Shared e-Resources (ECC and Opt-in) -Troubleshooting Best Practices and FAQ
Background
The CSU uses a shared instance in Ex Libris' SFX application, the Chancellor's instance, which contains the Electronic Core Collection (ECC) and Optional (Opt-in) e-resources. These e-resources are negotiated and in some cases, paid for, by the Chancellor's Office Systemwide Digital Library Content (SDLC) department. These e-resources are shared, set up and maintained by the Chancellor's Office (CO) SFX administrator. The administrator maintains, updates and applies fixes to the shared e-resources. Libraries report linking (OpenURL) issues and report updates needed for shared portfolios, such as the coverage date or links to the journals via e-mail and Send to Ex Libris buttons, which are redirected to the SFX administrator. The administrator repairs errors with the portfolios or e-resources. If the issue cannot be resolved by the administrator, the issue is reported to the appropriate vendor or SFX Support or KB teams. Some of these SFX troubleshooting techniques will be applied to the shared e-resources in Alma's Network Zone(NZ) instance.
Best practice recommendations
The shared e-resources have a slightly different practice for troubleshooting than from the e-resources in the Institution Zone. For more information about IZ troubleshooting, see the Troubleshooting and Reporting Problems document . Troubleshooting practices are adapted from the CSU SFX shared Chancellor's instance and for practice by the Electronic Resources NZ administrator.
- Adapt the Obris Network Zone questions form for CSU shared e-resources. New form will include the e-resources as well and bib record questions. (
- Create and maintain a list of Content and Technical issues contacts for the various vendors.
- Shared acquisitions troubleshooting needs to be added -refer to Acquisitions policies
FAQ
Included are scenarios and answers for various troubleshooting issues for electronic resources.
Coverage Date Issues:
Is there an issue with the portfolio date coverage in the CKB? Check date coverage of the item in the subscribed title list, if there is no date range listed in the title list, check the coded memo, vendor contract or contact the vendor.
Does the date coverage in CKB match what is listed in the subscribed title list and what is available from the vendor’s site?
Yes: do nothing
No: The portfolio date coverage does not match full text coverage from subscribed list or vendor’s site, there are two possible issues:
If portfolio is incorrect in CKB, Electronic Resources NZ administrator adds local date coverage and reports to Ex Libris.
If portfolio is correct but vendor coverage does not match subscribed title list or contract, Electronic Resources NZ administrator contacts vendor to open up access to full text. Use the subscribed title list or coded memo when contacting the vendor.
Portfolio date coverage is correct for centrally subscribed full text access but library has locally purchased more full text so the library updates the locally active portfolio with their local date coverage.
No access to subscribed shared portfolio:
Is there access to the subscribed full text portfolio? If not, the Electronic Resources NZ administrator contacts vendor to open up access to centrally subscribed portfolio.
Does the library subscribe to the title but it is not on the centrally subscribed title list? If the library subscribes to a title not included in the centrally subscribed title list, the library activates the title in the local instance and contacts the vendor to open up full text access. Electronic Resources NZ administrator can contact the vendor to open up access to the title, if the Electronic Resources NZ administrator has a relationship with that vendor (sometimes vendors want to hear from the library when it is a local subscription)
Missing shared portfolio:
Is the portfolio active in the shared e-collection? The Electronic Resources NZ administrator checks subscribed title list to see if portfolio is included and if it is not active, then activate the portfolio.
Is the portfolio missing from the shared e-collection? If the title appears in the subscribed title list, the Electronic Resources NZ administrator adds the missing portfolio and reports to Ex Libris.
Is the portfolio missing and does not appear in the subscribed title list? Sometimes titles are missing from the subscribed title list so confirm with the vendor or publisher the CSU has access to the title. If the CSU has access to the title, activate the portfolio. Add an internal note for the portfolio describing the portfolio was activated because it is part of the subscription but was not included on the title list. If the vendor reports that the CSU does not have access to the portfolio, ask the library to check if the portfolio is part of a local subscription and to activate the portfolio in the IZ.
E-Resource access: unable to access the centrally licensed resource
Did the library report that a subscribed e-resource is not available, unable to access the resource? The Electronic Resources NZ administrator checks access from the Chancellor's Office and if issue is systemwide or if only the reporting library has an issue. The NZ admin sends out email asking if libraries are having access issues with the same resource. If the access issue is systemwide the NZ admin contacts the vendor, copies SDLC and asks the vendor to open up access.
Is the access restricted due to contract negotiation completion delay? The vendor makes a mistake and shuts down access, site is down or having issues. The NZ admin works with SDLC to restore access and notifies all the libraries that access is restriced due to a contract negotiation delay and will be restored as soon as possible.
If the access issue for one library? The NZ admin contacts the vendor, copies SDLC and asks the vendor to restore access.
