Working with Evidence Based Acquisition (EBA)
All user roles can view the Evidence Based Acquisition (EBA) pool. Additionally, the following roles can:
- Pin titles for review:
Selectors, Super Selectors, Rialto Manager, Rialto Administrator, Purchasing Operator - Unpin titles, dismiss titles from the pool, run Smart Selection, manage the MARC import profile:
Rialto Administrator
What is Evidence-Based Acquisition (EBA)
Evidence Based Acquisition (EBA) is a cost-effective way in which academic libraries can evaluate and acquire content that best meets their institution's needs. With this acquisition model, your library can maximize the return on investment, while making informed decisions based on usage.
Under an EBA model, the library first commits a pre-payment amount towards the purchase of ebook titles from a platform (presently, Rialto offers EBA plans with Ebook Central and Taylor & Francis). Following the pre-payment commitment, the library is given access to an extensive collection of titles by the platform, typically valued on the commitment amount with a multiplier and for the duration of one calendar year. Throughout the EBA plan's period, Rialto's EBA monitoring page allows the library to review plan titles by usage or any combination of metadata and ranking elements. The library can pin titles they are interested in purchasing from the monitoring page or anywhere else in the marketplace and can reject any undesired titles as well. At the end of the EBA plan's period, the library makes informed decisions while reviewing manually pinned selections and/or Rialto-recommended titles, and then purchases the selected titles up to the committed dollar amount to be used for perpetual access.
For more information, watch EBA
EBA Eligibility and Prerequisites
To start an EBA program in Rialto, first contact your ProQuest Books Specialist. Program implementation requires coordination with the platform, and also ProQuest support. So, although you may have an existing EBA plan with a platform we partner with, we need to be made aware when it is intended for management in Rialto.
Plan terms
EBA plan terms and conditions are set by the platform provider. Once finalized with the platform, Rialto requires the following elements:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Profile Name |
This is the name for the EBA plan that displays in Rialto. Best practice is to name the plan to include a year and platform, since a new plan is created if a program is renewed. |
| Platform |
This is the name of the platform the EBA plan is associated with. Only one platform is allowed per plan. Presently, Rialto offers EBA plans with the following platforms:
|
| Profile Description (optional) |
Optionally, provide a description of the EBA plan for other library staff. |
| Start Date / End Date |
This is the start and end date for the EBA plan. Typically an EBA plan spans one year. |
| Ranking |
On set up, Rialto requires a default ranking profile (see Managing Ranking Profiles). The ranking profile is used to:
|
| Ordering Library |
The ordering library all titles in the plan are associated with. Upon closure, order lines for selected titles are created and associated with this ordering library. Only one can be used per plan. |
| Fund |
The fund used for the EBA plan. Upon closure, order lines for selected titles are created and associated with this fund. A local deposit fund should be used, since selected titles are pre-paid. Only one can be used per plan. |
| Budget (USD) |
The total dollar amount committed to spend when the plan is completed. |
| Pool Value (USD) |
The total cost of available titles available in the EBA pool. This is only relevant for plans in which the pool generator is used. |
| Collections (optional) |
The collection name provided by the platform that the pool titles are pulling from. Multiple collections can be applied here. |
| Growing/Static pool |
Some plans allow for titles to be added throughout the year (growing), while others are determined in full at the beginning of the initial pool load (static). Rialto needs to know which of these describes your plan to ensure the correct titles display. |
Setup and Configuration
EBA plan terms may differ, however, they all require initial configuration to be performed by ProQuest Support.
As part of the setup process, support staff will implement:
- Profile terms - All plan terms are defined with the platform. Once the plan terms are confirmed, you need to provide the required information to ProQuest Support (see above for required terms).
- A MARC import profile - To enable access to the accompanying MARC records for the evaluated titles, ProQuest makes use of import profiles within Alma specific to EBA and each EBA plan has a single import profile designed for it. These import profiles are visible from Rialto, as part of each enabled EBA Plan. Only users with the Rialto Administrator role can view them in Rialto. Configuration is performed by ProQuest during initial setup, and ongoing loads are handled through the same profile (if you have a pool that grows throughout the term). All portfolio records loaded through this profile are flagged with the EBA program name, allowing them to be searched in Alma.
