Reference at Newman Library

Tag: EBSCOhost

New Interface in June for All EBSCO Databases

The new interface for EBSCO databases that was first launched last year will be live for Baruch in June (exact date isn’t determined yet but it will probably be late in the month). With this new UI, anyone who has done a instructional video demonstrating an EBSCO database, embedded screenshots in a research guide, or built a custom search box to an EBSCO database will need to revise what they have.

If you’d like to take a peek at what the new interface looks like, we have ready and easy access to it here:

https://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=https://research.ebsco.com/c/kusd2j?db=a9h

Once we officially switch over, the existing database links on the library website and any permalinks we’ve shared should redirect. As is our usual procedure when there is a new set of URLs for an existing database collection, though, we will still update the database links on our website so we don’t have to count on EBSCO’s redirect to work.

New Databases on the EBSCOhost Platform

We’ve recently acquired seven new databases on EBSCOhost. Some of these new acquisitions give us deep access to archives of important magazines:

  • Ebony Magazine Archive
  • Fortune Magazine Archive
  • JET Magazine Archive
  • The Nation Archive
  • Time Magazine

Two other acquisitions provide access to a mix of serials:

  • African American Historical Serials Collection offers the full text of magazines, newspapers, reports, and annuals from 1816-1922 from churches and educational and service institutions.
  • Fuente Académica provides the full text of 450 scholarly journals from Latin America, Portugal and Spain.

Links to all of these databases can be found on our A-Z databases page if you want to access them and search them directly within the native EBSCOhost interface. Links to them will also be added soon on various subject database pages.

The content for these collections is also being indexed in OneSearch; some of it may already be discoverable at the article and journal level while others (such as JET and Ebony will take some time, as Ex Libris hasn’t yet set up discovery access to these newer collections yet in Alma and Primo). As soon as the content is fully discoverable within OneSearch, I’ll post a new item to the reference blog.

Please alert faculty in relevant departments you work with about these new acquisitions.

Problems with Linking from OneSearch to EBSCOhost Databases (resolved)

2 June 2022 update: This issue has been resolved (EBSCO’s new URL for its OpenURL service needed to be shared with Ex Libris and set up in Alma for all Ex Libris customers).

Links going from OneSearch to EBSCOhost databases are failing, generating a “connection timed out” message that, depending on your browser, will look something like this one from Firefox:

Time out error messageThis problem has occurred in the past (see this August 2021 blog post) and then got fixed by EBSCOhost. As a workaround, when you are in OneSearch dand need to get to an item that is on an EBSCOhost database, use our A-Z database list to go to the main search page for that database and do a search to find that specific item in the relevant database.

Fix for Linking Errors from OneSearch to EBSCO Databases

EBSCO fixed the problem on their end that was causing error messages when users tried to go from links in OneSearch records into EBSCOhost databases for the full text (see last week’s blog post for details). Ex Libris is still updating its system in Alma for handling those links based on changes made by EBSCO, so some residual errors may crop up. If you have any linking problems from OneSearch into any database, please report them ASAP to Mike Waldman or me.

Linking Errors from OneSearch to EBSCOhost Databases (resolved)

Most (if not all) links from OneSearch records that lead into EBSCOhost databases dead end at an “OpenURL Connection” error page from EBSCO that looks like one of these:

Version 1:

Version 1 of error page

Version 2:

Version 2 of error page

This is the same problem that cropped up in June that EBSCO and Ex Libris eventually fixed. It’s now back again. Until the two vendors sort this out (again), here is the workaround:

  1. Look for another database link in the OneSearch record that goes to something other than an EBSCOhost database
  2. Use the A-Z list of databases to get to a link to the relevant EBSCOhost database and then run the search for the article within that database.

