Zotero Connector & EDS (EBSCO Discovery Service) not working correctly

emil.erixon
Hi!

At my library we recently switched from the older EDS interface to their new interface, and since then the Zotero Connector is not behaving as one should expect. I have read other posts here about similar issues, but I don't really understand if the problem is related to Zotero or EBSCO.

When in the result list, the Zotero Connector does not show as the yellow folder, but as "Web Page with Snap Shot". Thus, it's not possible so save multiple references from the result list using Zotero Connector.

Another issue is that, when going to a specific article post in EDS, the Zotero Connector icon shows as a book, even though it's an article I'm looking at. Everything works fine when importing the article, but it's confusing that it's the book icon that is being shown as the Zotero Connector icon, even though it's an article.

So, is this something that can be fixed by the Zotero Community, or do we need to contact EBSCO about this?

If you want to have a look, guests can search in our EDS. I can't seem to share a functioning link to a result list (that apparently requires login..), but if you go to https://www.su.se/stockholm-university-library/, click on "Articles" above the search field, then you can do a search in our EDS interface.

Emil
  • adamsmith
    Your EDS has a slightly different structure in search results than others we have seen. I'll have a fix for your version up shortly.
    Another issue is that, when going to a specific article post in EDS, the Zotero Connector icon shows as a book, even though it's an article I'm looking at. Everything works fine when importing the article, but it's confusing that it's the book icon that is being shown as the Zotero Connector icon, even though it's an article.
    EDS doesn't reliably give readily readable item type info, so this will remain spotty, but I've added recognition of articles as long as they're marked as such (as the "Artikel" here)
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u2433/0pz2tj9qyhfjaxxxqqm4.png
  • adamsmith
    OK, I've pushed out a fix for the search results and some minor improvements to the item type recognition, but overall you should expect that to remain not-super-reliable.
  • emil.erixon
    Thank you very much for this, it's a great improvement!
  • adamsmith
    The search results keep breaking because EDS keeps tweaking their site (3rd time I've fixed these in the last 12 months, I think) and we can't build automated tests for them to monitor this ourselves, so please do come back and report if this stops working again.
  • wonderpup
    Kia ora! Not sure if this is related...

    We've just rolled out EDS (co-incidentally on the first week of term, because who doesn't like a bit of stress). This is what happens for me.

    Do a search, get results. Zotero only offers to 'save as webpage'. Look at a result. Zotero recognises the metadata. click back to results. Now Zotero sees the results page as results, and I get to do a bulk save, and I get the folder icon.

    Weird, and repeatable using connector version 5.0.114

    Thanks for playing whack-a-mole with this!
  • adamsmith
    Do you have guest access on your EDS? Happy to take a look.
    If not, would you mind posting the URL for the first time search results are displayed, exactly as you see it? Might be I can tell something from there.
  • rbrekhus
    edited March 3, 2025
    My library, too, is moving, but has not yet moved to the new EDS, and I'm not allowed to share our "preview" URL outside the library. I can drop a screenshot here, though.
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u529086/ryypvvms6mhjjxqhilxj.png

    I do get a Zotero folder icon, but the item type seems to mis-detect most or all books as articles. Is this fixable? (I realize that the top item probably won't be recognizable by Zotero as the encyclopedia article it is, but the 2nd item is definitely a book, as are most of the results of that keyword search.)

    Thanks much!
  • adamsmith
    Are they also saved as articles or just detected (as shown by the icon). IIRC detection is near impossible to fix
  • rbrekhus
    They are also saved as articles. Here's what they look like in Zotero:
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u529086/g0vp9wflfgjjel9lbky1.png
  • rbrekhus
    edited 29 days ago
    This image may be a little more easily readable. Sorry about the tiny one.
  • rbrekhus

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u529086/ncx7bc2jul4869w8gsuf.png
  • adamsmith
    When you hover over the Save to Zotero icon, does it list "EBSCO Discovery Layer"? It looks like it might be using the generic EBSCOHost translator.

    Either way, though, you should be able to somehow get to RIS data (I forgot where exactly the button is -- something like Cite or Export). Can you download that, open it in a text editor and paste it here?
    Zotero takes pretty much exactly what it gets from the discovery layer, so as long as it's working at all, this is likely a metadata problem
  • rbrekhus
    Thank you for this helpful response.

    Yes, when I hover over the folder icon, it does say, "Save to Zotero (EBSCO Discovery Layer."

    I'm told that this new EDS interface will affect/is affecting other EBSCO databases as well, so it could be that a whole new default translator for EBSCO is needed, as rollout continues. My library put off getting the new interface until after the end of the current semester, but my understanding is that many libraries already have it now.