Send the following information to the vendor:
- correct IP range for that campus
- correct username and password, if needed by that vendor
- ask if the database needs to be added to account if there are multiple databases available from the vendor (i.e. EBSCO, ProQuest)
- see if a mistake was made during renewal -library left off renewal list
Is the library allowed access to that subscribed e-resource? Some libraries have access to a resource from the vendor while others upgraded to another package from the vendor. Example is that most libraries subscribed to Project Muse Standard but some libraries upgraded to Project Muse premium. Check the SDLC subscribed e-resource log to see which collection the library subscribes to and confirm with the library which collection they are allowed access. If they have access to wrong package, contact the vendor and copy SDLC. If the library does not have correct package listed locally, send them a copy of the contract from that vendor to update their files.
OpenURL linking issues:
The NZ adminstrators needs to determine where the issue lies, with the originating record, the Alma CKB or the resolved vendor record.
Is the issue with the originating citation record issue? The NZ admin will contact vendor and report issue (see list of Vendor Support Contacts).
There is a list of possible issues to check with the originating citation.
- The wrong metadata was sent in OpenURL.
- The are duplicate records for the same article but one has the correct metadata and the other one has incorrect metadata. This is an indexing that needs to be resolved by the vendor (Primo, EBSCO, Google Scholar, ProQuest)
- There is missing metadata in the record.
Items recommended when contacting vendor about one of these issues.
- Include the OpenURL from vendor if there is incorrect metadata or missing metadata. Send the missing metadata that should appear in the OpenURL.
- If there are multiple citations for same article, include the link to the list of search results and indicate which citation is correct. Ask if the records can be merged and the metadata corrected. The vendor may need the PDF of the article as proof of the correct metadata.
If there is an issue with the CKB, either fix the issue and/or report the issue to Ex Libris.
There is a list of possible issues with the CKB.
- Incorrect coverage date
- Parse param could have an incorrect URL or other linking metadata, such as the jkey or bkey or journal ID.
- The linking parameters are missing or need updating.
- There is a missing or inactive portfolio.
- The portfolio needs to be deactivated and reported to Ex Libris that the portfolio needs to be removed from the collection.
- The OpenURL is not being generated correctly because of a parser or parse param issue.
- The proxy box is not checked and off-campus users are unable to access resources.
Is there an issue with the resolved full text record? The Electronic Resources NZ administrator contacts the vendor and reports the specific issue with the full text record.
There is a list of possible issues with the resolved full text record that can include one or more of the following issues.
- The article is missing from journal and needs to be added by the publisher. Ask if the missing article can be added.
- The article is not indexed by the vendor. Ask when the article will be indexed and available online.
- The incorrect metadata has been indexed and needs updating or missing metadata added. Send the correct metadata to the vendor.
- The DOI is incorrect and needs to be corrected by CrossRef, the originating vendor or the resolving vendor. Send the correct to the vendor or ask CrossRef to correct the DOI.
- The DOI needs to be registered or is registered with a different vendor or CrossRef is down. Contact CrossRef for these issues.
- The DOI goes to an article at a vendor's site that the library does not have full text subscription. Add "&exception=noDOI" and if that does not work, try, & "exception4=noDOI" to the parse param of the portfolio. The portfolio will no longer use the DOI to link and will go to intended site.
- There is a copyright restriction on that particular article. Add an internal and public note to the portfolio that there may be limited access to some full text due to copyright restrictions.
- The vendor site having issues or is down. Contact the vendor and notify the libraries.
- The vendor needs to open up access to full text so the libraries can access the full text. Contact the vendor requesting access the article and copy SDLC about the access issue.
- The originating vendor and resulting vendor do not index the same article the same way due to indexing policies. If the vendors do not agree to match the metadata for the article, there is no fix for this issue.
There is a list of data to send to the vendor to correct issues with the article or metadata. The following information may need to be included in the support ticket opened with the vendor.
- The OpenURL with the incorrect metadata and the correct OpenURL if available.
- A test Proxy User the vendor can use to access the correct account.
- If available, the link for the originating citation or screenshot of citation.
- example: permanent link from EBSCO or a Primo record
- A link to the full text article.
- A link to the journal if there is missing metadata and include which years/volumes/issues/start pages are missing.
- List of metadata missing or incorrectly indexed and send the PDF of the article if available.
Support examples:
CSU-subscribed Science Direct title was auto-update in the autoload target from 2004 to present to 2012 to present access. Elsevier does not provide coverage dates in coded memo title list. Autoload target does show what the CSU has access to but should it be changed to match what was agreed upon in contract. Contact SDLC about access, they contact the account manager for vendor to confirm correct access. This is a contract issue.
ProQuest San Francisco Examiner question: PQ no longer has full text. Deactivate title and contact PQ to confirm FT has been removed or does access need to be restored. If indeed no FT, notify ExL. If FT is restored, activate title.
Article title missing from EBSCO CINAHL citation OpenURL, reported issue to EBSCO Support: sent a link to the citation, sent the OpenURL with the missing article title and the proxy test user and asked if the article title could be added to the OpenURL.