The four AIRAs that we will be introducing in this Roundup are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mintel<\/strong> Additional Information: <\/strong>Users must authenticate with their VCU email address for access and confirm work is for educational purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong> Users can ask natural-language questions across topics including consumer behavior, product innovation, category trends, and market dynamics. The platform synthesizes relevant information from Mintel\u2019s research to deliver concise answers and direct users to supporting analysis and data sources. By drawing exclusively from Mintel-owned content and intelligence, Mintel Leap is designed to provide transparent, source-based responses grounded in Mintel\u2019s research ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leap training for Academic – video: JoVE<\/strong> Additional Information: <\/strong>Users can access subscribed JoVE content through their institution’s authentication (such as IP recognition or institutional login). A personal JoVE account is not required simply to access subscribed content and the Ask JoVE AI assistant; however, creating a free personal account enables additional personalized features such as saved playlists, bookmarks, and other customization options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong> When a query is submitted, the AI Search feature returns content based on the topic or question entered. Results may include a brief AI-generated summary, a recommended video, and additional related videos and resources that align with the query. Content details such as product type (for example, Research or Education), article titles, review counts, video duration, and view counts are displayed to help users evaluate the relevance of the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Search results also indicate content accessibility. Open-access videos are identified separately from content that requires a subscription or institutional access. Users can continue refining their searches or asking follow-up questions within the same session, with the search experience maintaining the context of previous queries to support ongoing topic exploration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Users can access Ask JoVE directly within the JoVE platform while using their institution’s subscription (it can typically be found in the top right corner on any page) or through the platform at: https:\/\/www.jove.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Optica Publishing Group<\/strong> Additional Information: <\/strong>The tool is found at the upper right side of the journal webpage beside the search icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong> Optica AI may assist users with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because Optica AI is powered by generative AI technology, its responses may contain inaccuracies, omissions, or outdated information. Responses should be considered informational only and should not be regarded as authoritative sources. Users are encouraged to verify important information using the original published content and other relevant resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Optica AI can provide summaries and insights related to individual articles or groups of articles to support content discovery. However, it does not generate new scientific findings, perform original research, or replace expert review and interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Optica AI performs best with English, but it can also understand and respond in most languages commonly found on the Internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As an evolving beta service, Optica AI’s capabilities and performance may change over time. User feedback helps inform ongoing evaluation and improvement efforts. Feedback can be submitted through the available rating and comment features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oxford English Dictionary<\/strong> URL: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.oed.com\/information\/using-the-oed\/ai-search-assistant\/?tl=true<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional Information: <\/strong>The AI Search Assistant is located at the top of each page to the right of the Advanced Search. When you click in, you will be prompted to enter your query. Just like the Advanced Search, the AI Search Assistant is currently available to anyone and allows users to submit a question and then receive a URL to a prefiltered search results page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong> The OED AI Search Assistant is trained on OED.com’s URL structure, including search-result and information pages. It is not trained on OED dictionary content itself and does not interpret, summarize, analyze, or generate definitions, entries, or other dictionary content. Its responses are limited to directing users to relevant OED resources through URLs. The Assistant may not be able to respond to all queries. In some cases, a question may not correspond to available OED search functionality or information resources. When this occurs, the Assistant may suggest rephrasing the query or using the OED’s search tools directly. Like other AI-based systems, the Assistant may occasionally generate incorrect, incomplete, or irrelevant results. Responses should be reviewed and verified by users before being relied upon. Feedback on the relevance and accuracy of Assistant responses can be submitted using the thumbs up and thumbs down controls available within the chat interface. User feedback may be used to support ongoing evaluation and improvement of the tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The four AIRAs that we will be introducing in this Roundup are: MintelProvider:\u00a0 MintelName of AIRA: Mintel LeapStatus:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscriptionURL: https:\/\/www.mintel.com\/products\/leap-market-intelligence-ai\/ Additional Information: Users must authenticate with their VCU email address for access and confirm work is for educational purposes. Brief Summary:Mintel Leap is an AI-powered research platform designed to help users access […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2014,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,216,47,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journals","category-publishing","category-research-support","category-technology-and-collections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5234"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5237,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5234\/revisions\/5237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":5230,"date":"2026-07-08T21:51:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/?p=5230"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:51:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:51:52","slug":"vcu-libraries-adds-scopus-with-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/2026\/07\/08\/vcu-libraries-adds-scopus-with-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"VCU Libraries adds Scopus with AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n VCU Libraries now offers Scopus<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s largest multidisciplinary abstract and citation databases. Covering scholarly literature across the basic and health sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, Scopus provides citations and abstracts from academic journals, books, conference proceedings, preprints, patents and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As VCU advances a research strategy centered on transdisciplinary collaboration to address societal and global challenges, Scopus