- Initial pool load:
- Pool Generator - If the EBA program terms require the library to select titles in the pool, the Pool Generator may be used to suggest titles up to the "Pool Value" defined during program configuration. The Pool Generator uses the recommendation engine to suggest titles according to a query. Titles can be dismissed and the query can be edited. When a suitable pool is defined, the titles list may be exported to excel and delivered to ProQuest or the platform.
- Loading from file - Your plan terms may require for the titles in the pool to first be defined within the platform itself. If this is the case, you need to share the file of titles to be loaded with ProQuest support staff and these will be loaded as part of your EBA implementation
Other Requirements
SUSHI Counter Usage
In order for Rialto to display accurate usage counts for each title in the EBA pool, SUSHI counter usage needs to be configured for an EBA plan's platform, if it is not configured already. For detailed instructions on how to do so, see: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/...SUSHI_Accounts.
Monitoring the plan
EBA plans are managed from the Evidence Based Acquisition page (Market > Automatic Selection > Evidence Based Acquisition).
From this page, you can navigate to any plan, or depending on role permissions, perform actions such as running Smart Selection or managing the import profile. Once you have selected a plan, you are directed to the plan management page.
The EBA plan management page allows:
- Reviewing the EBA plan details
- Refining the EBA pool display
- Managing EBA pool titles
Reviewing EBA plan details
- To open the desired EBA plan, select its name in the Evidence Based Acquisition page (Market > Automatic Selection > Evidence Based Acquisition). The list of titles available for the EBA plan are displayed.
- Select a plan name.
- When the monitoring page loads, you see the facets panel to the left, the list of pool titles in the center, and the plan details in the panel to the right.
4. The details panel displays information about the plan terms, budget information, and contains the Smart Selection button.
| To: | Do: |
|---|---|
| Review the expenditure and the remaining budget for the EBA plan |
View the budget information in the EBA panel:
The budget information refreshes when a new title is pinned/unpinned/dismissed.
|
| Perform Smart Selection |
Rialto Administrators have the ability to run Smart Selection to select additional titles to purchase as part of the EBA plan.
|
| View additional plan terms |
Select the arrows in the upper right corner of the EBA details panel. When expanded, you will see additional details about the plan:
|
Refining EBA Pool Display
Like other pages in Rialto, you can refine the titles to display by using facets or changing the ranking profile. The below table illustrates the actions available to manipulate the title display in the pool, as well as unique displays on this page.
- Select its name in the Evidence Based Acquisition page (Market > Automatic Selection > Evidence Based Acquisition).
-
When the list of titles loads:
To: Do: Search for a known title You can search for an offer by Title, ISBN, Author or Keywords. To search, select the desired option in the dropdown, enter the desired text and select 
. To remove the text, click X within the dropdown.Filter the list by facets To filter by different criteria (such as classification) to ensure balanced spending decisions by a variety of factors, use the facets. In the facet list, select the values for which you want to see results. The facets currently selected appear at the top of the Facets panel. Click X to clear a facet. For a full list of facets, see Working with Facets.
The EBA monitoring page contains several facets located at the top of the panel that are unique to this page:
- Smart Selected - If you have elected to run Smart Selection, or it has run automatically at period close, the titles selected are displayed when applied. Smart Select titles display the Smart Selected badge.
- Manually Pinned - If you have pinned EBA titles to the pool from anywhere in the marketplace, using this facet pulls them for display here. Pinned titles display the Pinned in EBA badge.
- Dismissed - This facet returns all pool titles that have been manually dismissed. Dismissed titles display the Dismissed from EBA badge.
- In Review - If a pool title has not had any of the above actions performed on it, then it returns for display when this facet is applied. Pool titles that have not been reviewed do not display a badge in the pool, however, when viewed anywhere in the marketplace outside of the EBA monitoring page, the In EBA plan badge is displayed.
Apply a Ranking Profile The default ranking profile assigned with the plan. Selecting another ranking profile re-sorts the list according to that profile for this session.
View usage When viewing a title, the SUSHI usage count is displayed on the list line, so that you can easily identify desireable titles based on high usage. The total view count is displayed here. If no views are present, the line indicates so.
Managing EBA Pool Titles
Once titles have been loaded into your EBA pool, all the titles appear throughout the marketplace with an In EBA pool badge so that library staff are aware the title is discoverable by faculty and students, and available to be purchased at the end of the EBA plan term. Rialto also provides additional tools and actions that allow the library to better manage the EBA pool. Users can preselect desirable titles, dismiss unwanted titles, and communicate with other staff about the titles. Most of these actions can be performed anywhere within the marketplace, with the titles reflecting the actions taken via an updated badge. These actions are:
- Pinning/Unpinning
- Smart Selection
- Dismissing
- Notes
Pinning
Pinning titles means to indicate these titles as desired for purchasing in advance of EBA program's closure.