Occasional Link Errors from OneSearch to EBSCOhost Databases (resolved)

There’s a known issue with the way EBSCOhost databases handle incoming links from OneSearch. In some cases (but not most), the link in OneSearch that leads to an EBSCOhost database will lead you to an “EBSCO OpenURL Connection” page that is essentially a dead end (see below for the simple workarounds).

Here is a link to a sample OneSearch record where this EBSCOhost problem occurs:

Bennett, L. K., Scruggs, X., & Woods, J. M. (2020). Surprise, Hurt, and Anger as Emotional Responses to Expectancy Violations Following Feedback Messages. Communication Research Reports, 37(1-2), 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2020.1737000.

Here is an annotated screenshot showing which database link in that record is the problem one:

Database links in OneSearch record

If you click the “Communication & Mass Media Complete” database link, you get to a dead-end error page from EBSCO that looks like this and has options that you’ll want to ignore:

Error page from EBSCOhost

Workarounds to this problem

Until EBSCOhost can fix this occasional problem, try one of these workarounds:

  1. Look for a link in the OneSearch record that goes to something other than an EBSCOhost database (in the above example, that would be the link for “Taylor & Francis Online”)
  2. Use the A-Z list of databases to get to a link to the relevant EBSCOhost database and then run the search for the article within that database.

New Database: Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collections

On the EBSCOhost platform, we’ve added a new database called Arte Publico Hispanic Historical Collections that features archival collections documenting the history of Latinx and Hispanic culture in the United States from the colonial era to 1960. Includes advertisements; books; broadsides and pamphlets; editorials; essays; letters and telegrams; newspapers; photographs; poems; short stories; and speeches.

Three New Databases from EBSCOhost

All CUNY libraries now have access to three additional databases on the EBSCOhost platform. For each database below, I’ve included the vendor’s description and a list of what database pages includes a link. If there are any additional subjects these databases should be added to, please leave a comment on this blog post or email me.

Health Policy Reference Center

“The Health Policy Reference Center is a comprehensive full-text database covering all aspects of health policy and related issues. This collection provides unmatched full-text coverage of information relevant to many areas integral to health policy including, but not limited to: health care access, health care quality, health care financing, etc. The Health Policy Reference Center offers cover-to-cover content from more than 300 publications, including journals, monographs, magazines, and trade publications, all directly dealing with health policy and closely aligned topics. This includes complete coverage of more than 250 full-text titles. The database also offers tens of thousands of additional highly relevant articles, selected from thousands of industry publications. The Health Policy Reference Center offers a wealth of information essential for anyone involved in the creation, implementation, or study of health policy and the health care system.”

Added to:

  • A-Z page
  • Environmental Science
  • Health
  • Nursing
  • Public Affairs

International Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center

“This database offers information on virtually every dimension of security & counter-terrorism and is designed to inform the analysis process, as well as enhance the general understanding of security and terrorism-related issues. ISCTRC provides a comprehensive Open Source Intelligence Resource for analysts, risk management professionals, and students. Content includes hundreds of full text journals and periodicals, hundreds of thousands of selected articles, news feeds, reports, summaries, books, FAQs, and proprietary Background Information Summaries that pertain to terrorism and security. ISCTRC also combines deep background from scholarly writings with expert commentary from a variety of organizations, agencies and publisher and timely reviews of recent developments across the international political, military, economic, social and technical spectrum.”

Added to:

  • A-Z page
  • Government
  • International Business
  • Political Science
  • Public Affairs

Urban Studies Abstracts

“Urban Studies Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. The index contains more than 51,600 records, which are carefully selected from the most important sources within the discipline.”

Added to:

  • A-Z page
  • History
  • Political Science
  • Public Affairs

MLA Moving to Ebsco

You may have noticed on the databases page that there are now links for MLA through both Gale and Ebsco. As of January, Ebsco will have exclusive rights to MLA, and Gale will no longer offer it. Ebsco will offer a full-text version of MLA, but so far we do not have access to that. CUNY Central is providing access and we may get full text at some point.

Please let me know if you have any questions.