When we purchase an eBook from one of our vendors – we receive a notice and a URL or a MARC record so we may add the title to our collection.
Before we add a title to the Knowledge Base, we must decide which collection it belongs in.
Sometimes this is simple, if it is PDA, we already have that title in our system and are awaiting patron demand to trigger a purchase. (Our PDA Collections are: Education, Kanopy, Psychology and SOE Juvenile.) Once the purchase is triggered, we receive our notice and the title is moved from HPU PDA Education (for example) to HPU Purchased PDA Education.
If it is an EBSCO, JSTOR, Gale, Flipster, AXIS, Cambridge, etc. title, we add it to the proper collection housed in the Knowledge Base. We have a variety of choices depending on the provider and the subject matter.
For items that are not easily placed in a specific collection, we have a general holding collection called HPU Purchased Titles. We can locate items here so they are accessible – they can remain in that holding collection as long as we “own” them and they will be accessible in our catalog. If we decide a title actually belongs elsewhere, it is simple to relocate the title to the collection we choose.
Sometimes, the title we have purchased is already in the list of available titles in a collection, so when we receive a purchase notice, we only have to “turn it on” in the proper collection. Other times, the title must be added manually using its OCLC number and the URL sent to us by the vendor or via a KBART download for larger collections.
Once a title is added, we set the holding in our Record Manager and check the catalog for access.
Occasionally (when we receive MARC records for large collection additions), we are sent titles with no OCLC number, which makes accessibility in the catalog difficult, in this case, a patron would have to find the collection in the Database A-Z List (NC Live Homegrown eBooks, for example) and search the title that way. When an item like this is brought to our attention, we will locate the OCLC number and add it to the record.
Once an item is added to the Knowledge Base, it remains there as long as we “own” it. When the title is searched in the catalog, there should be a blue View eBook button on the record which will allow a patron access to a title – often we have the same title through various sources and each of those locations should be visible in the Access Online section of the catalog record.
For discontinued titles, we get a notice letting us know the titles will no longer be available so we can delete them from the Knowledge Base. A title that has been discontinued but remains in our Knowledge Base will still show up in our catalog as part of our collection however the patron will not be able to access it via the record. We try to stay on top of all items coming or going so we do not have inaccurate information in the catalog.
Finally, if you know that we “own” an eBook but you are unable to access it via the catalog, please let Tech Services know so we may try to track down the OCLC number or proper linking information and make that title accessible via our catalog.