helps researchers discover connections across fields and gain a broader view of the research landscape. The platform enables users to explore relationships among researchers, topics, and organizations; discover and analyze scholarly literature; conduct cited reference searching; and assess research impact. These capabilities support a wide range of activities, including literature and systematic reviews, grant development, research assessment, partnership building, and the exploration of emerging areas of inquiry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n VCU Libraries\u2019 subscription includes Scopus AI, which helps researchers quickly explore a topic through AI-generated summaries, concept maps, foundational publication lists, and insights into emerging themes in the literature. It also includes access to the Scopus API, enabling researchers and developers to programmatically access Scopus data for bibliometric analysis, research assessment and other advanced research workflows. Users can get started through the Scopus API Getting Started Guide<\/a> and Elsevier\u2019s Developer Portal<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether conducting a literature or systematic review, exploring a new research area, evaluating research impact, or developing collaborative projects, Scopus offers powerful tools to support research and discovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" VCU Libraries now offers Scopus, one of the world\u2019s largest multidisciplinary abstract and citation databases. Covering scholarly literature across the basic and health sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, Scopus provides citations and abstracts from academic journals, books, conference proceedings, preprints, patents and more. As VCU advances a research strategy centered on transdisciplinary collaboration to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1047,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,21,25,31,36,44,47,50,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engineering","category-health-sciences","category-humanities-and-sciences","category-life-science","category-medicine","category-psychology","category-research-support","category-social-sciences","category-stem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1047"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":5238,"date":"2026-06-18T14:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T14:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/?p=5238"},"modified":"2026-09-18T14:12:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:12:28","slug":"june-e-resources-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/2026\/06\/18\/june-e-resources-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"June E-Resources Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n The four AIRAs that we will be introducing in this Roundup are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n EBSCO<\/strong> Additional Information: <\/strong>Message from EBSCO: To more clearly communicate how the feature works and the value it provides, we are renaming \u201cNatural Language Search\u201d to \u201cAI-assisted search.\u201d This change is intended to improve clarity, usability and adoption, while the underlying capabilities remain the same. Visit our page on EBSCO Connect<\/a> for more information on this feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Statista<\/strong> Additional Information: <\/strong>Must create an account and log in to use Research AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong> Responses are structured to present information clearly, typically combining narrative summaries with inline citations. Depending on the query, outputs may also include brief summaries (such as TL;DR sections), key data points, bullet-point lists, tables for comparisons or timelines, and calculations (e.g., year-over-year change, compound annual growth rate, or market share). The system may incorporate external reference data where applicable, such as population figures from the United Nations or exchange rates from the European Central Bank for currency conversions. It also maintains context across interactions to support iterative refinement of queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The system draws on Statista\u2019s curated content, including statistical datasets and their associated metadata. Additional contextual information may be incorporated from related Topic, Report, and Industry pages. Infographics are represented through their underlying data rather than as standalone visuals. Content from Market Insights is included to provide high-level summaries that complement quantitative data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n JSTOR<\/strong> Additional Information:<\/strong> Accessing JSTOR\u2019s AI-enabled features requires a personal account<\/a> to support transparency and shared accountability for how the tool is used. Logging in helps JSTOR manage user permissions effectively, safeguarding user data and privacy while allowing for tailored access based on institutional affiliations and user preferences. This approach helps balance transparency, academic integrity, and user support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong> Currently, the tool works with journal articles, book chapters, and research reports available on JSTOR. It does not support images, audio, video, or text-based primary sources at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Washington Post<\/strong> Additional Information: <\/strong>Users must create an account with their VCU email address in order to access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brief Summary:<\/strong> The four AIRAs that we will be introducing in this Roundup are: EBSCOProvider:\u00a0 EBSCOName of AIRA: EBSCO Natural Language Search [name change coming July 7, 2026 to AI-assisted search; see Additional Information]Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscriptionURL:\u00a0 https:\/\/about.ebsco.com\/artificial-intelligence\/products\/natural-language-search Additional Information: Message from EBSCO: To more clearly communicate how the feature works and the value it provides, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2014,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,216,47,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journals","category-publishing","category-research-support","category-technology-and-collections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2014"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5239,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5238\/revisions\/5239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":5068,"date":"2026-04-10T15:41:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T15:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/?p=5068"},"modified":"2026-04-13T16:19:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T16:19:01","slug":"students-can-now-search-for-classes-by-textbook-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.vcu.edu\/library-collections\/2026\/04\/10\/students-can-now-search-for-classes-by-textbook-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Students can search for classes by textbook cost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n Did you know that you can search for classes based on textbook costs? <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, the Virginia General Assembly passed a law requiring all public higher education institutions to “identify conspicuously in the online course catalogue or registration system…each course for which the instructor exclusively uses no cost or low-cost course materials” (VA\u00a0\u00a7 23.1-1308<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n At VCU, these markings became a reality as attributes on both the search and results pages of Banner, or the VCU Schedule of Classes<\/a>. “Marking” this information in the schedule of classes allows students to search for or select classes which use affordable course materials. In other words, if you want to select classes based on how much you’ll have to pay for textbooks, now you can do that.