Ex Libris Implementation Project Update – May 2019

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Rutgers Law Libraries to Join Alma/Primo

The Rutgers Law Libraries are joining our Alma and Primo instances in January 2020! Project planning for appending the Law libraries catalog has begun. We are currently participating in bi-weekly planning meetings with Ex Libris and the Law libraries. Progress will be communicated through the Ex Libris Implementation team. This is an exciting opportunity for us and the faculty and students that we serve. 

Leganto Update

The Leganto implementation team is preparing to go live with 16 pilot courses from the School of Social Work. This summer, social work graduate students will be able to access their course reserves, including electronic course reserves, live links to the physical reserves holdings, and access to our journal and database subscription content, directly from their course in Canvas. The team is planning a soft launch for fall, so if you know of a department that would be interested in this comprehensive course reserves solution, please contact your campus representative to the Leganto team or the Ex Libris Team at exlibris@rutgers.libanswers.com 

FRBRization disabled for music materials 

FRBRization refers to the process by which different versions of the same work are grouped together. Generally speaking, FRBRization is a useful feature that allows researchers to easily find and identify related works (e.g., different editions of the same book). However, in some cases, unrelated works are mistakenly grouped together, which causes confusion and makes these resources more difficult to find. This is especially true for musical scores and audio recordings where heavy use of generic titles, complex statements of responsibility, and variations of performance can lead to erroneous matches. Accordingly, FRBRization has been disabled for these materials. This decision was made in consultation with and based on feedback from experts in public services, cataloging, and the music department. The exemption applies to scores and audio recordings only. All other types of materials will continue to be FRBRized.

Improved metadata for Academic Video Online (AVON)

Academic Video Online (AVON) is a large streaming video collection of documentaries, interviews, performances, and feature films spanning a wide variety of subjects. However, the metadata provided by Ex Libris for this collection suffered from a number of limitations impacting its discoverability in QuickSearch. Accordingly, these records have been replaced with vendor-supplied MARC records. The new records are not only of higher quality but also offer more reliable linking, less duplication, and improved result filtering. However, in order to keep the collection up-to-date, the records must be reloaded every six months. Since record permalinks will change every time the records are reloaded, it is recommended that librarians and instructors who wish to link to this content use direct links to the platform rather than link to the record in QuickSearch. To do this, simply click “Embed/Link” below the video player in AVON (see screenshot).

Where did all the ISSNs go?

Standard identifiers such as ISBN, ISSN, and OCLC number are currently not being displayed in QuickSearch. This information typically appears in the “Identifier” field of the detailed record. Although this data is still searchable, it is currently not being displayed to the public. The issue has been confirmed by Ex Libris to be related to a known defect that is scheduled to be fixed in the July 2019 release. Until a fix is released, the only way to view this information in QuickSearch is to click the “View Source Record” link at the bottom of the record and look for it in the appropriate MARC field.

Primo 2019 Roadmap

Related reading? Citation trails? Enhanced personalization? Want to know what new features and functionality are coming to Primo this year? Check out the 2019 Primo Roadmap.

Abigail DiPaolo