    There are several options for what to do with marked items in the EDS result list. One can download the metadata as PDF, MSWORD, CSV, BIBTEX, MARC21, or XML. One can "save" them (not sure what actually happens to "saved" items, but presumably they are saved within the database in some way. One can "add to project," which I think is the same as "add to folder" in the old EDS, and is tied to a user login. One can share metadata as a DOCX file to Google Drive or OneDrive. Or...using "Cite," one can copy all citations to the clipboard in a chosen format or....ah, there it is: Export citation in RIS format to Zotero.

    OK, it's good we can do that, and it's likely to be more accurate than relying on a translator...but one of the things I've most liked about Zotero is the browser plugin's ability to bring in citations conveniently, using the same mechanism no matter what database one is using. Is that something Zotero still wants to support, with this solution as a stopgap until the new EDS translator is ready, or is the plan to move away from translators?

  • rbrekhus
    edited 29 days ago
    Uh-oh. Even the RIS export brings all the items into Zotero as Journal Articles. Not sure what to make of that. My library is in a testing/preview period with this new interface, so maybe this would be something to bring up with our Ebsco rep, that their RIS files for books do not appear accurate. Is that the right way to put it?
  • adamsmith
    No, you're misunderstanding what I was asking
    OK, it's good we can do that, and it's likely to be more accurate than relying on a translator
    Have you tested that? -- my point is that it's likely going to be exactly the same as the translator, in which case the problem is the RIS, not the translator. It's what the Zotero translator is accessing (or at least trying to access).
  • rbrekhus
    edited 29 days ago
    Ah, thanks, I see. There do seem to be issues with the RIS coming out of Ebsco EDS. This is confirmed by the rather abysmal results when I try to use their native "copy citation" functionality. This is what I get when I try to copy 10 book citations as APA 7th edition and paste them into Word, lol. Although...it does seem to be recognizing the citations as books, just not separating properly between them. (I removed the old screenshot - the overly italicized text was my own error - below is accurate.)
  • rbrekhus

    https://s3.amazonaws.com/zotero.org/images/forums/u529086/g4umijytb1fft0iq9g4h.png
  • rbrekhus
    So yes, exporting Ebsco's RIS is producing the same problem (books coming through as articles) as using the plugin/translator. Here is the text of the exported RIS for the first 10 items in this search:

