1. technology and computing
2. software
3. databases

Extending Primo
beyond your ILS data
source : including EAD
and Graphic Sources
Janet Lute
ILS Coordinator
Princeton University Library
IGeLU 2014
Oxford, England
Background
• Goal is to include numerous and disparate sources
of data that never were and never will be in our ILS
• Many sources belong to Rare Books and include
Finding Aid records, visual materials, and local
senior thesis records
• Live with Primo since Sept. 2011
• Direct hosted on 4.7
• Work in close collaboration with Technical Staff from
Rare Books and with our web developer
• A lot of this work was trial and error and I learned
lots about the Back Office
EAD and Hierarchy
• Many finding aid records are hierarchical in nature
• Determine how far down the hierarchy you need to
go for separate records
• Currently we have records for levels 2, 3, 4 and 5
o Level 1 – F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers. This is the container, no individual
record to links to it
o Level 2 – Series 1: Writings
o Level 3 – Series 1A: Novels
o Level 4 – The Beautiful and Dammed
o Level 5 – Book I, “A Pleasant Absurdity of Things”
• Most collections are not as complex as this
Finding Aid
record and
hierarchy
Primo record
at lowest level
Link takes you to
the next level up
How to get from EAD to PNX
Convert EAD to a generic format (done by staff in Rare Books)
Then map this to PNX via Primo normalization
Example of what the XML record looks like
Normalization Rule Set Tips
• To get started do a copy from xml-template
• One set of rules for all xml data sources
• Have a test record in right from the beginning and
test each field as you go along
• Be consistent in the use of local fields
• Think about what fields are used in your main NR
• I have a spreadsheet that summarizes field use
Normalization Rule Sets
• Set up a new rule set for EAD using the usual
sections
• By far the hardest section was control
• Display – Library Level Availability needed care
• Terminology was an issue especially the Primo use of
the term ‘Source’
File Splitter
• Mapping table – File Splitter
• Set up an EAD File Splitter
• Mapping table – File Splitter Params
• This sets up the mapping from the xml file for the
Pipe and creates separate records
FrontEnd Display Fields Code Table
• Many EAD labels share the ones used by Marc
• Subject, Author/Artist, Title, etc. required no action
• Local display fields used by EAD needed to be
added
• Really need to pay attention to what you already
have
• Might Notes and Summary really be the same thing
Full Display Labels Code Table
• Only the newly added labels needed to entered
Use of local fields
Ex Libris provides up to 50 local fields for Search, Display etc.
Follow the set up of Collection Title through various stages
NR Search
section
NR Display
section
FrontEnd Display Fields
Full Display Labels
View – Brief Results Tile
Primo Front End Display
Views
• For initial Testing I created a separate view
• Goal is to have all data sources in one view
• Brief display tile – think about what data elements
to display, has to make sense for all data sources
• First line includes Title, and Title of Collection
• Second line includes Author/Artist
EAD record has title + title of
collection but no author
Voyager sourced record has a
title and an author
Views – Full display
• Full display tile – may need some specific fields
adding
• Again you are balancing the demands of different
interested parties, and compromises may need to
be made
• Some of the new display labels needed for EAD
Data Sources
• Used to define sources of data for the pipe
• You want separate sources so that you can control
the pipes
• The top three are for local data sources, bottom
one is for our regular Voyager pipe
Data Source for EAD
• Do this in the right order: file splitter, then data
source, then pipe setup
• Online Primo help can be useful but it usually does
not link tasks together
Pipes List
• Set up a pipe to load and delete EAD print, plus a
pipe to load and delete EAD visuals, thesis, etc.
• Each data source can have its own schedule and
run independently of your other data sources
• You may also want to delete the entire source and
reload
Pipe configuration
• This pipe looks for records in a *.tar.gz format in the
directory called /exlibris/primo/data/thesis
• Bug in 4.6/7 and gz format is not being recognized; use
tar or tar.gz. Fixed in 4.8
• Not scheduled yet but will probably load records weekly
• Indexing and hotswapping processes is shared by all
pipes
EAD example record
XML Record
Primo – Full Display
Finding Aids Page
Visuals Example
Senior Thesis example
Senior Thesis resource type set up
Locations & Availability
• Hardest part and most controversial
• Some factions wanted detailed item requestability
directly from Primo
• Others felt that a link to the correct part of the
Finding Aid and hence to Aeon system for
requesting
• This part requires custom coding
• Not quite there yet but leaning toward the 2nd
option
• Simpler for patrons
• Fewer changes to XML records and smaller records
Locations & Availability
Request Link takes
you to the Finding
Aid
Request This Box will
invoke Aeon
Visuals/Senior Thesis Requesting
• Visuals & Senior Thesis have far simpler records with
usually one item
• No finding aids, links directly to the Aeon System
Aeon login
screen
What was the point?
We have 28 records for “The beautiful and damned “by F. Scott
Fitzgerald
EAD Finding Aid
Record
Voyager
sourced
records
What is left to do?
• All records not loaded yet; will be over ½ million
initially for the EAD material
• Need an ongoing pipe for new and edited records
• Locations & Availability tab is still being refined –
local customizations here
• May still refine the number of levels for which we
create records
• Some top level EAD records have Voyager records,
we will suppress these
I will supply more details on request
including normalization rules and the
XML file format
Thanks to Kevin Reiss for the Primo
customizations kr2@princeton.edu
Janet Lute
jelute@princeton.edu
Questions?