Discovery Updates 11/17/2017

Primo

In an effort to simplify communications, we have announced a new process for library staff to report issues/bugs related to TUL web support, including Primo troubleshooting. From now on, please email tul-web-support@temple.edu to submit issues related to the Primo user interface/search, indexing, related Alma integrations, general system bugs, etc.  

Below is a list of major Primo updates and ongoing issues that we are aware of and working on. We will continue to send out reports like this to keep everyone updated on the progress and resolution of reported issues.

Major updates from 10/17 to 11/18

• Primo November release: On Saturday November 18, Primo will be updated by Ex Libris with new improvements and bug fixes. This includes improvement to session time-outs for anonymous users, changes to the search rankings for author queries, fixing bugs related to real-time availability and the email export, and better support for Zotero. Refer to the Primo November 2017 Highlights for details (please note that we plan on disabling the following features for now: Collection Discovery functionality, Database Search, Export to Leganto). 
• Title-level results for databases: More than 1000 database-level records have been removed from the Library Search due to incorrect or outdated linking information resulting from a migration error. We still continue to rely on the SpringShare A-Z list for the most accurate database access and information.
• Ongoing troubleshooting of electronic resources in the Library Search, including an audit of vendor-supplied records
• Work in progress: updates to the "Text to phone" feature, including the addition of location information

Known issues that we are in the process of reviewing 

• Improvements to the search relevancy results
• Issues with title-level results for serials, especially newspapers and magazines (ex. New York Times, Newsweek)

For additional issues, see the TUL Web Support issue tracker: https://tulibdev.atlassian.net/projects/PRIMOFEED/issues. 

Blacklight

Over the last month, the Library Technology Development team has completed two rounds of development, or "sprints," for the Blacklight search project. Working in close collaboration with Erin Finnerty, the first sprint focused on the discovery of electronic resources via our catalog records and building the framework for accessing the records from the Primo Central Index. For example, we have introduced the option to access the full-text links directly from the search results, with an "Online" button that either links directly to the resource when there is one-on-one match or provides a list of possible vendors when there are multiple possibilities (see attached screenshot). 

The second sprint of the month covered a variety of different tasks, including Aeon request functionality, improvements to availability information, a Staff view of the MARC record, Shibboleth integration, and much more.

To view the current prototype, see http://libqa.library.temple.edu/catalog (please note that you will need to be connected to the Temple network via an ethernet cable or VPN). For further details on the development of this project and upcoming milestones, see the Discovery project pages on Confluence.