Why doesn't Primo show a link to an EBSCO database when I can find the article directly in EBSCO?
- Product: Alma, Primo VE
Question
Why doesn't Primo show a View It link for one or more EBSCO databases when I can find the same article by searching in EBSCO directly?
Answer
There are several reasons why links to EBSCO database may not show:
There is a mismatch in metadata between Primo and EBSCO
If the metadata shown in Primo, such as the publication date or starting page number, does not match the same metadata in EBSCO, the openURL resolution process will fail. You can compare the metadata in both products; the Cite features in each can make it easier to compare the metadata in similar formats. If a PDF of the article is available, that will be the authoritative source, or the metadata displayed on the publisher's site. Sometimes the date an article was made available online is used instead of the publication date shown for the issue. A group of short articles may show a single starting page number for the whole list instead of individual ones. The volume and issue numbers may be transposed. You'll want to alert either Primo or EBSCO support depending one which source shows the incorrect metadata.
The metadata may not be precise enough to resolve to a single article
This happens most commonly when more than one article appears on a single page. View the issue's table of contents to confirm.
The metadata uses an unexpected format
This can happen when multiple issues are combined (issue 2-3), when date formats don't use numbers (spring 2020), or when foreign language abbreviations are part of the metadata (bd17). You can trying manipulating the openURL to cleanup these formats to see if that solves the issue, then report what needs to be fixed to Primo or CDI support.
- Article last edited: 12-Sep-2023