EBSCO & Summon Integrations

Obtaining Credentials

If you need your EBSCO EDS credentials, contact EBSCO Support and ask them for the following:

• Name the Settings
• EDS API Profile (exp: abapi)
• EDS Search Profile (exp: abapi)
• EDS API Username
• EDS API Password

Setting Up

If EBSCO EDS has not already been enabled for your system, head to Aspen Administration > System Administration > Modules > EBSCO EDS > Check Enabled > Save.

Make sure your Admin role has the Administer EBSCO EDS Settings permission.

Now, an EBSCO EDS section will appear in Aspen Administration.

Click into Settings, give the setting a name, and enter in your credentials.

Once you input credentials, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > choose your Library System > scroll toward the bottom to EBSCO EDS Settings and change from None to your EDS Settings in the dropdown.

If the correct information has been entered, results show begin showing immediately.

Authentication

Aspen has no control over the authentication for accessing EDS records. For assistance with this, please contact EBSCO support.

To add EBSCO EDS to specific library catalogs, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > click into the Library System > scroll toward the bottom or search settings for EBSCO > EDS Settings > Select the scope from the dropdown > Save.

This can also be done as a Batch Update from the Library Systems screen.

Once enabled, there will be an in Articles & Databases search dropdown.

Search results will appear as well as related facets.

A blank search will automatically add the * to the search.

EDS includes Research Starters for some searches.

Once the EDS module is enabled, an option will appear in Your Account > My Preferences > Hide Research Starters.

This is off by default to show Research Starters in the EDS search. If a patron would like to hide them, then can toggle this on.

In Aspen Administration > EBSCO EDS > Dashboard you will find statistics on Active Users, Number of Records Viewed, Number of Records Clicked, and Total Clicks.

• Active Users - How many users actively click on Access Online / More Info. During one session if users click around to mutliple records, they will only be counted as one Active User
• Number of Records Viewed - How many records load on a page as the user scrolls
• Numbers of Records Clicked - How many records are clicked on. If the same user clicks on the same record multiple times, this will not register here
• Total Clicks - How many total clicks on the records and buttons that are registered; even if it is the same record clicked on multiple times

Obtaining Credentials

If you need your EBSCOhost credentials, contact EBSCO Support and ask them for the following:

• EBSCOhost EIT Profile (example: sXXXXXX.main.eit - the x's being numbers)
• Profile ID
• Profile Password
• Specify which databases you would like to have included

Note: The databases you want included will need to be enabled in EBSCOadmin: see EBSCO documentation here. 

Setting Up

If EBSCOhost has not been enabled, go to Aspen Administration > System Administration > Modules > EBSCOhost > Check Enabled > Save.

Make sure your Admin role has the Administer EBSCOhost Settings permission.

Now, an EBSCOhost section will appear in Aspen Administration.

1. Click into Settings to add your EBSCOhost credentials. (Note: if you do not see the Settings link, double check the Permissions for your admin roles)

Add the following and click "Save Changes & Stay Here":

• Enter a name for the setting
• Profile ID
• Profile Password

2. After saving, click Add New above the save buttons to create your Search Settings. Give the setting a name -- it could simply be "default" or "Databases". Click "Save Changes & Stay Here" again.

3. Edit the Search Settings you've just created. If your credentials have been set up correctly, Aspen will have automatically connected to EBSCOhost and loaded all the databases you've enabled for access via Aspen. Scroll to the bottom and select all applicable Libraries and Locations -- this will enable EBSCOhost searching for these sites.

To double check that EBSCOhost settings are enabled for a particular library, go to Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > choose your Library System > scroll toward the bottom to EBSCOhost Settings. You should see the Search Settings you created in the dropdown. If this says "none," click the dropdown and select the appropriate settings.

Authentication

For libraries using IP Address settings in Aspen, you can check Authenticated for EBSCOhost to authorize these IPs in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > IP Addresses.

For libraries using geolocation, the configuration can happen with assistance of EBSCO, then in Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > IP Addresses, you can add an IP Address of All IP Addresses (1.1.1.1-255.255.255.255) and then check Authenticated for EBSCOhost to let the geolocation work.

For any other authentication assistance, please contact EBSCO support.

Configure Your EBSCOhost Databases

You can use the search functionality as is, or you can further refine the integration for your patrons. The search settings have a wealth of options to give you more control over the patron search experience.

1. Click Edit next to your Search Settings within the EBSCOhost Settings.

2. From here, you can access a list of your EBSCOhost databases with configuration options for each.

Allow Searching -  Allows you to disable content that you may not want patrons to access from within Aspen even though you may have access to it with your subscription. This can happen if two databases have similar content or if a database is not highly relevant to your patrons.

