Minutes 01/17/2020

Erin Rushton
Erin Rushton
Last updated 
  • Task Force testing of the CDI revealed a number of problems with the CDI, including serious issues with incorrect availability statuses being included in search results and an inability for campuses to make local changes to suppress collections.  The Task Force considered both of these problems to be barriers to going live with the system.
  • Ex Libris had planned updates for early January that were actually released/applied on January 12, but this update only addressed the suppression problem. Inaccurate availability still remains a major system flaw.
  • The Task Force has therefore recommended that SUNY delay go-live on the CDI until after the end of the Spring 2020 semester, anticipating May 2020. The hope is that Ex Libris's February 2020 updates will significantly improve CDI system performance, and the Task Force can then focus on more rigorous testing of the system, including training and documentation for all of SUNY in preparation for eventual go-live.
  • Michelle shared an update in SUNY Basecamp: "CDI - Task Force Recommendation to Wait Until May for Implementation".  Task Force minutes are also being posted to the Central Discovery Index Task Force LibGuide.
  • Members of the Working Group discussed whether they should try testing the CDI now and agreed that it would be better to wait until we have confirmation of system fixes. 
  • Question: Since we are delaying go-live and PCI-to-CDI migration was done last fall, will the migration be re-done?
    Answer: No, it will be better and safer to simply maintain both PCI and CDI configuration until go-live. Another migration would mean additional changes and additional clean-up, and would likely create more problems.
    Question: Will we need to keep alternative coverage for EBSCO?
    Answer: Ex Libris has been somewhat mixed in their response to this question; they generally advise activating as many collections as possible to enable the greatest number of resources in the index. But more specifically we should not need to activate (nor keep activated) any alternative coverage for EBSCO; simply activating EBSCO in Alma should ensure that the content is as discoverable as possible in Primo VE, regardless of any other collection activation in the CDI.
    Question: How can one find more information about and better access specific examples from collections in the CDI (or PCI)?
    Answer: There doesn't seem to be easy ways to do either. In the PCI, there may be brief information about the collections included, but it is not comprehensive. For searching in Primo VE, the full text collections may be easier to identify/search for/troubleshoot because they have related portfolios, which are Alma records. But database-type collections have neither portfolios nor services. If you can find a record from a collection in Primo then you may be able to identify more by searching for the root collection name, which is encoded in the record id within the permalink, ex:
    permalink = https://search.lib.buffalo.edu/permalink/01SUNY_BUF/u5uj55/jstor_archive_2325184423
    record id = jstor_archive_2325184423
    search Primo VE for jstor_archive or jstor to try and identify more records from the collection
2.  Dedup/FRBR initiative, especially  book/Ebook
See discussion "Separating Ebooks and Books in content/resource types, facets and labels?"
At this point, it's difficult to know what we'll see in the CDI; we are currently seeing an "Ebook" label for materials in the CDI, but Ex Libris has suggested that the label is meant only for Summon, and that Primo should have Book/Ebook. It may make the most sense to see what is presented in the CDI and then follow up for consistency in Alma.

3.  Related Record Display
Heidi shared information about a salesforce case she opened last summer related to slow OpenURL resolution, in which she was advised by Lynn to turn off the Related Record Display to improve speed.
There is some suggestion that Ex Libris has since resolved this problem, but we should see if we can get confirmation.

4.  Discovery documentation, especially videos
A request to share local documentation and training videos was made at a recent Cafe Alma session. The Working Group agreed that it would be helpful to add a page in our LibGuide to provide a clearinghouse for sharing these local resources. Michelle also suggested that we follow up with Jen Korber; she may have a page or be interested in creating a link to something like it, re: http://slcny.libguides.com/lsptraining

  • Some initiatives are already underway
  • Michelle noted that ERM Task Force has 5 volunteers. They are interested in how to decide what to manage at the network level. We know that we can manage electronic resources at the network level, but how do we decide what should be so managed? 
6.  Upcoming Ex Libris developments, including planned January Primo VE updates and NERS voting
7.  LSP Advisory Board Updates - Marla
     See notes below