Ex Libris Implementation Team Update – January 2021

The new SOAR platform improves the capture and discovery of Rutgers research outputs.

The new SOAR research portal, powered by Esploro, is now live and can be accessed at soar.libraries.rutgers.edu. Esploro helps advance SOAR’s mission to promote Rutgers scholarship by improving and extending our ability to collect and manage institutional research outputs.

Benefits of the new platform include:

  • Simple, streamlined deposit of research outputs
  • Integrated workflows for reviewing, approving, and managing deposits
  • Support for over 50 resource types including articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, presentations, datasets, and creative works
  • Automated capture of metadata from major scholarly publishers and indexes
  • Automatic DOI registration for persistent identification and access
  • Powerful analytics for tracking and measuring research impact
  • A robust global infrastructure to ensure reliable and continuous availability

Additional enhancements are planned over the course of the next year that will further augment SOAR’s ability to capture publication data and provide a richer, more comprehensive picture of research activity at the university.

Please help us spread the word about SOAR to the Rutgers community. To facilitate this process, an outreach toolkit has been prepared and is available for download on the Staff Resources website at staff.libraries.rutgers.edu/communications/soar-esploro-outreach-materials. Inside, you will find resources including an email template, slide deck, flyers, known issues list, and other materials to help you communicate this change to your local users and stakeholders. For a brief introduction, watch Getting Started with SOAR.

Please note that all previously deposited assets have been migrated to the new platform and remain accessible via their assigned DOI. The following services previously offered through SOAR have been discontinued:

  • “My Bibliography Link” – a shareable link to your personal collection of deposited works in SOAR
  • “Faculty Survey Portal” – a custom portal allowing researchers to search your collection of works in SOAR

Last, but not least, I’d like to acknowledge the tireless work and dedication of the Esploro Working Group for getting this project off the ground (Kalaivani Ananthan, Marty Barnett, Abbey DiPaolo, Rhonda Marker, Chad Mills, and Geoffrey Wood) as well as the various colleagues who provided guidance and support along the way (Laura Mullen, Yingting Zhang, Amy Kimura, Sam McDonald, Dave Hoover, and Matt Badessa).

Please take some time to check out the new SOAR site and send any questions or comments to soar@rutgers.libanswers.com.

Joseph Deodato