History Librarians Interest Group

  • Private Community
 View Only
last person joined: 24 days ago 

Charge: A forum to discuss issues common to subject librarians in academic or research libraries, who are working with collections and researchers in the discipline of history.
Community members can post as a new Discussion or email ALA-acrlhlig@ConnectedCommunity.org
Before you post: please note job postings are prohibited on ALA Connect. Please see the Code of Conduct for more information.

  • 1.  Difficulties with new EBSCO?

    Posted Dec 17, 2024 02:20 PM
    Hi All, 
    A few months ago my library was migrated over to the new EBSCO interface.  It is a proud and time-honored tradition to dislike new database interfaces, but I am genuinely interested if other History librarians are having issues with the new interface. 
    For example, our new version of the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) database did not include links to the full text; EBSCO had to revert us to the legacy interface while they continue to fix the issue. It sounds like other libraries with the new interface have this issue too?
    More recently (and more distressing), I've noticed issues with their metadata. Last Friday (12/13/24) in America: History and Life, I tried a search limited to the historical period 1600-1750.   Based upon the article titles, it was clear a majority of the results fell well outside that time period.  When I looked at the individual records I noticed the "historical periods" were all over the place. Specific examples:
    • In the Guise Of Honor: Two Killings in Tensas Parish, Louisiana, 1924 & 1930. ("Historical Period 1253 to 2013")
    • Red Mountain Ladies: How Prostitution Shaped Birmingham, Alabama from 1871-1920. ("Historical Period 1702 to 2023")
    • War at Home: Insecticides in 20th Century American Advertising. ("Historical Period 1505 to 2015")
    • Catholic Diocese of Lafayette and Desegregation, 1947-1972  ("Historical Period 1720 to 2021")
    • Moral Hazard: The "Jew Risks" Affair of 1867 ("Historical Period 1654 to 2010")
    I checked with a colleague at another university, and it appears to be a global glitch, not a problem unique to my institution. Have any other institutions placed a complain for this issue? I'm surprised EBSCO haven't fixed/addressed it yet.
    If you are running into similar issues  with the new interface, please let EBSCO know!
    Many thanks!  
    Best
    Rick


    ------------------------------
    Richard M. Mikulski, Ph.D.
    Instruction & Research Librarian
    William & Mary Libraries, Office 132
    rmmikulski@wm.edu 757-221-2541
    he.him.his.
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Difficulties with new EBSCO?

    Posted Dec 26, 2024 11:43 AM
      |   view attached

    Hi Richard,

    Thanks for bringing these issues up! We're still using the legacy interface, but I believe I can explain what's happening with your historical period results, and it's not an unexpected behavior.

    When specifying a historical period in a search, the results will include items that overlap with some or all of your specified period. Here's information from EBSCO's America: History and Life help page, which you can access using the tiny question mark icon next to the search boxes in the legacy interface. (Annoyingly, I can't find a working direct link to the page, nor can I find a link to access the same content from the new interface.)

    Historical Period Searching

    Historical Period Limiter

    The historical period limiter searches the time span of the event described within the record. There are two options to select for era: "b.c.e. (BC)" and "c.e. (AD)"; where b.c.e. refers to Before the Common Era and c.e. refers to the Common Era. If no era is selected, the search limiter defaults to "c.e. (AD)". To search any historical period Before the Common Era, the "b.c.e. (BC)" value must be selected before clicking the search button. It is possible for a record to include more than one historical period. Please note that the year 0 is not searchable.

      • 1950 c.e. - 1960 c.e. will return results that occur between 1950 and 1960 including any events that encompass part or all of the historical period. (For example, a record with the time span 1900-1999 will be included in the above search).
      • 1950 c.e. in the first edit box will return results from 1950-present.
      • 2000 c.e. in the second edit box will return all results up to the year 2000 c.e.
      • 1929 c.e. - 1929 c.e. will match the exact year of 1929 c.e. Any records that encompass this year in their range will also be included in the results.

    I'm attaching a screenshot of the legacy interface showing the location of the question mark, and a sample of my results when searching for women AND suburb* and limited to 1946 to 1970. 

    I hope this helps! If you encounter any more mysteries, I'm happy to try to duplicate!

    All the best, 

    Amanda



    ------------------------------
    Amanda Izenstark
    Reference and Instructional Design Librarian
    University of Rhode Island Library
    ------------------------------

    Original Message