<\/strong> We have two markings: <\/p>\n\n\n\n The prices are calculated “from the pre-tax price at the university bookstores of the least expensive purchase option\u2014whether new, used or rental\u2014for which the university bookstores are able to obtain sufficient stock for all enrollments” (VCU Textbook Adoptions and Sales Policy<\/a>). In other words, it’s based on the cheapest option that Barnes and Noble can provide for all students in the class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re interested searching for classes based on textbook costs or want to see if any classes offer sections with low or no cost textbooks, this video provides an overview or you can read this walkthrough of the process<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Provider:\u00a0 Mintel<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: Mintel Leap<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong>
URL: <\/strong>https:\/\/www.mintel.com\/products\/leap-market-intelligence-ai\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mintel Leap<\/strong> is an AI-powered research platform designed to help users access and explore Mintel\u2019s proprietary market intelligence, consumer research, product data, and industry analysis. Built on a closed-loop AI framework, Mintel Leap combines Mintel\u2019s data assets with expert-generated insights to provide responses to research and business questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/vimeo.com\/reviews\/d68e54c2-2546-4dbe-8681-9357778c1e42\/videos\/1204253121<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Provider:\u00a0 JoVE<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: Ask JoVE<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong>
URL: <\/strong>https:\/\/help.jove.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/31956894309524-AI-Powered-Search<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask JoVE is an AI-powered assistant designed to help researchers, educators, and students discover and navigate JoVE’s scientific video and educational content more efficiently. Users can ask questions in natural language and receive responses that guide them to relevant JoVE resources.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Provider:\u00a0 Optica Publishing Group<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: Optica AI<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong>
URL:\u00a0 <\/strong>https:\/\/opg.optica.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Optica AI is an experimental discovery tool that uses a Large Language Model (LLM) to help users explore content from the Optica Publishing Group collection, including journals and conference proceedings published since 1917. The tool is currently in beta and continues to be developed and evaluated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Provider: Oxford English Dictionary<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: OED AI Search Assistant<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Oxford English Dictionary<\/em> (OED) AI Search Assistant is a tool designed to help users navigate OED.com resources by translating natural-language questions into relevant OED search queries and information-page links. The Assistant can be used to generate links to pre-filtered Advanced Search results pages based on a user’s query. For example, a question such as “What words relating to dining entered the English language during the twentieth century?” may result in a link to an Advanced Search page with relevant search parameters applied. Users can review the generated search criteria and further modify or refine the results using the OED’s search tools. The Assistant can also direct users to information pages about the Oxford English Dictionary<\/em> and its editorial processes. For example, questions about how words are added to the dictionary may be answered by providing links to relevant explanatory content.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Provider:\u00a0 EBSCO<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: EBSCO Natural Language Search [name change coming July 7, 2026 to AI-assisted search; see Additional Information]<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong>
URL:\u00a0 <\/strong>https:\/\/about.ebsco.com\/artificial-intelligence\/products\/natural-language-search<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Provider:\u00a0 Statista<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: Research AI<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong>
URL:\u00a0 <\/strong>https:\/\/www.statista.com\/research-ai\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research AI is a conversational interface developed by Statista for accessing and synthesizing content within its data platform. For each user query, the system interprets intent, retrieves relevant Statista content, and generates a response that includes source citations to support traceability of figures and claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Provider:\u00a0 JSTOR<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: AI Research Tool<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong>
URL:\u00a0 <\/strong>https:\/\/about.jstor.org\/products\/jstor-platform\/features-and-tools\/research-tool\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AI Research Tool is integrated into content pages for journal articles, book chapters, and research reports on JSTOR, as well as within search workflows. It is designed to support research activities beyond standard keyword matching in the following ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
The tool highlights key points and central arguments to help users evaluate whether a text is relevant to their research.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
It identifies related topics and materials across the JSTOR corpus, enabling broader discovery of relevant scholarship.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Users can conduct searches using natural language or pose questions about the content they are reading.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n
Provider:\u00a0 Washington Post<\/strong>
Name of AIRA: Ask The Post AI<\/strong>
Status:\u00a0 Enabled, included in subscription<\/strong>
URL:\u00a0 <\/strong>https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/ask-the-post-ai\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ask The Post AI is a system that answers reader questions by pulling from the publication\u2019s own news articles dating back to 2016. It lets our readers ask questions about the news of the day, get additional context and background on a topic they care about, and stay on top of what matters to them. All grounded in our published reporting.\u00a0 It identifies relevant articles, then uses a large language model to generate a summary\u2011based response grounded in that reporting. If the tool cannot interpret a question or lacks relevant material, it may return a pre\u2011written answer. Readers can access it on a dedicated page, within articles, or through the site\u2019s search feature, and they can ask follow\u2011up questions in a conversational format. If you have questions about this tool, please see our FAQ<\/a> and AI policy<\/a> or contact customer care<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"