SirsiDynix is pleased to contribute a new feature requested by our customers who also use EBSCO to manage electronic resources. Created by Luke Aeschleman, Digital Technologies Development Librarian at NC State University, this enhancement will allow a CORAL staff user to search against the EBSCO Knowledge Base and import individual resource titles, or packages and corresponding titles.
With CORAL 2.1, the CORAL administrator will be able to add your library's EBSCO RM API key in the Resources module. Once this key is added, a new link called "EBSCO Kb" will appear on the Resources toolbar. Clicking the link will allow the staff user to search the EBSCO Kb by title, package, or vendor. Results can be limited to titles selected/not selected for the library's EBSCO account, or by titles selected AND purchased through EBSCO.
Once the staff user has found a title or package, one click on the "Import" button will upload resource metadata to dynamically create a new resource record. If the staff user has chosen to import a package, the system will create a parent-level resource, and child resources for each title contained in the package. The EBSCO Kb ID will also be stored, so that subsequent imports can update the resource without creating duplicates. If a large batch of titles is to be imported, the utility will "chunk" the titles and display a progress indicator as the titles are uploaded.
Luke's excellent work is already getting rave reviews from the CORAL developers in advance of the 2.1 beta release. Steve Oberg, Chair of the CORAL Steering Committee and Assistant Professor of Library Science at Wheaton College, said in an internal correspondence, "I'm seriously impressed when I can load a package containing over 1,600 titles into CORAL in a matter of seconds. This will revolutionize our CORAL work."
- Carla Clark, SirsiDynix Product Manager and CORAL Steering Committee Member