EBSCOhost 2.0

Reference Reviews

ISSN: 0950-4125

Article publication date: 24 October 2008

2631

Citation

Latham, B. (2008), "EBSCOhost 2.0", Reference Reviews, Vol. 22 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2008.09922hag.001

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


EBSCOhost 2.0

Article Type: Eye on the net: new and notable From: Reference Reviews, Volume 22, Issue 8

Back in July EBSCO Publishing released a major overhaul of its EBSCOhost database interface, with added functionality and a decidedly more Web 2.0 look and feel. It has called the new interface (creatively), EBSCOhost 2.0.

The aesthetics of the interface will be familiar to EBSCO’s users – the green and blue colour scheme has been retained, although there has been something of a toning down with buttons and icons given a glassy, as well as made larger. The preliminary page where users choose the databases they want to search is also basically the same, as is the initial search page, depending on how the subscribing institution has its defaults set. However, EBSCO now offers a simplified search screen that can be set as the default, and this has a decidedly Google-like look and feel – a single search box with no advanced options, although the options can be expanded by clicking on links below it. There is also the relatively new visual search, an examination of which could be an entire column in and of itself – it allows users to search and navigate results graphically, using tiered blocks and columns, and manipulating results by dragging and dropping. There are also some interesting changes with the search results. Probably the first feature a user will notice are the pop-ups. Rolling over a magnifying glass icon provides a pop-up Preview Pane with all the bibliographic information about the article, including an abstract, if there is one. Links within this pop-up are provided to the full text, as well as the citation and a link to add it to one’s folder. And this brings up another area in which the new EBSCO interface offers some nifty features – customization. If users log in, not only can they access their alerts, saved searches, etc., but they now have some new options to customize their displays. By using the Preferences link, users will get a pop-up allowing them to change how their results lists display and sort, the page layout, and their print/e-mail/save defaults.

But back to the results display – navigation for narrowing searches is provided on both the right and left hand with collapsible menus, allowing for more options with less scrolling. On the left hand side are source type (periodicals, dissertations, reviews, etc.), subject, geography, and database limiters; on the right, full text, references, and a date slider to limit to a particular date range. Also on the right are links to related multimedia such as images and videos (displayed as thumbnails), and similar articles. These thumbnails are another neat feature; graphics now display within the search results, and hovering over them produces a pop-up with a full-size preview of the graphic. At the top of the results list is a link to allow users to set up an RSS feed for the search they have just performed.

The new interface has enhanced some features that EBSCO has always offered, mostly by making them more visible. One example is their citation tool, which gives information on how to properly cite EBSCOhost articles in a variety of formats, including AMA, APA, Chicago, and MLA. EBSCO, which has always been notable for listening to its users, also encourages users to notify them of other citation formats that the databases currently do not offer, and EBSCO will look into adding them if it feels they will be beneficial to many of its users. There is also an option to export information to bibliographic management software (e.g. ProCite). Another example of an old feature with new visibility is the search history and alerts now located directly above the results lists, with the RSS.

Getting into the record itself will afford users a familiar experience, with one added feature – the persistent link. It is located in the same place it always has been, but now there are all kinds of Web 2.0 options provided. Clicking on the bookmark link next to the PURL provides a pop-up menu of Web 2.0 apps to which one can add the link for sharing, including MySpace, Delicious, Twitter, Fark, and many more. There is also a check box to add the selected service as a default.

EBSCO may be the frontrunner, but look for other vendors to follow its lead with interface upgrades that incorporate Web 2.0 functionality. Gale Cengage Learning has recently announced that it, too, will be overhauling the interface for its database products in the near future.

Bethany LathamInternet Editor, Reference Reviews, Assistant Professor and Electronic Resources/Documents Librarian, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL, USA

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