At the July 2024 Council meeting, the Systems program announced a three-year pilot of a Primo Central Management service. The service will begin during the migration to the Next Discovery Experience (NDE), which is estimated to go into production in mid-2025.

Below is a description of the planned service, including the SILS-related tasks that will and will not be included. For complete details including costs and pilot assessment plans, see the Centralized Primo Management Plan (PDF).

Scope of Services

The Alliance Program Manager for Systems will perform the following work on behalf of the member institutions who opt in to centralized management services.

• Deploy a standardized Primo instance. Standardized components include:
  • One main View
  • Search scopes, search profiles, and search profile slots
  • Labels
  • Menus
  • Advanced search settings
  • Brief and full record display
  • CDI (Central Discovery Index) settings
  • Search result ranking configurations
  • Enabled Primo features
• Implement limited institutional customizations to the Primo interface, including:
  • Colors
  • Logo
  • Homepage content
• Run Network Zone-level reports in Alma Analytics.
• Provide technical support for Primo issues.
• Test the standardized instance before each quarterly release from Ex Libris.
• Test the standardized components for accessibility and compliance with Alliance best practices and policies.
  • Please note that the Alliance may not be able to remedy elements of Primo that are inherently inaccessible. However, we will ensure any customizations within our control will not make the interface less accessible.

Institutions will be able to customize Primo beyond these elements–for example, by implementing the Collection Discovery or Resource Recommender features. However, local customizations to the standardized components listed above may be overwritten during central deployment of changes.

Institutional Responsibilities

Members who opt in will be responsible for the following:

• Managing patron and staff user accounts, General Electronic Services, Terms of Use, request forms, and any other non-standardized features of the SILS not listed in the above scope of services.
• Coordinating with other departments at the institution as necessary, such as Information Technology
• Communicating with vendors to resolve problems experienced by Primo users that are not related to the Alliance’s standardized components (e.g., broken links to e-resources)
• Reviewing the quarterly release notes from Ex Libris to keep up-to-date with new features and functions
• Attending quarterly meetings with Program Managers

Opt-in members may also utilize the consultation and onboarding services provided to members by Program Managers, regardless of participation in this program. See Services Available to All Members.

Governance

The Program Manager for Systems will decide the standardized components of the centrally managed Primo instances, in consultation with the Program Managers for Technical Services, Resource Sharing & Fulfillment, and Diversity and User Experience.

Opt-in members may submit ideas for updates to the standardized components to the Program Manager for Systems. Once per fiscal quarter, the Program Managers will review this feedback and consider implementing changes.

In addition, Alliance Program Managers will host a quarterly meeting with all opt-in members.

Support Processes

Opt-in members will be able to submit requests for Primo support through a form on the Alliance website. The Program Manager for Systems will receive all submissions and take action as appropriate.

• Requested work to centrally maintained components within the scope of services will be performed by the Program Manager for Systems.
• For other requests, the Program Managers may provide instruction, documentation, or referrals to other contacts or the Ex Libris Support portal.

Costs and Assessment

For costs and assessment plans, see the complete Centralized Primo Management Plan (PDF).

Services Available to All Members

This support is and will remain available to all members of the Orbis Cascade Alliance, regardless of participation in the central management service.

Consultation

Central staff will provide guidance and troubleshooting support for the following Primo features, but will not perform the work directly.

• Setting up authentication profiles and other connections to external systems not provided by the Alliance (e.g., proxy services, OpenURL links in research databases, integrations with interlibrary loan platforms)
• Creating import profiles for records from external sources not supported by the Alliance
• Creating publishing profiles to export Alma records to platforms not supported by the Alliance
• Creating institution-specific reports in Primo or Alma Analytics
• Making changes to any configurations that significantly impact areas of library work outside of Discovery (e.g., fulfillment units, local fields)
• Submitting and monitoring cases in the Ex Libris Support Portal not related to the standardized components of Primo
• Embedding Ex Libris-provided widgets on institutional websites

Employee Onboarding

Central staff will provide onboarding to new employees at member institutions. We recommend that institutions request Alliance onboarding after the new employees have received training on local workflows and are familiar with the SILS. The onboarding will not include training on job-specific tasks, such as fulfillment or acquisitions processes.

The onboarding program will include the following:

• Overview of Alliance structure and services
• Introduction to existing documentation and training resources
• Instruction on the creation of effective Ex Libris Support cases