One of the most important pieces of prep is to download holdings from your previous knowledgebase (be it EBSCO A-to-Z or another vendor), like Judith said.  Additionally, if you used any customization beyond the default links to a platform (say, if you customize your ILL links, link to repositories, etc.) you should screenshot any customizations in your existing system so you can recreate them in the new system.  If you can, get EBSCO to set you up a test account so you can set things up ahead of time and fix some bugs before go-live to avoid impacting patrons mid-semester.

 

We still had unexpected problems after go-live, but this staved off significant problems for our users.  Some areas that we tested prior to go-live were whether titles in each package displayed in the public interface (check for whether the “Hide” checkbox is active), and whether content was transferred from A-to-Z correctly.

 

Also, we loaded our print collection and other custom content ahead of time, which took more time than expected as the spreadsheet upload match system in Holdings Management/Full Text Finder is more prone to “erroring out” on potential duplicates than A-to-Z was.

 

Our transition from A-to-Z to Full Text Finder has been rocky, though EBSCO has been largely responsive to our bug reports.  It’s gotten better, but I still have about ten open support requests.

 

 

 

We just went live with it today.  I didn’t do much prep work in advance but I’ll send out a note to the listserv in a couple of days with my observations.

 

 

Marcella Lesher

Professor/Periodicals Librarian

Blume Library

St. Mary’s University

One Camino Santa Maria

San Antonio, TX  78228

 

Phone:  210-431-2299 ext. 1322

http://lib.stmarytx.edu

 

 

 

 

Hi Sandra and Jessica,

 

My library migrated last summer and it was a disaster, but I know they have improved it quite a lot since then. The one thing I did that helped me was download all my holdings in the old system and keep that file. After I started finding problems, I sorted it by package, as well as by title, so when I found errors in the new system, I could look up (1) what was supposed to have been selected in that package (2) how I actually accessed that title.

 

Maybe you won’t need it at all. I hope not.

 

Good luck!

Judith Stokes

 

Judith E. Stokes, Associate Professor

Electronic Resources Librarian

Rhode Island College, AL203

600 Mount Pleasant Avenue

Providence, RI 02908

401.456.8165

 

 

I would like to hear about this also, as we are migrating the end of November, I believe.

 

 

 

Sandra Thomas

Assistant Professor

Serials & Electronic Resources Librarian

Southeastern Oklahoma State University

1405 N. 4^th PMB 4189

Durant, OK 74701-0609

580.745.2933

Fax: 580.745.7463

www.SE.edu

 

                                 

 

 

 

 

 

My university is migrating to EBSCO’s Full-Text Finder in the near future. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to prepare for the migration. What did you do before you migrated or wish you had done? And was there anything I should look for during the preview period? I’ve read some not so pleasant things about Full-Text Finder on this listserv and I wanted to be as prepared as possible. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. You can e-mail me off list.

 

Thanks!

  Jessica

 

Jessica Lee

Electronic Resources/Serials Librarian

Odum Library

Valdosta State University

229-245-3751

jessicalee@valdosta.edu

 

 

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