Intota: Knowledgebase Database Migration Procedures
- Product: Intota
What actions do we need to take when titles migrate to a new database, a database migrates to a new provider, or titles are completely removed from a database?
When we make changes to existing databases and titles in the Knowledgebase, you are sometimes required to take certain actions if your library subscribes to those databases or titles. These actions will ensure that your patrons can continue to access subscribed content and that any library-specific information you've associated with the databases and titles is not lost.
We notify clients of these changes in the Knowledgebase Notifications page and also in our monthly Summary of Provider and Database Changes. Some common changes that require action on your part include the following:
- Moving a database from one provider to another;
- Moving some or all titles from one database to another;
- Removing some or all titles from a database.
The actions you need to take depend on the change involved, and which data you want accessible with the new resources.
In these actions, we use the term "old" to describe the database that titles are being removed from, and "new" to describe the database that titles are moving to (even if the "new" database has, in fact, been in the Knowledgebase for a long time).
Click a link to jump to a subsection of this document:
Libraries With Information Attached to the Old Databases
If your library does not have information attached to the old databases (such as license information, contacts, cost payments, and so on), then skip down this page to the Libraries Without Information Attached actions below.
On the other hand, if your library does have information attached to the old database or titles, then we recommend you deactivate the old database or titles but retain them in your Intota profile:
- Change the Status of the old database or titles to something other than Subscribed. Do not change the status to Not Tracked or you will lose all your attached information.
- Uncheck the Display In boxes on the Database Details page, and also uncheck the database in the E-Journal Portal's Administration Console.
- Subscribe to the new database or titles.
- You may choose to align your old database usage statistics to the new provider. Locate your old database usage-statistics spreadsheets, re-label them as the new database (and provider, if needed), then re-upload. Once the usage statistics are successfully showing in your consolidated reports, you can then delete the old statistics. More details are available here.
Next, you need to decide whether to save or migrate any management data from the old resource. The evaluation process is different depending whether a database is migrating from one provider to the other, or titles are migrating from one database to another (or being deleted).
Database Migration
You should be aware of what happens to management data when a database changes to a new provider: The data that is currently associated with the old database will remain visible and associated with the old database. That is, although ProQuest is deprecating the database, we will not remove the old database from your profile in Intota, and you will always have access to the management data attached to it.
Nonetheless, some clients prefer to move some management data to the new database. To help you decide, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you want to see license information and terms that were associated with the old database when you look at the license link for the new resource? For example, if your library subscribes to Art Abstracts and you have your Wilson license information attached to the database Art Abstracts from the provider Wilson, do you want the Wilson license information attached to Art Abstracts from Provider EBSCOhost?
- Do you want the list of contacts and their information that were associated with the old database associated with the new database?
- Do you need to see cost and payment data that was associated with the old database in the new database?
If the answer to all of the above questions is "No," then there is no reason to move your management data to the new database, and you can skip down this page to the All Libraries actions below.
On the other hand, if you answered "Yes" to any of the three questions, then you should continue with the appropriate actions:
- Notes, Licenses, Contacts, and Vendor Statistics Management can be attached to the new database in the same way they were attached to the old database.
- Administration information needs to be manually entered for the new database. You can run a Resource Administrative Information report so you can see what is currently populated in the Administration fields and use that report as a guide as you manually enter the administration data to the Administration Fields in the new database.
- Move costs and payments to the new database using these instructions.
When you're done, proceed with the All Libraries actions below.
Title Migration
When a title moves from one database to another within the Knowledgebase, it will be removed from the old database. Some management data attached to that title will then be lost, while some other data will remain in Intota, but will no longer be attached to the title.
If you want any of the data to be reconnected with the title in the new database, you will have to attach it manually.
The following management data will be deleted when the title is removed from the old database:
- Cost and payment
- Administration
If you want to keep this data, you will need to save them on a local computer (using Management Reports), and then reattach them to the title once it is moved into the new database.
These other four kinds of data will remain in Intota, although no longer attached to the title:
- Notes
- Licenses
- Contacts
- Vendor Statistics Metadata
You can easily attach these four kinds of data to the title in the new database if desired, using the instructions for each: Notes, Licenses, Contacts, and vendor statistics management.
When you're done, proceed with the All Libraries actions below.
Title Removal
When a title is entirely removed from a provider's database in the Knowledgebase and not migrated to another database, all management data items attached to that title will then be lost.
This might not be a concern to your library if, without the title, you have no need for those attached management data items anyway.
However, if you do want to keep those items accessible, there is a work-around you can use, as long as you complete the task before we remove the title from the provider's database:
- Create a library-specific holdings database, perhaps with a name like "Deleted Titles."
- Add the (soon to be deleted) titles to the new database.
- Follow the rest of the instructions above in the Title Migration section to attach the management data items to the titles in their new location.
Libraries Without Information Attached to the Old Databases
If your library does not have any license information, cost payment, etcetera attached to the old databases or titles, then:
- Set the Status of the old database or titles to Not Tracked to remove them from your Intota profile.
- Subscribe to the corresponding new products as soon as possible.
- Proceed with the All Libraries actions below.
All Libraries
Below are a couple items to consider, regardless of whether or not your library had information attached to the old resource:
- 360 MARC Updates: Depending on the changes that take place, you can expect to see some change records and delete records the next time you get your MARC records after the migration completes.
- Third-Party Service: If your library uses a third-party service (such as SFX, EBSCO A-Z, etc.), custom scripts to manage data, or other non-ProQuest tools that require the database or provider name to function, you should note the change in ProQuest's names in order to retain the proper relationship/mapping between those tools.
- Date Created: 12-Jan-2015
- Last Edited Date: 12-Jan-2015
- Old Article Number: 12016