ISI Web of Science and WAM re-write

["Craig A. Summerhill" <summerhi at unr dot edu>]

We're running Millennium Silver.

I'm curious, has anybody else experienced this problem configuring
WAM proxy re-write to work with ISI Web of Science?

One of our patrons reported a problem to us with the new ISI WOS
interface.  At the point in a search where a patron marks records
and then either tries to save results to disk or email results to
themselves, the HTML form on the Thompson server briefly redirects
the browser to an intermediary page.  The end result of this
redirect is...

   - after emailing search results using the native interface,
     the patron is returned to a screen where a "back" button
     exists to return them to the search results screen.

   - when using the proxy server, the patron is redirected back
     to the ISI Web of Knowledge splash screen.  If they try
     to use the back arrow in the browser they'll get a page
     expired error, and even more annoying... the redirect is
     done to the native URL for ISI Web of Knowledge so if the
     patron clicks the "Web of Science" link they are presented
     with a login screen (because the session is outside the
     proxy).

Our patron contacted Thompson tech support directly, and they
blamed the problem on a misconfigured proxy server.  When I
contacted their tech support rep for more information, the guy I
spoke with assumed we were running EZ Proxy.  When I told him it
was Innovative's WAM re-write, he said it was a known problem
and referred me to the Innovative Help Desk.  There is no FAQ on
CSDirect about this, and the person I spoke with at the Help
Desk earlier this morning could find nothing in their knowledge
base.

Personally, I think the problem is with Thompson / ISI.  It has
to do with the way they have the HTML form is being processed
by an intermediary host / page which is not in the WAM Forward
Table.  What is really annoying is that the user is returned to
the ISI Web of Knowledge splash screen using the native URL.
This forces the patron to return to the library's website and
click through to find the link to ISI Web of Science again... or
they have to manually re-write the URL in the address bar of the
browser.


Have others noticed this behavior?  How do others have ISI Web
of Science coded for the WAM Forward Table using proxy re-write?

--

   Craig A. Summerhill
   Applications Development Librarian
   University of Nevada, Reno
   Getchell Library 174A / Mail Stop 322
   1664 North Virginia Street
   Reno, NV   89557-0042

      (775) 784-6500 x227
      <summerhi at unr dot edu>