Smith, John; Johnson, Joe; Green, Ethan

See also

• The planned citation microformat