Alma Training

Most things Primo VE (focus is on Configuration)

Primo VE End User Help

• To become familiar with the out-of-the-box interface design of both basic and advanced searches
• To understand how results are presented
• To understand the ways one can "tweak" results (and it's limitations)
• To begin to consider what customizations might be most useful for your library

Getting Started with Primo

01 Introduction to Primo
02 What is Discovery and Delivery
03 Primo Central Index
04 Introduction to Primo PNX and Publishing

Primo is a discovery tool designed to provide access to the resources your library has through a single search interface.  Primo VE is a version of Primo designed to work specifically with Alma.  SUNY Potsdam's Primo instance has been pre-configured by Ex Libris with our color palate and campus logo, but other interface design decisions have yet to be made or implemented.

The Primo basic search box is on the default home page.  There are default collection limiters available immediately when one starts to search, or, using the black menu bar, additional entry points are available.

Primo Advanced search is toggled to by clicking on the "advanced search" link to the right of the basic search box

Search results are ordered by a proprietary "relevancy" algorithm, though the order can be sorted in other ways using the "sort by" option at the top of the facets to the side.

Limiters are on the right side and will be tailored to our institutional design specifications. For example, "Institution" will be suppressed until resource sharing is implemented

Primo records are created by Ex Libris through a "normalization" process ("PNX - Primo Normalization XML") which takes initial records in MARC, Dublin Core, and many other formats and converts them into a standard Primo format to ease display and other issues.  A typical record looks in part like this:

There are standard elements on the left side for each format.  There are some differences in what record elements appear depending upon what format it is, whether it is available in full-text or not, etc.

The bottom of the record has the bibliographic data:

Primo can be set to allow guest access or require authentication.  Unless one has logged in, there are many records and services that will be hidden.  Logging in through Primo is how patrons will manage their library account. 

The username and password used in Primo is the same as your Alma username and password.  Library staff members, including circulation desk workers, will be able to log into Alma and Primo.  Patrons with no other role will only be allowed to log into Primo, but will not have any access to Alma.  Primo wil launch a login box when you click the "sign in" link:

Familiarity with Searching:

1. Using the basic search box and searching with the single search term fish, do three different searches; one for Everything, one for the Library Catalog, and one for the SUNY Catalog.
2. Did your results change?
3. Do your results change if you log in?
4. How many results do you get if you search for Smith in Course Reserves?
5. Go to the advanced search screen.  For each search option at the top (e.g. Everything, Library Catalog,...) notice how the fields available for searching change or don't change.  What is noteworthy?

Search Results

1. Repeat your search for fish in Everything and make sure you are logged in.
2. The first four results are each in a different format.  Look at each record by clicking the title link and notice how the record is different for each format.
3. Pay particular attention to the availability options and the ways they are labeled.
4. Go to the results screen for your search and look at the "tweak your results" options on the right side.
5. What does checking the "expand my results" box do to the number of your results?  Scroll down at least 20 results and see if you can figure out what is happening.  Uncheck it to compare.
6. Tweak your results in various ways and look for where on the screen you can see what you have done.

Additional Access Points (black menu bar at the top)

1. Click on Library Search.  What happens?
2. Click on Journal Search.  Search for Newsweek.  Look at each of the 6 records.  What is noteworthy?
3. Nobody has added any tags yet, so there is nothing to explore for the Tags link
4. We have not yet configured ILLiad to work with Primo, so ignore the ILL Request link
5. Fetch Item is used to find a known item within Primo.  Search for Article Title: Fish can smell trace metals, Journal Title: Chemosphere and Year: 2018.  Look carefully at the record that comes back.  Now go back and search for this same article in the basic search box.  Look at the record that matches the one you found with Fetch Item.  Are they the same or different?
6. Browse Search currently has myriad problems.  While you are welcome to explore it, and may get some results, they are somewhat nonsensical.  As a basic concept, this is straightforward and should work shortly.
7. Click the three dots.  What other search options are listed?  Note that data in these additional areas will be scarce until Primo is fully configured.
8. What does the clock icon do?
9. What is the pin for?