[Wactclc-alma] Follow-up from Monday's meeting at Bellevue College

Wed Nov 9 14:57:23 PST 2016

SPSCC is using EBSCO API because I think it is the lesser of two evils. Both of the options Wade listed below are not perfect (what is?) and have their pros and cons. Here’s my rationale on using EBSCO API:

·         API sends your search to EBSCO where it does a search in their databases, then sends the results back to Primo where the items get listed in the search results. As far as I can tell, the major complaint about the API is that EBSCO items are not displayed and counted in the Primo facets:

o   the number of items in parentheses after each resource type like “Peer-reviewed Journals” will not include EBSCO peer-reviewed journals (most users don’t pay attention to this since the numbers tend to be pretty large, so this is almost a non-issue for us)

o   if you use the “Collection” facet/limiter where it lists the databases that your items come from (see screenshot below), then there will be no EBSCO listing (my instruction librarians were disappointed that there wasn’t a way to limit to EBSCO items, but my sense is that most users probably won’t even notice or use this limiter as long as the results are good enough to use or they’ll just do another search. We disabled this facet, so this is also a non-issue for us.)

·         “Alternative Coverage” sounded really good at first, but then I was told that if you activated the collections, the collections will appear in your Primo “View It” tab whether or not you have a subscription to it—which means that if you don’t subscribe to the collection and a user clicks on the link for that collection, the user will get an error page that tells them they don’t have access or asks them to login at the database’s login page.

o   According to the “Alternative Coverage Analysis” guide that Wade provided in his message, in order to get 90% index coverage for EBSCO’s Academic Search Complete, you would need to activate a total of 29 collections, some of which you can only activate if you subscribe to them so you can’t actually get to the 90% mark anyway. To me, that means that only a certain percentage of items from each of the collections overlap with EBSCO, which would result in a high number of links wherein my users will get error messages because I don’t really subscribe to the collections (a few of them are free collections, which may give you junky info). I’m worried that if students get too many of the broken links, then they’ll get discouraged and turn back to Google and Wikipedia.
Just my two cents. Hope it helps you as you think about your choices.

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Lily Kun
Systems and Electronic Resources Librarian

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lkun at spscc.edu<mailto:lkun at spscc.edu>
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From: Wactclc-alma [mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Guidry, Wade
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2016 1:40 PM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>
Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] Follow-up from Monday's meeting at Bellevue College

Yes, this is pretty much the answer.

Activating in Alma

Activating collections (or individual portfolios) in Alma indicates that you have access to the collection and/or portfolio.

Activating collections/portfolios in Alma also allows the collections/portfolios to be searched *at the title level* in Primo.

Activating in Primo

Activating collections in the Primo PCI allows those collections to also  be full-text searchable in Primo (where article level metadata exists), and will provide article level search results for those journal titles you own. And also for journal titles you don’t own or have access to, if the user selects “expand my search results”.

Ebsco

Because Ebsco does not share its article-level metadata with Ex Libris, there is no way to activate Ebco collections directly within the PCI. So, two options exist:

Using the Ebsco API as a search scope in Primo

This option is problematic, in that it results in a somewhat “uncontrolled” search, where search terms are sent from Primo to Ebsco, and Ebsco sends back search results, that are not really well-curated or formatted for use in Primo.

The Ebsco API is, however, one workaround you can use with Primo. I don’t recommend using it, as it doesn’t provide a strong user experience. But SPSCC, for example, is using the Ebsco API, and is happy with it so far.

Using “alternative coverage” in the PCI for Ebsco

Another way to provide article level search results in Primo is to use the “alternative coverage” technique. In this method, you activate “ebsco equivalent” collections in the PCI. That is, collections that closely mimic, alone or in combination, the holdings of an Ebsco collection.

When those equivalent collections are activated, and users search Primo, Primo matches the article level results from the equivalent collections in the PCI with your actual Ebsco holdings as reflected in Alma, and directs users to the associated content in Ebsco.

This method is not without issues. Particularly where the range of holdings in the equivalent collection may not match what is actually available in Ebsco.

But, with alternative coverage, at least all data being searched is curated and formatted for Primo use. And is also local to Primo and Ex Libris.

The ExL document describing the appropriate alternate coverages for various Ebsco collections, and also a bit of overview about using alternate coverages, can be found at:

https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/@api/deki/files/45896/Primo_Central_Index_Collection_List_%E2%80%93_Alternative_Coverage_%5BSept_2016%5D.pdf

From: Wactclc-alma [mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Nicole Longpre
Sent: Wednesday, November 9, 2016 1:25 PM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Wactclc-alma] Follow-up from Monday's meeting at Bellevue College

Hi Dale,

Obviously I am not Wade, but I had asked a similar question to your question 1 to Justine just before go live and here is her response:
If a record (portfolio) exists in the CZ, can we simply activate it in Alma without activating the relevant collection in PCI?

Yes, you can.

The 2 primary reasons to activate in the PCI are:

1. You want to enable full-text article searching in Primo

If journal package is only activated in Alma, then only the bib record metadata is searchable in Primo.

But, if you activate in the PCI as well, any article full-text info that Ex Libris has available in the PCI for those journals will be searchable by patrons as well.

This is particularly powerful for journal packages, and is a great patron service. Ebook content in Primo won't be full-text searchable, even if you enable those collections in the PCI.

(there's also a subtlety here about searching Primo with the "expand my search" feature, which some of you may have enabled)

2. You want a collection searchable in Primo (via 'expand my results), but don't want to activate or manage the collection in Alma, either because you don't own it, or some other reason.

From: Wactclc-alma [mailto:wactclc-alma-bounces at lists.ctc.edu] On Behalf Of Dale Burke
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2016 9:24 AM
To: WACTCLC Alma Discussion <wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu<mailto:wactclc-alma at lists.ctc.edu>>
Subject: [Wactclc-alma] Follow-up from Monday's meeting at Bellevue College

Hello all,

First, I want to say that the meeting was very beneficial. It was great to meet Wade in person, and I was impressed with some of Wade's explanations of a couple of topics.

I am hoping that Wade could reiterate a couple of the comments he made during our meeting at Bellevue.  This would be helpful for me and for anyone who was not able to attend the meeting.

Could you re-explain the following in easy to understand terms:

1)  Activating an electronic collection in Alma vs Primo PCI activation.  Subtle differences that we need to understand more fully.  Is there a "best practice" for making sure your coverage is what you expect.

2)  How to get the best coverage for EBSCO articles in Primo.  There was a discussion about EBSCO at the article level vs. some other means.  There was also talk about how to use alternative coverage for EBSCO articles.  I would like to see this explained in more detail.

I would also encourage others who attended to post any follow-up "Aha" moments or questions from the meeting.

Dale Burke
Technical Services Librarian
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