EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), Openathens, and Testing Purpose

EBSCO Discovery Service and OpenAthens Testing

EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), OpenAthens, and Testing Purpose

EBSCO Discovery Service is an add-on service to Enterprise that integrates article search functionality into the catalog. With EDS, patrons can log into Enterprise and view research articles from any database their home library has a current subscription for. An additional feature SWAN has implemented with the help of EBSCO is OpenAthens authentication, which ties access to those databases directly to the patron’s barcode and PIN rather than a unique login for every database. The two services combine to offer patrons a smoother, more user-friendly research tool.

The purpose of this document—and the testing process as a whole—is to outline ways of verifying EDS and OpenAthens are functioning properly within your library. Though SWAN staff and EBSCO have tested thoroughly, there are certain things that must be tested within each library, and no one knows your library as well as you do. Things like IP address whitelisting, active subscription verification, and default limiters must all be tested from inside the library, and we will guide you through testing with testing plans and video-based tutorials. The simple steps below will be the first in a series of tests to help us present the best user experience for patrons when EDS is switched to the live Enterprise profiles.

Test 1: IP Whitelisting

Please complete these steps by Friday, November 28th. If no ticket is submitted by your library, we will assume there is no issue with IP Whitelisting. This test will apply to libraries with an active subscription to any non-EBSCO content database, such as Cengage/Gale.

Step 1: Navigate to your library’s Enterprise home page

Step 2: switch to the Development profile by adding the letters “dev” to the end of the 3-letter library code. The example below is for ADS:

Step 3: Log in with a valid barcode and PIN

Step 4: Click the [All Libraries] dropdown and select “Article Search”

Step 5: Enter search terms (“climate change” works well)

Step 6: Enable the “Available in Library Collection” and “Full Text” limiters in the Limit Search Results menu if they aren’t already set

Step 7: Scroll through the search results and click the [Find Full Text] button on any title that has the button available. Do not click [Full Text]—you may need to look past the first page.

You should be taken directly to the resource or resource portal at this point. If the OpenAthens login page appears, please open a ticket with SWAN support.