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Through July, Primo (i.e. the current “Library Search”) will continue to serve as our primary search, as we complete testing of the new discovery system. By early August, we will complete the process of transitioning from Primo to Blacklight, preparing for the beginning of the fall semester. A complete full schedule and rollout plan for the summer will be provided to all staff later this month.
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Customization of the physical items display in Catalog search
In the February beta release, we were still reliant upon the Alma-provided view of our physical holdings and items in Blacklight. With new technical options introduced by Ex Libris, we now have been able to create our own custom display, which is simpler and less confusing than the previous view while still retrieving essential information from Alma. It also provides us with more flexibility as we begin to build out other features, including request functionality this month. To test this out, go to https://libqa.library.temple.edu/catalog (please note that you will need to be connected to the Temple network via an ethernet cable or VPN).Integration of Primo Central Index (PCI) as Articles search
Along with the Alma catalog, records from our article index can now be accessed and viewed through Blacklight, using the same template and styling from the catalog for the display of search results and full record pages. Users can filter by facets such as Resource Type, Author/Creator, Topic, and Language, and can get quick access to the electronic resource links via our “Online” button. We have also begun work on incorporating other features, such as bookmarks and export options for articles. To test this out, go to https://libqa.library.temple.edu/catalog/articles (please note that you will need to be connected to the Temple network via an ethernet cable or VPN).Design and implementation of “bento-box” search
We are also working on implementing a new design approach to our main search, in which pre-filtered search results from different library systems and collections can be shown side-by-side (informally known as a “bento-box” search). This allows us to incorporate the Catalog and Articles searches together and eventually as well as other sources eventually, such as the library website web pages and LibGuides. This should be ready for review and testing by the end of the month.Additional updates to publishing/indexing processes
In addition to the search interface, we’ve been working to improve our processes for publishing updates from Alma, reindexing in Blacklight, and further developing our system infrastructure.
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