2025 EBSCO User Group

This session will provide a deep dive into the challenges of migrating to the new EDS user interface. I'll share the library’s experiences in customizing the interface to align with the users' specific needs and expectations.

Key topics will include:
- Customizing the User Experience: Learn how we developed and implemented custom filters, placards, and search extensions to enhance the search experience and improve discovery.
- Effective Training and Communication: Discover the strategies we employed to train staff and communicate effectively with the entire university community, minimizing disruption and maximizing user satisfaction.
- Monitoring and Responding to User Feedback: Explore how we tracked user feedback and implemented changes to address concerns and improve the overall user experience.
- Looking Forward: Review the key upcoming features coming to the interface in 2025.

Some of the topics I will cover include:
The dos and don’ts of marketing research
Identifying markets for innovative technologies
Determining company/industry developments
Company/industry analysis
Product reviews and strategies
Field searching for targeted results
Using EBSCO keywords to expand search parameters
Doing a SWOT analysis

This presentation explores how one academic library serving an entirely online university executed a deep overhaul of its online infrastructure while navigating an unexpected medical crisis.

The institution made three major changes on the same day by implementing the new EBSCO Discovery Service, transitioning to the OpenAthens authentication system, and launching a redesigned website. The discussion reviews the thought processes and decisions behind combining these migrations, including resource allocation, risk assessment, and timeline management explained, as well as communicating with key stakeholders, managing expectations, and testing so, so very many links.

The presentation also addresses crisis management when the project lead, the presenter, was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy two days before launch. Learn what happened, what to prepare for with your own migrations and projects, and how to make sure you can expect the unexpected. The impact of the changes after one year will also be discussed.

This presentation offers valuable insights for library professionals planning EBSCO Discovery Service and OpenAthens migrations, or similar system migrations and changes.

Evidence-Based Acquisitions (EBA) has become an increasingly popular and efficient way for libraries to curate monograph collections based on actual usage data. While many of the largest and most prolific publishers offer EBA programs, managing multiple agreements and processes can place a heavy burden on library staff. However, when available, running an EBA program through GOBI Library Solutions offers several key advantages that streamline the process and enhance collection development efforts.

Using GOBI for your EBA program centralizes management, providing a single platform to handle multiple publisher agreements, simplifying workflows, and integrating usage data in a user-friendly way. Additionally, GOBI offers robust reporting tools and seamless integration with existing library systems, helping libraries make more informed decisions with less administrative overhead.

In this session, hear from the Head of Acquisitions at URI on the importance of EBAs in meeting their collection development goals, how they successfully implement EBA at their institution, and why they advocate for publishers to work through GOBI. You’ll also hear from a GOBI Collection Development Manager, who will share insights on the benefits of running an EBA program through GOBI and the details that make it an indispensable tool for libraries.

In partnership with GOBI, the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation (IPLC) launched an ambitious collaborative collection development project in 2021. Informed by the findings of three prior projects, this pilot sought to explore practical ways in which the thirteen members of the Confederation could engage in prospective collection development in support of a vision to treat the sum of our local collections as one great collection. This presentation will explain how the project was scoped and managed and will provide a summary of the outcomes of a two-year pilot purchasing frontlist print Brill monographs through GOBI. Attendees will journey with IPLC through zones of ambiguity and discover differences between coordinated and collaborative approaches to collection development. The presenters will share IPLC’s concept of strategic duplication; metrics for identifying the number of copies needed for local use, preservation, and lending; our process for consensus building and decision-making; and governance models for collaborative collection projects and programs. We will also share our ideas on evolving the project to include ebooks by leveraging GOBI solutions and expertise.

The integration of diverse perspectives into research materials allows for a more holistic and enriched educational experience and fosters an environment that promotes equitable access to information. A commitment to inclusivity empowers students, researchers, and faculty to engage with content that resonates with their unique backgrounds.

Hear from Rice Majors, Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources at the University of California, Davis, and Kimberly Clarkson, Senior Product Manager at EBSCO. They will discuss the importance of inclusivity in academic resources and how those inclusive resources are created.

In this session, attendees will:
• See the importance of diverse and inclusive content with a case study from UC Davis
• Learn how LGBTQ+ Source was created and enhanced based on librarian and user feedback

EDS is incredibly powerful, but can sometimes feel overwhelming to students and other patrons. In this presentation Simon Ringsmuth, a Digital Services Librarian at Oklahoma State University, will demonstrate the process he has used to create a series of short, targeted, effective, and engaging videos to help patrons learn various aspects of EDS including basics such as keyword searching to advanced features like custom folder sharing and boolean operators. This collaborative video-creation process utilizes free tools for ideation and scripting, as well as off-the-shelf software like Final Cut Pro and Camtasia to handle editing and screen-captures. This process is also not limited to EDS: Librarians can use this process to create tutorial videos about all manner of software tools to help patrons learn to use them more effectively. While some technical knowledge is useful, it is not required and anyone can learn to use this process to create engaging, effective tutorial videos. To see the videos that this presentation is based on, visit bit.ly/OSU-EDS-Search-Videos.

