When I talked to the EBSCO folks at the OLC Convention, I learned that the new Explora interface actually comes in three flavors: one for public library users, one for primary school (K-5) students and teachers, and one for secondary school (6-12) students and teachers. The point of all three is to pre-select EBSCO databases for searching/browsing so the user does not have to go through the EBSCOhost "Choose Databases" screen. (And the interface is also prettier than EBSCOhost.) The fact that the Kids Search, Searchasaurus, and Student Research Center interfaces are being discontinued at the same time that Explora is being released is a coincidence; Explora is not intended to just replace those three discontinued interfaces.

Accordingly, we have renamed the previous statewide "Explora" interface to "Explora Public Libraries" and added interfaces named "Explora Primary Schools" and "Explora Secondary Schools." These three interfaces now appear on our EBSCO landing page at http://ohioweblibrary.org/ebsco and also have direct links listed below:

http://ohioweblibrary.org/db/ebsco-explora
http://ohioweblibrary.org/db/ebsco-explora-primary
http://ohioweblibrary.org/db/ebsco-explora-secondary

Attached is a spreadsheet detailing which EBSCO databases are searched in each interface. The greyed-out databases at the bottom of the list are not compatible with Explora searching and must be accessed through the EBSCOhost interface.

If your library purchases other EBSCO databases and wants to customize its own Explora interface to search them, too, the list of databases that are compatible with Explora searching can be found at http://support.ebsco.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?topic=996&id=7517.

Reminder -- EBSCO is providing four training webinars for using Explora:

Wednesday, October 21, 2015 from 9:30 – 10:10 am
https://ebscotraining.webex.com/ebscotraining/k2/j.php?MTID=t497a70654776cf95dd05dca25c3f26c1

Thursday, October 29, 2015 from 1:00 – 1:40 pm
https://ebscotraining.webex.com/ebscotraining/k2/j.php?MTID=tb7aba00d37858cf0b4740d6d029dd23b

Friday, November 6, 2015 from 10:00 – 10:40 am
https://ebscotraining.webex.com/ebscotraining/k2/j.php?MTID=tbff9aa20b59072d7d71d01c223f00b9c

Tuesday, November 10, 2015 from 2:30 – 3:10 pm
https://ebscotraining.webex.com/ebscotraining/k2/j.php?MTID=tec5f8489a7fdeafc019fb1c006dfcfb2
 

Stephen

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