Search By Default - Allows you to indicate that a database should be part of the default search when a patron does not select the exact database or databases they want to search. Aspen will default to search databases that provide the ability to sort results based on relevancy and date added to help ensure that patrons receive relevant results.

Show in Explore More - Aspen will show sample records from that database as well as a link to the search results for that database when a user does a search within the catalog, lists, etc. We recommend you select no more than 3-5 databases for explore more for the best patron experience.

Show in Combined Results - Controls the results shown when a user does a combined results search within Aspen. Results will be sorted by relevancy. In many cases, you will want Show In Combined Results to include those selected to be searched by default however you can restrict the search more if desired. You can enable and customize Combined Results in Aspen Admininstration > Primary Configuration > Library Systems > Combined Results.

Updated 2023-01-30 md bws

You can apply EBSCOhost to specific library catalogs either of these ways:

Recommended: Go to Aspen Administration > EBSCOhost > Settings > click Edit > Next to the Default (or custom name of your scope) setting click Edit > check which Libraries and Locations it should be applied to > Save

Or Aspen Administration > Primary Configuration > Library System > click into the Library System > search settings for Ebsco or scroll to the bottom > for the EBSCOhost scope select Default (or the custom name of your scope) > Save

To add custom images for your databases, go to Aspen Administration > EBSCOhost > Settings > click into your settings > under Search Settings click Edit

Here you will see a list of your databases. 

For each database, you can click on Edit and add a custom image under Logo.

The best looking images will be square with a maximum of 400x400px.

You can download images from EBSCO and/or customize these images with a free design software like Canva.

When users are doing a search in the catalog, they will see this image in the Explore More box.

Users will also see the custom image on the cover of in the search results within the Articles & Databases search interface.

To remove an EBSCOhost database from Aspen Discovery, click into the default settings and the chart of all the available databases. 

Then unclick all the boxes for the database you want to remove from the public view. 

In the EBSCOhost settings, you can decide in the Show in Explore More column which databases should show in Explore More.

Each individual EBSCO database that is checked under “Show in Explore More” will appear both individually and under the "All Ebscohost Results” icon. As long as one EBSCOhost database is checked, then the 'All EBSCOhost Results' image will also display by default in Explore More. If all the individual databases are unchecked, then no EBSCOhost results will show, including the 'All EBSCOhost Results' image.

When EBSCOhost databases are searched in Explore More, you have the option of uploading a logo that is displayed within the Explore More bar. To upload the logo, simply click the Edit button for the database and then select the logo to upload.

From here, you can select an image and upload. 

Now, these databases and their logos will show in the Explore More box. 

The EBSCOhost integration adds a search of “in Articles & Databases” which is the primary way that we expect patrons to search.

After entering a search term and selecting search, the patron will be presented with the results of their search with relevant facets so they can narrow their search.

Note: At this time a blank search is not possible in Articles & Databases.  

The facets presented will vary depending on the databases selected and only facets that are relevant to all selected databases are displayed. Patrons can select any of the facets to further narrow their results to find exactly what they are looking for.

When a patron clicks on a result, Aspen will validate that they either have access to the resource because they are logged in or because they are inside the library before sending the patron to EBSCOhost to read the full text of the article.

In Aspen Administration > EBSCOhost > Dashboard you will find statistics on Active Users, Number of Records Viewed, Number of Records Clicked, and Total Clicks.

• Active Users - How many users actively click on Access Online / More Info. During one session if users click around to mutliple records, they will only be counted as one Active User
• Number of Records Viewed - How many records load on a page as the user scrolls
• Numbers of Records Clicked - How many records are clicked on. If the same user clicks on the same record multiple times, this will not register here
• Total Clicks - How many total clicks on the records and buttons that are registered; even if it is the same record clicked on multiple times

If you see an error like this when searching EBSCOhost within Aspen:

Error processing search in EBSCOhost: User does not have access rights to database "a9h"

Go to Aspen Administration > EBSCOhost > Settings > click Edit on your Default (or custom name) settings

In the chart of databases, find the code defined in the error, example: a9h.

Then, uncheck all the options associated with that database and Save.

Preform another search and test that everything is correctly working now. That should have cleared the error.

This usually indicates something has changed with that specific database and your subscription.

Reach out to your EBSCOhost provider with any subscription questions.

The Summon integration is not yet production-ready. When Summon is ready to use, you will find instructions here.

Documentation Coming Soon

Documentation Coming Soon

Consortia can use both EBSCOhost and EDS.

Only one of these may be active for a single library at a time.

Aspen will defer to EDS if both have search settings, but if EDS search settings are set to "none" EBSCOhost will be the active Articles & Databases search source.