URL Decay in Library and Information Science E-Learning Content: An Analysis of URL Persistence and Recovery in e-PG Pathshala

Vinay Kumar D; Prithviraj K R; Anvitha H K

Vinay Kumar D Librarian Poornaprajna College (Autonomous) Udupi, Karnataka. India - 576101 vinaykumard@ppc.ac.in
Prithviraj K R Librarian Tunga Mahavidyalaya Thirthahalli, Shivamogga, Karnataka. India - 576101 prithviraj.kr@gmail.com
Anvitha H K Guest Lecturer Dept. of LIS, Kuvempu University Jnanasahyadri, Shankaraghatta, Shivamogga. India - 577451 anvithahosalli@gmail.com

Abstract

Web resources are integral to modern e-learning, yet they are highly susceptible to “link rot,” threatening the integrity, accessibility, and reproducibility of digital educational content. This study investigates the prevalence, persistence, and recovery of URL citations within the Library and Information Science (LIS) elearning modules of the e-PG Pathshala platform, a national open access e-learning initiative by the Ministry of Education, India. By extracting and analyzing 2,155 unique URLs from 389 PDF e-text modules, the study assessed URL accessibility, HTTP error distributions, and the efficacy of the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. The results show a severe decay rate: 54.66% of cited URLs were initially inactive, mostly returning HTTP 404 (Not Found) and 403 (Forbidden) errors. However, recovery efforts via the Internet Archive successfully restored 68.76% of these dead links, elevating the overall accessibility rate from 45.34% to 82.92%. Furthermore, multivariate analysis indicates that URL decay is not random but is significantly influenced by structural characteristics: URLs with deeper path depths, longer character lengths, PDF formats, and specific non-governmental domains exhibited higher vulnerability to decay and lower recovery rates. The study concludes that while web archiving serves as a highly effective safety net for rescuing lost digital resources, mitigating link rot requires proactive, systemic measures. These include adopting persistent identifiers, automated archiving APIs, and the deliberate selection of structurally resilient URL formats by econtent developers and platform administrators.

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