EBSCO 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
• EDS Search Profile
• 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.

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.

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

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.

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

To "delete" an EBSCOhost database, click into the default settings and the chart of all the available databases. 

Then unclick all the boxes for the database you want to "delete" to remove it 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.

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.