While peer-reviewed journals get the spotlight, magazine archives play an essential role in academic research. They not only provide coverage of events, trends and cultural happenings, they also provide first-hand, eye-witness accounts of history.

Hear from Sarah Mueth, Serials & Electronic Resources Librarian from the University of North Carolina and Courtney Peckham, Senior Product Manager at EBSCO about how magazine archive collections are curated for libraries and how they are used by academic researchers in different disciplines.

In this session, attendees will:
• Understand the value of magazine archives in historical research
• Hear use cases for incorporating magazine archives into research with multiple applications
• Learn best practices for curating your own magazine archives collection

Effective academic research and course design today requires resources selected from a broad swathe of the world's literary wealth. Research databases, full-text archives, and publishing programs offer the greatest value to scholars when they include a body of works and authors from cultures and regions around the globe. Coverage is not the only consideration when reaching beyond what has traditionally been called the western canon, however. So, too, does curation come into play: why include a given text or author, and what relevant issues can they help students and researchers grapple with today?

Hear from Angela Gibson, Senior Director of Operational Strategy at MLA and head of MLA’s publishing program, and Kimberly Clarkson, Senior Product Manager at EBSCO. They will discuss the importance of reaching beyond the Western canon for literature studies.



In this session, attendees will:

Understand how literature resources balance coverage and curation
Learn the values underlying the MLA’s publishing program, including the MLA International Bibliography’s approach to curation, and its focus on world languages and literatures.
Learn how LitBase was built around the idea of celebrating diverse authors and works

Learn how MARC records are transformed into Linked Data -- and back into MARC -- using the new Linked Data Editor module in the Sunflower release of FOLIO.  
 This session is directed to technical librarians and systems administrators, and will 

• recap key points from the Linked Data 101 session, from the 2024 EBSCO User Group meeting 
• walk through the basics of linked data as a technology 
• explain how MARC records are transformed into linked data (and transformed back into MARC), and 
• outline the advantages and challenges of deploying linked data for metadata management. 

Despite steady enrollment, declining funding and inflationary pressure forced reductions to journals supporting Millersville University’s Nursing Program. Utilizing the CINAHL database on EBSCOhost as the user point of entry, a CustomLink was created to facilitate real-time user access to articles from specific non-renewed journals directly from article records during user search. Articles from lower use, now not available, journal titles are available for fee via the Article Galaxy Scholar (AGS) service in real-time. Utilizing user attributes conveyed to OpenAthens (OA), those attributes are transformed in OA and mapped for use by AGS to provide library scoped purchase opportunities by specific user, journal title, number of requests from the journal title, or article year of publication, to facilitate real-time access via Article Galaxy Scholar. Non-Nursing program users not eligible for this service are seamlessly re-routed and provided access to more traditional requesting mechanisms should they attempt to make use of the document delivery service intended for Nursing program students and faculty. This approach can be applied to other user / program combinations as curricular need or budget warrant and could influence resource renewals.

Many libraries have just moved to the new EBSCO EDS interface, and some are still transitioning. This session will be a tour of the new EDS interface, including what's new, what has changed, and the reasons behind the update. This will also be a chance to ask questions.

In this session, learn how linked data connects information across interrelated library resources so they can be easily discovered in your collection. Linked data uses ontologies, which are essentially the linked data schema for how information is related to each other, to create these networks. Attendees will understand how EBSCO applies knowledge graph analytics through use cases. They will also understand how to leverage their own linked data to identify duplicate resources, if an author’s affiliation 

This session will describe one institution’s experience migrating from VuFind to Locate and will provide the roadmap for future development of the Locate discovery OPAC.

Locate is a relatively new discovery option for FOLIO. Upon its original roll-out, Locate included a clean design and sophisticated real time availability and patron empowerment features. Since its original rollout, Locate has seen dramatic enhancements, including search improvements, result list enhancements, item view additions, and numerous new patron empowerment features. Upcoming enhancements include semiannual releases, additional patron tools, subject browse, and call number browse enhancements. Come hear from the EBSCO Discovery Product Manager for Locate about the future direction and roadmap of this discovery option.

In addition, learn of one institution’s experience migrating from VuFind to Locate. Skidmore College was an early adopter of FOLIO and used VuFind as its “classic catalog” for several years prior to the development of Locate. Skidmore fully implemented Locate in early 2025. Migration tips, suggestions, and real-world feedback will be provided.

Being developed with an API first mentality, FOLIO offers all aspects of functionality via API. This means that data can be created, read, updated and deleted (CRUD) using API; not just with FOLIO's UI. Working with FOLIO's API can be intimidating at first; however, freely available tools can make it a lot easier. In this session we will introduce you to FOLIO's API, some helpful tools, a few lessons learned from our mistakes, and the nuts and bolts behind some real-world examples. FOLIO's API can do things that the UI cannot; bring your wish list and we'll brainstorm some solutions.

Learn how FOLIO Enhanced Consortia Support is evolving to meet the requirements of a wider variety of system models. Gain insights and offer feedback on specific enhancements being made in the following areas: Administration and authorization, inventory and authority control, Circulation, bulk editing and reporting, and acquisitions.