Abstract
In this paper we provide an update concerning the operations of the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS), its services and user interface, and the content currently indexed in its database. As the primary information system used by researchers in Astronomy, the ADS aims to provide a comprehensive index of all scholarly resources appearing in the literature. With the current effort in our community to support data and software citations, we discuss what steps the ADS is taking to provide the needed infrastructurein collaboration with publishers and data providers. A new API provides accessto the ADS search interface, metrics, and libraries allowing users to programmatically automate discovery and curation tasks. The new ADS interface supports a greater integration of content and services with a variety of partners, including ORCID claiming, indexing of SIMBAD objects, and article graphics from a variety of publishers. Finally, we highlight how librarians can facilitate the ingest of gray literature that they curate into our system.
Highlights
The NASA Astrophysics Data System plays a central role in the ecosystem of information providers in Astronomy
For those curators interested in programmatic access to the Application Programming Interface (API), we provide online documentation and recommend the use of existing libraries such as the ads python module, which is available for direct install from PyPI
We live in a time of rapid technological change, with the expectation that this change will continue to make things steadily better for all of its consumers
Summary
As the main discovery platform for the scientific literature used by the community of research astronomers, ADS attempts to provide a timely and complete record of scholarly artifacts for our discipline. Rather than serving as a library catalog, ADS enriches its bibliographic records via the integration of content from a variety of data providers, including links to datasets hosted by NASA and other archives and bibliographies maintained by collaborating curators and librarians. The integration of community-curated content and the need to support the needs of librarians which maintain such content is so important that both these activities are explicitly mentioned in ADS’s official mission statement. Our participation in conferences such as LISA and in the conversations surrounding these activities is a testament to the importance of the partnership between ADS and the library community
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