Alma Autoholdings Upload for ProQuest Ebook Central

I-Share member libraries may choose to have ProQuest and Ex Libris configure an automated holdings upload for their Ebook Central collections. The upload process provides an accurate set of bibliographic records and portfolios that is based directly on your institution's Ebook Central entitlements, whether titles are provided via subscription, permanent acquisition, institutional demand driven acquisition, or CARLI's consortial patron-driven acquisition collection.

CARLI recommends that libraries take advantage of autoholdings for Ebook Central for several reasons.

• The automatic holdings upload presents your institution's actual Ebook Central entitlements. This separates the collection from changes in general Community Zone collections that are updated for a broader community.
• The automatic holdings upload includes CARLI's shared entitlements directly to your institution. This improves the ability to view and interact with these titles in your institution's Alma inventory, rather than relying on the shared records from the network zone.
• Automatic holdings bibliographic records are linked to the community zone, so using these records will not increase your institution's title count.
• Automatic holdings upload is a requirement for institutions that are implementing Rialto.

Implementing Autoholdings

Staff members from ProQuest's Ebook Central team work directly with Ex Libris to create the links between your Alma instance and your Ebook Central collection. ProQuest will start by confirming your Ebook Central SiteID, and they will discuss workflow details with you related to DDA titles, owned titles, and subscription titles. These titles will be published to the "Ebook Central Perpetual, DDA, and Subscription Titles" collection* in Alma. 

As CARLI recommends this service for all I-Share members, ProQuest team members will contact library staff to schedule consultations for moving forward. Institutions may choose to opt out of this service if necessary. If library staff agree to move ahead, ProQuest team members will initiate a support case with Ex Libris to continue the implementation. The ProQuest team will keep institution staff and CARLI updated on progress. 

* Note: Libraries may have selected this collection already for P2E portfolios or titles ordered individually. However, using this collection by itself doesn't convey automatic holdings.

Additional Resources

CARLI Technical Services Q&A, August 25, 2022

This webinar provides an overview of the process for working with ProQuest and Ex Libris on configuring autoholdings for Ebook Central.

CARLI TS Q&A Slides plus Chat -- ProQuest Autoholdings

Ex Libris Documentation

Upload Electronic Holdings from ProQuest Ebook Central

Updated April 5, 2023