Primo and Alma:implementation, impact, integration and imagination

Fiona Greig

Content Development & Support Manager

Plymouth University

Vital statistics...•32,000 students•Almost 1/3 studying in a partner institution•With over 2,500 staff members•150 years of marine teaching on campus•Only “modern” University with a dedicated medical school•71% of students go on to graduate jobs•88% in further education or employment•Largest economic factor in the City and County•Single main city campus

“LMS” landscape

• Main LMS currently Voyager – Implemented 2004 migrating to Alma in March (more to follow)

• Resource Discovery Primo – implemented in 2011• ERM Verde – implemented 2008 (to be replaced by Alma)• Federated search Metalib – Implemented 2007• Resource list system Aspire – 1st customer worldwide• OpenURL Resolver SFX – implemented 2006 (to be replaced by

Alma)• Institutional repository PEARL – based on DSpace implemented

2005 • Numerous other systems and middleware implemented since 2004

Underpinning principles

• Focus on the user experience is critical – even if that breaks professional “standards”

• Students are time poor. They will use what they find, so we need to make it easy to find quality materials

• Multiple systems and designs get in the way of really using materials

• Need to drive down “back-office” costs to reinvest into direct academic supporting activities

• The ”Library” is critical to the University – but what does “Library” mean?

Implementation (Primo & Alma)

• Run by Ex Libris European Professional Services (Hamburg)• Exceeding professional project management• Multi-national and multi-skilled implementation teams• Continuity of team between two projects• Very complex systems and need for local understanding of data

and historic decisions• Ex Libris expect the same level of professionalism in the Libraries• Really important to undertake testing when asked• Hosted services, systems sitting in Amsterdam, support in all Ex

Libris main offices provides 24/7 support

Impact - Primo

• Immediate acceptance by new students• Returning staff and students very positive • Some academics very unhappy – want students to use specific

resources• Focus on filters and refining hard for some Library staff• Required some policy and process changes as “search for books”

and “in Library” no longer work as staff expect• Not all subjects served as well as others in the Primo Central

database• Reported that Arts and Humanities students felt disadvantaged• Future of Metalib?????

Impact - Alma

Still working through this but ...• Huge reduction in transactional intervention for areas in

acquisitions, fulfilment (circulation) and “cataloguing”• Immediate update of all holdings and availability information• True integration of physical, electronic and digital format

management • True cloud benefits, access to shared resources and data for

analytics• And because we have changed policies

– Reduction in complexity of circulation matrix– Dynamic loan– Very reduced fines / fees income

Impact – suppliers and publishers

• Need to separate their publishing arms from any discovery product• % of the revenue stream• Where is the power in the new service approach?• Increased potential for “delivery on demand” what about the BL?• How to engage with the less prosperous publishers to get data• If it is not indexed or exposed – does it exist?• Role for JISC, JIBS and procurement groups• Difference between selling data and facilitating access to data?• Universities need to utilise the discovery tools to expand

knowledge of their in-house created materials

Integration (Primo)

• Single sine on using University credentials• Full OPAC services integration• Metalib Database access and “embedded” federated search • Live chat App• Mobile with Plymouth• Harvesting from Voyager (soon to be Alma); Metalib and DSpace• Direct access to SFX “services menu”• Link to BL request service• Still provide access to Voyager and Metalib • Intention is that the user can do everything within Primo, or access

Primo from other service points

Integration (Alma)

• Full integration with Primo. Bib harvested daily, holdings and availability in real-time

• Use of APIs to create and update all user data• Integration with University Finance System (Agresso)• Integration with Talis Aspire for holdings• Mobile with Plymouth pulling Alma data• No data exchanges between ERM, OpenURL• Integrated ILL service with the BL• Use of Oracle to provide very powerful analytics tool• Intention is that where possible data will flow through Alma to and

from other University and supplier systems without human intervention

Imagination

What will our services look like in 4 years?• What is the key role for the Library?• What do our students expect from their University experience?• What makes the “Library” unique?• What can we do to work with suppliers?• How can we diversify our portfolio to react to changes in the

marketplace• IS there a role for a separate LMS?• When do Library principles clash with possible future directions?• Are we just about discovery – and if so can we beat Google?

Any thoughts, comments or discussionsfiona.greig@plymouth.ac.uk