Fast Facts

Gary Pattillo

Abstract

In a study of one electronic theses and dissertations repository, authors found that documents deposited from 2011 to 2015 exhibited 23 percent link rot. That is, the reference links send users to webpages that are no longer available. Of the 77 percent of references that were still active, about half of those exhibited content drift, where web pages remain available but the contents have changed.

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Copyright American Library Association

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