Note that pinning titles is possible not only from the EBA plan, but from the other pages as well (Offer details, Lists, Recommendation feeds, Purchase requests, Cart/order approval list, Selection plans), to prevent unwanted purchases and allow for early decisions.
- From the Evidence Based Acquisition plan (Market > Automatic Selection > Evidence Based Acquisition, or from any other location in Rialto, select the Pin action.
- The title opens in the Details pane, and it receives the Pinned in EBA badge. This title is now flagged as a candidate for purchasing. This badge is visible throughout Rialto to allow staff to see what titles are in the EBA pool. Each selector in the institution can view titles pinned by other selectors. If desired, you can open a note in the Details pane and leave a note justifying this pin to the other selectors.
- To pin multiple titles at once, select the checkboxes by the desired titles and select Pin at the top of the page. Note that this bulk action is available only from the EBA page.
- To review the list of pinned titles only, select the Pinned Titles row action for that EBA plan from the EBA page.
Unpinning
If you have the Administrator role, you can conversely "Unpin" a title.
-
From anywhere in the marketplace, to unpin a single title, select the Unpin action on the title. The Pinned in EBA badge is now removed. In the pool, the title now displays without any badge. Elsewhere in the marketplace, users see the In EBA plan badge.
-
To unpin multiple titles at once, select the checkboxes by the desired titles and select Unpin from EBA at the top of the page.
Smart Selection
To help the library identify titles that best suit the objective for the plan, Smart Selection can be utilized. Administrators are able to create a query and in combination with a ranking profile, the recommendation engine identifies the best fit titles and flags them for potential purchase. Smart Selection can be performed at any point in time during the EBA plan term and runs automatically before the plan closes, if the budget allows.
- On the Evidence Based Acquisition plan (Market > Automatic Selection > Evidence Based Acquisition, select Smart Selection from either the row actions next to a plan name or the button in the plan details panel.
- The Smart Selection page appears. From here, you can create a query using all the values found in the query builder LINK TO DOC and pair this with a ranking profile LINK TO DOC.
- Using the play button, you can test the query and see the set of titles that it currently pins from the pool.
- If you are satisfied with your results, you have the option to save it, or save and run. Saving ensures that this is the query and ranking used to select titles at plan close if the total amount of pinned titles does not meet the overall budget. Save and run causes the selected titles to be immediately saved for review. The same query and ranking are also used at the end of the year if the budget allows. Once Smart Selection has been completed, the Smart selected badge appears throughout the marketplace.
When you are running Smart Selection, EBA actions (pinning/unpinning, dismissing/restoring) are blocked until the job is completed.
- If you have previously run Smart Selection and you no longer want to keep the titles saved from the earlier run, you have the option to Clear Current Smart Selected at the top of the page. You can then choose to run another Smart Selection or not. Clear Current Smart Selected removes the Smart selected badge.
Dismissing
Administrators may want to dismiss titles that are undesirable so other users cannot pin them. A dismissed title indicates to staff that it is not to be purchased at the end of the EBA period, and is excluded from any Smart Selection run.
- Select Dismiss in the row actions.
- Select a reason for dismissing the title.
- After dismissing a title, it appears disabled in the pool view. If you have inadvertently elected to dismiss it, you have the option to restore it by clicking on the listed offer. To remove the title from the in review view, select Purge dismissed offers at the top of the page.
- This title is now tagged as dismissed and the Dismissed from EBA badge appears in the pool and across the marketplace.
- Dismissed titles can be viewed using the Dismissed facet.
- To dismiss multiple titles at once, select the checkboxes by the desired titles and select Dismiss at the top of the page.
Restore Dismissed Titles
If an Admin dismisses and purges a title in error, the dismissal can be reverted using the restore action.
- Display the dismissed titles by using the Dismissed facet. Find the desired dismissed title and select Restore in the row actions.
- To restore multiple titles at once, select the checkboxes by the desired titles and select Restore at the top of the page.
Closure
Closure of EBA programs is supported in Rialto at this time. Please contact customer support to initiate the process.
A full end to end closure workflow can be expected by end of 2022.