"My EBSCOhost" folder - disastrous interaction

benzpt
I tried saving a journal article entry from Ebsco's personalized list of saved items (in "My Folder"). Zotero took ALL the items from the list -- cool. But it doesn't seem to get the fields sorted right. OK -- I can work with that. But then I created a folder in Zotero, tried moving all these items (about 20) into the folder, saw that they were still in the main folder and deleted them. This deleted them from the folder I had just created too. When I went back to "My EBSCOhost" folder to do the whole thing again, I found that Zotero had deleted all the items in my EBSCO folder! This is a disastrous interaction with Ebsco's "My folder" system! Please address this or add a warning about it.

I usually cite a lot of journal articles, and they tend to be more complex to cite than books, which are pretty easy to begin with (for citation styles). If Zotero doesn't deal well with journal articles, its utility is nil for me.
  • brekhusr
    I also tried saving items from Ebsco (Academic Search Premier). I decided to bypass the "My EBSCOhost" folder and just click the folder icon in the URL line of my browser and access Zotero right away. It came up with the results currently visible on the screen. I selected the one I wanted to grab...but then got a "could not save" message. That is discouraging. I like some of the features of Zotero, but if it can't successfully import articles from the single most used database at my university, I can't use or recommend it. Should I be using EBSCO's export or save options instead, and if so, how?
  • dstillman
    We'll take a look at the Could Not Save error. (When that happens, it generally means you're getting served a different page from what we were getting when we developed the site translator.)

    @benzpt: Collections are virtual groupings of items for organizational purposes, but the items themselves exist in your Library. Deleting an item from your Library will delete it from all collections. Also, what do you mean by "it doesn't seem to get the fields sorted right"?

    I didn't write the EBSCOhost translator and don't know how the My Folder system works, but I'm not sure what Zotero would be doing that would delete the items. Were you signed in to My EBSCOhost? If not, returning to the site after your session had expired might cause your selections to be lost. Alternatively, did you have "Remove these items from folder after saving" selected when you exported from EBSCO? It's the default setting.
  • EPTech
    Please contact EBSCO Technical Support if you are experiencing any technical issues with EBSCOhost or features associated with EBSCOhost.

    The following is the contact information for EBSCO Publishing Technical Support:

    Phone: 1-800-758-5995
    Email: eptech@epnet.com
    Web: http://support.ebscohost.com/contact/askus.php
    Support Information: http://support.ebschost.com

    EBSCOhost Top Stories are now available via RSS feeds.
  • greeneyz
    This is a HUGE problem with EBSCO. I have tried contacting EBSCO because I think the problem is actually with their new "DirectExport" program. I think when exporting citation info to zotero EBSCO thinks you are saving or exporting the document and automatically deletes (the default function mentioned above)it. there is no option to change this.
    Two other problems exist with EBSCO:
    1. citation information is not the complete information on the webpage (no abstract information is imported)
    2. the website reference is incorrect/not the one listed after "persistent link to this article". it directs you to the main EBSCO page that we cannot access through using a signed in under a school's subscription (as most students are). Sometimes, it is even the author's email address if that info is provided by EBSCO (??)-- in either case the reference information is incorrect.

    I LOVE zotero so any help in this are would be greatly appreciated!!
  • Danoz
    I'm still encountering the problem where the abstract from EBSCO articles does not get imported correctly - Zotero puts it into a field called "Extra". Having to copy and paste into the Abstract field every time is rather cumbersome.
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