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.2c740a00.9037.5f68.804e.9a652d084264
    AU - Violette, E. M.
    AU - Snyder Collection (University of Missouri--Kansas City).
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - Missouri -- Politics and government
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - D. C. Heath & co.
    TI - A history of Missouri / by Eugene Morrow Violette.
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=6298a5fd-95c9-3dfe-84f1-47715e850b38
    Y1 - 1918/01/01/1918
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.3ab517ad.f771.58e2.bf39.3135ecb9d6a2
    AU - Corbett, Suzanne
    AU - Reinhardt, Deborah
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - Missouri
    KW - Cooking, American
    KW - Cooking -- Missouri
    KW - Food habits -- Missouri -- History
    KW - Cooking
    KW - Food habits
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - American Palate
    SN - 1467150363
    SN - 9781467150361
    TI - A culinary history of Missouri : foodways & iconic dishes from the show-me state / Suzanne Corbett & Deborah Reinhardt.
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=98f93fd5-047b-3e7f-aebf-0ee399ac1269
    Y1 - 2021/01/01/2021
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.ae370121.4c81.5998.a8c8.7030fbcc1afb
    AU - Violette, E. M.
    AU - Snyder Collection (University of Missouri--Kansas City).
    AU - Wolverton, Forrest
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    ET - Rev. and modernized.
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - Missouri -- Politics and government
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - State Pub. Co.
    TI - A history of Missouri / by E. M. Violette and Forrest Wolverton, Jr. ; Photos. by Gerald Massie.
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=19871f7e-f234-3356-8f1b-73480889fe07
    Y1 - 1955/01/01/1955
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.7bb4a4bc.3769.5859.af76.255565bec7d6
    AU - Larsen, Lawrence H.
    AU - Kirkendall, Richard Stewart
    AU - University of Missouri Press.
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - Electronic government information -- Missouri
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - University of Missouri Press
    SN - 9780826215468
    SN - 9780826215604
    TI - A history of Missouri / Richard S. Kirkendall.
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=9c2ed713-e556-30dc-badd-c81dbe25ebc1
    Y1 - 2004/01/01/2004
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.92be203e.a79d.5d3b.9481.ca6286b33cb7
    AU - Snyder Collection (University of Missouri--Kansas City)
    AU - University of Missouri Collection (University of Missouri--Columbia. Libraries).
    AU - Foley, William E.
    AU - McCandless, Perry
    AU - Parrish, William E.
    AU - University of Missouri Press.
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    ET - 1st pbk. ed.
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - University of Missouri Press
    SN - 9780826212856
    SN - 9780826212863
    TI - A history of Missouri / [William E. Parrish, general editor].
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=41f0b7f2-38b7-39a4-9b11-424fea30e1b8
    Y1 - 2000/01/01/2000
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.6d3a38fa.e272.5e65.a33b.b288746774ac
    AU - Christensen, Lawrence O.
    AU - University of Missouri--Rolla. Department of History.
    AU - University of Missouri. Center for Independent Study.
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    KW - Missouri -- History
    LA - eng
    PB - Center for Independent Study, University Extension, University of Missouri
    TI - History of Missouri / by Dr. Lawrence O. Christensen.
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=489fb700-056a-34c6-8513-ae7e426df395
    Y1 - 1983/01/01/1983
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.c6f19ac5.c53a.57d5.a3e1.fa1f07862c71
    AU - Snyder Collection (University of Missouri--Kansas City)
    AU - University of Missouri Collection (University of Missouri--Columbia. Libraries).
    AU - Winfield Collection (University of Missouri--Columbia. Libraries)
    AU - Winfield, Betty Houchin
    AU - Christensen, Lawrence O.
    AU - Foley, William E.
    AU - Kirkendall, Richard Stewart
    AU - Kremer, Gary R.
    AU - Larsen, Lawrence H.
    AU - McCandless, Perry
    AU - Parrish, William E.
    AU - University of Missouri Press.
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    ET - Missouri sesquicentennial ed.
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - University of Missouri Press
    SN - 9780826201089
    SN - 9780826201249
    SN - 9780826201485
    SN - 9780826204943
    SN - 9780826211125
    SN - 9780826215468
    TI - A history of Missouri / [William E. Parrish, general editor].
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=664bf680-6f44-3f19-9472-ea0856a939f1
    Y1 - 1971/01/01/1971
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.9b566621.1326.5fd9.a8d5.8212d3373ab0
    AU - McClure, C. H.
    AU - Snyder Collection (University of Missouri--Kansas City).
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - Missouri -- Politics and government
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - Laidlaw Brothers
    TI - History of Missouri : a textbook of state history for use in elementary schools / by C. H. McClure.
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=33d13686-486e-3cd1-b2d8-0cfa73b83ce2
    Y1 - 1920/01/01/1920
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.9dadce61.9616.59fc.a711.081ee7ed8cce
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - Missouri
    KW - History
    LA - eng
    PB - Southern Historical Press
    SN - 9780893084776
    TI - History of Missouri : the general history, illustrated.
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=932accf6-d14c-3652-888d-3466c3a0913f
    Y1 - 1992/01/01/1992
    ER -

    TY - GEN
    ID - mer.oai.edge.umsystem.folio.ebsco.com.fs00001083.834787b0.d595.57c7.a49e.5e06b4c29939
    AU - McClure, C. H.
    DB - MU Libraries Catalog
    DP - EBSCOhost
    KW - Missouri -- History
    KW - Missouri -- Politics and government
    LA - eng
    PB - A.S. Barnes Co.
    TI - History of Missouri : a text book of state history for use in elementary schools / by C.H. McClure ...
    UR - https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=1a0c32c0-638c-3692-ad2f-bb85134ad87c
    Y1 - 1920/01/01/1920
    ER -
  • rbrekhus
    So the "TY GEN" is what is causing the classification of these books as articles?
  • adamsmith
    edited 29 days ago
    Yeah, the data are bad -- TY - GEN should be TY - BOOK, there's also stry information in the title (TI) field, there's stuff in the author (AU) field that shouldn't be there (e.g. the affiliation and in some cases the publisher listed as an author), the is no place of publication, the date field contains (almost certainly incorrect) information about the _day_ of publication -- there's likely more. I don't know how EDS works exactly, but typically, discovery layers map information from your library catalog (typicallly in MARC) to their internal data format. Clearly, something is going wrong in that process here -- I don't think that's generally the case for EDS; the other instances I worked with seemed pretty decent. You should talk to the vendor about this.
    Once that's fixed, Zotero's import, via the browser icon, will work as expected (though as I note above, the icon displayed will not always be a reliable indicator of what is actually imported).
  • wonderpup
    Kia ora,

    We were one of the first to move to this new version of EDS and have exactly the same issues. We moved to Folio as our backend as well. This is an EDS problem, rather than a zotero one, and I suggest we all submit problem reports of some description.

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