Intota: Data Optimization - Review Database and Title Selections

Review your subscribed databases in Intota, and add any missing resources.

Priority: Critical

Why:

Your institution's database subscriptions change over time, and these changes need to be reflected in Intota. If your Intota database list is incomplete, your users will not discover valuable subscribed content.

How:

Review your Intota database list and add missing databases to your Intota Profile. Databases to add may include:

Remove canceled databases from Discovery Services.

Priority: Critical

Why:

Your institution may sometimes cancel database subscriptions, and these changes need to be reflected in Intota. Additionally, vendor changes occasionally make it necessary for ProQuest to retire or replace databases in the Knowledgebase. When this happens, you need to select the appropriate new version of the database and remove the old one from your Discovery Services.

If Intota's active database list contains databases that are no longer appropriate, your users will encounter broken links, and have a less than satisfactory experience with your Discovery Services.

How:

If a cancelled or discontinued database your Intota database list has a status of Subscribed, change the status to something appropriate such as Cancelled. Then, go to the Discovery section of the Database Details Page and turn Off 360 Core, 360 Link, 360 MARC Updates, and Summon.

The above steps will retain your resource management data for the database while hiding the database from your Discovery Services. If you prefer to completely remove the database from Intota, change the database status to Not Tracked.

Additional Information:

Intota: Resource Status versus visibility in Various Services

Choose regional and consortium databases only if they are appropriate for your library.

Priority: Critical

Why:

Some vendors offer specific versions of databases for different countries or regions. For example, databases marked as "International" are usually intended for libraries outside the United States and may use different URLs for accessing content. When in doubt, contact your vendor to verify which database to select.

Some resources include a consortium as part of the database name. These consortium-specific resources can have titles and coverage dates that are unique to consortium members only. If your library is not part of the consortium, choose a different database instead.

How:

Pay close attention to database names when you search for databases in Intota. Some region-specific and consortium-specific database have names that are similar to resources meant for most subscribers. Choose databases that are appropriate for your region, and choose consortium-specific resources only if you are a part of that consortium.

Verify your title selections: Select individual titles only if your subscription does not cover the whole database.

Priority: Critical

Services Affected: 360 Core, 360 Link, 360 MARC Updates, Summon

Why:

ProQuest Discovery Services determine which titles your users can access by checking title statuses in Intota. If you have titles set to Subscribed that you do not subscribe to, your patrons will be led to inaccurate results, and they will encounter broken links. Likewise, if you have not selected the full set of titles available to your library, your users will miss out on discovering valuable content.

How:

If your library subscribes to only some of the titles within a database, follow the instructions in Intota: Including Select Titles Within a Database, and select the appropriate titles. But, if you actually subscribe to the whole database, make sure that the Title Coverage option of the database is set to ALL titles. This setting ensures that newly added titles automatically become part of your collection in the future.

If you subscribe to resources from ebrary or Ebook Library, see Intota: Automated Holdings Management.

TIP: Avoid selecting titles in the "Single Journals" database under the "Multiple Vendors" provider. Whenever possible, select titles in a database from the specific publisher to provide the best linking experience for your users.

Additional Information:

Intota: Offline Date and Status Editor
Intota: Offline Date and Status Editor: Record-Matching Logic

Customize coverage dates for titles if your library subscribes to a date range other than the default date range.

Priority: Critical

Why:

Summon and 360 Link determine whether users have access to an article by checking if the journal title is set to Subscribed in Intota for coverage dates that include that article. 360 Core, 360 Link, and 360 MARC Updates use the same information to display coverage dates for subscribed journals.

In most cases, the default coverage dates shown in Intota will be effective for your users. But, if your library subscribes to a unique set of coverage dates, you will need to enter this information into Intota so that your patrons will be led to accurate results.

How:

When necessary due to your institution's unique needs, customize an individual holding's coverage dates on the Intota Holding Details Page. If you need to modify multiple date ranges within a database, consider using the Offline Date and Status Editor. And, if you need to use the same custom date range for all holdings in a database, you can customize the date range for the entire database on the Database Details Page.

Whichever strategy you use, make sure that your dates comply with the Valid Date Formats. But, if you see an error in the coverage dates, please use the Support Portal option at the top of the page to report the error to us rather than customizing the dates.

Hide databases containing selected (incomplete) full-text from Summon and 360 Link.

Priority: Recommended

Why:

Some databases do not contain full text for all titles -- or for all coverage dates within a title -- and are noted by the words "Selected Full Text" as part of the name. Setting one of these databases to Subscribed in Intota could cause incorrect results to appear in the Summon and 360 Link. For example, Factiva (Selected Full Text) contains journals that have gaps in coverage for unspecified dates. Since Summon and 360 Link can not determine which specific articles are missing from Factiva (Selected Full Text), users may encounter links to articles that cannot be found in the Factiva database. These broken links create a frustrating user experience.

How:

Consider turning partial coverage databases off in Summon and 360 Link because they link at the article level. You may still be interested in allowing these resources to be discovered via the 360 Core E-Journal Portal and 360 MARC records because they link at the more general journal level and will not cause broken links to be presented to your users.

For a list of "Selected Full Text" databases, see 360 KB: Databases with Selected (Incomplete) Full Text.

Add open-access resources to Intota.

Priority: Optional

Why:

A wide variety of of open-access content is listed in the Knowlegebase and indexed in Summon. Adding open-access resources to your Intota Profile allows this valuable content to be discovered by your users.

How:

Review the list of 360 KB: Databases of Free E-journals and E-books. If you find free resources that are appropriate for your library, add those databases to your Intota Profile.

Create Custom Databases for non-electronic holdings such as print and microform.

Priority: Optional

Why:

You can create your own Custom Databases, also known as "Library-Specific Holdings" Databases, to make your print, microform, and CD-ROM content discoverable in your Discovery Services. We do not recommend using these databases for electronic content. Custom Databases can be beneficial as long as you understand their limitations. For details, see Summon and 360 Link: Issues with Library-Specific Holdings.

How:

Create your own Custom Database for non-electronic resources (print, microfilm, etc.) by following these instructions: Intota: Library-Specific (Library-Managed) Holdings Database.