Currently, each institution updates their database subscriptions in EBSCOhost & EDS, and manages resource information in the EBSCO Holdings Management knowledgebase. However, if you have questions or need additional support and would like assistance, contact OPALHelp.
Adding content to your EDS is a multi-step process. Generally, these are the steps you will take when you purchase a new resource or OhioLINK subscribed content changes:
Partner databases are enabled via the Databases tab on your EDS profile. In most cases, you will want to ensure that the New Content Automatically Enabled is set to 'No', otherwise all new partner databases will be enabled on your profile, regardless of whether you have access or not. If you decide to set the New Content Automatically Enabled to 'Yes', then it's highly recommended that you set the Available in Library Collection limiter to 'On' by default.
Although EBSCO Host is a separate section in the EBSCO admin, it's included here because the two interfaces look identical and that can be confusing. Databases in the Host section allow you to control which EBSCO databases you want to show up as searchable to your users outside of the EDS, for example through an A-Z list.
You can read about CustomLinks on EBSCO's website, but know that their primary purpose is to connect users directly to full-text in most cases. Any time you add a new database to your EDS profile, be certain to review instructions in EBSCO Connect on adding a CustomLink, if one exists. Keep in mind that very frequently a CustomLink requires additional options to be set, such as a customer ID, a system collection, etc.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but it serves a good example of what your CustomLinks might look like.
| EBSCOhost Full Text (PDF Full Text or HTML Full Text) | This link should always come first. |
| EBSCOhost Linked Full Text | |
| EJC - New | |
| EDS - ACLS Humanities E-Book | |
| EDS - DOAJ | |
| EDS - Films on Demand | |
| EDS - Government Printing Office (GPO) | |
| EDS - HathiTrust | |
| EDS - OAIster | |
| EDS - OAPEN | |
| EDS - Project Muse | |
| EDS - Oxford University Press | |
| EDS - Science Online | |
| EDS - STAT!Ref | |
| EDS - World Book: Online Reference Center | |
| ERIC Full Text | |
| FREE - PubMed Central (PMID based link) | |
| FREE - PubMed Central (ISSN based link) | |
| Full Text Finder | This link should always come last. |
It's important to ensure that your holdings (journals, ebooks, etc.) are correctly reflected in Holdings Management. The EDS relies on your holdings to ensure that CustomLinks work correctly and that the Full Text Finder has accurate results. Just like with the EDS, you will want to ensure that CustomLinks are added when appropriate. You can learn more about Holdings Management on EBSCO's website.
Note: If configuring custom links and keeping track of everything is overwhelming, you may want to consider setting up Full-Text Finder as a custom link and make it your institution's primary method of linking to your subscribed content in the EDS. Because Full-Text Finder works based on the metadata for resources selected in the Holdings Management knowledgebase you can focus on maintaining that area of the EBSCOadmin and less on individual, vendor-specific custom links. Contact opalhelp@ohionet.org for more information.
Apps, enhancements, and related information are all optional in the EDS. Generally these are pieces of Javascript code that are inserted into the sidebar or footer of your EDS profile. Examples of apps (formerly called widgets) can be seen in EBSCO's App Cloud, but custom-made apps are always an option, too.
When adding a new databases or journal package, there are a number of additional steps to consider, independent of the EBSCO environment. Outside of the EDS, you will want to consider the following: