Governance / Reports & Meeting Minutes / Discovery Primo VE Committee: November 1, 2023

Discovery Primo VE Committee: November 1, 2023

Members attending: Andrew Belongea (COL), Allan Berry (UIC), Colin Koteles (COD), Matthew Short (NIU), Lindsey Skaggs (ISU), Laura Spradlin (IWU), Nathan Thebarge (TIU), Aimee Walker (JJC)

Members absent: Marlee Graser (SIUE)

Staff attending: Jessica Gibson, Amy Maroso, Annie Serrano

Taking Minutes: Lindsey Skaggs

Next up: Laura Spradlin

  • Approve Minutes
    • October 4th minutes approved.
  • Ongoing Work
    • Resource Types
      • Andrew met with Ted @ CARLI to discuss resource type definitions.  Cleanup work is ongoing. They will meet again in 2 weeks.
    • Local Fields
      • To recap: Jessica set up the local fields in the NZ that didn’t require normalization rules (using the MARC21 method). The next step will be to update webpage documentation, prepare an announcement, and distribute the fields to the IZs.
      • The next phase is building out normalization rules for the remaining fields.
      • Some of the “out of the box” fields from Ex Libris collate all the subfields. We will need to determine if/how they should change. The list is screenshot below:
        DPVE-20231101.png
      • Matt and Marlee worked on this last year; Matt offered to meet with Marlee and Jessica to determine next steps. Then, the rest of the committee can assist with the project as needed.
    • FRBR/Dedup
      • Jessica sent an email outlining the processes she’d run on the “Bible” records in the NZ sandbox and requested feedback. Most agreed the solution looked reasonable but would take a closer look. Laura asked to clarify what we ought to respond to; Jessica responded that our first decision is whether we want to implement the process in the production NZ and then how to approach IZs.
      • Question: Should libraries turn off FRBR?
        • ISU disabled FRBR when they went live; COD disabled FBRB this semester and no one has complained. Member libraries don’t always have documented reasoning for why FRBR is enabled/disabled. (It is enabled by default.)
      • Per the latest release notes, new local keys have been added for dedup and FRBR, but there are limits. There hasn’t been much discussion about this new functionality.
      • Jessica shared that when running these processes, dedup happens before the FRBR connection is broken. It’s a shame, since we might want to dedup records but not FRBRize them.
      • To do: Please review Jessica’s email, referenced above, by 11/15 and respond if you have any objections. Lack of response signifies that “Bible” records can be deduped and de-FRBRized in the production NZ.
    • Webinar : “Discovering Collection Discovery” on Dec. 12, 2023
      • Andrew will kick off the webinar and shared his plans Giving credit to Jodi Craiglow for her presentation, he’ll explain how to identify new items for a “new books” collection. From there, he’ll explain collections basics and walk through the process.
      • Lindsey will describe how Collections Discovery are used to create “virtual displays” in collaboration with other colleagues. It will cover the process of creating sets from barcodes or URLs.
      • Laura will describe how IWU creates collections based on locations and call numbers. She’ll also share tricks for troubleshooting when indexing isn’t immediate
      • Aimee: Will we talk about how to manage collections? Who maintains them? How are responsibilities managed?
        • Laura shared that she will share the process they use to update collections with new materials. Andrew will speak to how Columbia manages new book updates
      • Allan mentioned that many librarians create new item lists/displays in guides – could position collections as a way to redirect work being done in guides to Primo VE.
      • Jessica asked about adding NZ records to collections because the documentation is contradictory. Laura confirmed you can add records that are linked to the NZ, but not NZ-managed records.
      • During the webinar, we will invite attendees to vote for the Idea Exchange idea that addresses that.
      • To do: Andrew, Lindsey, and Laura will add slides to the Google folder for review at the December meeting
  • Idea Exchange voting
    • Allan contacted Margaret Heller to ask about Idea Exchange “vote stuffing.” She advised that votes in NERS go further than the Idea Exchange since Ex Libris is contractually obligated to pay attention to NERS; they often ignore the Idea Exchange. There is duplication of ideas between the two sites.
    • CARLI has 100 votes total in NERS, even though we have 90 member libraries. (For context, standalone institutions also have 100 votes). This diminishes the power of consortia. Last year, CARLI reviewed the NERS enhancements to determine where to spend our votes – the committee could be involved. But Jessica said we shouldn’t discount the Idea Exchange. NERS is more powerful, but Ex Libris does pull enhancements from the Idea Exchange.
    • Allan compiled a spreadsheet of Idea Exchange topics. We could decide if there’s anything we want to advance. Allan asked if there’s anything missing from the Idea Exchange that we would want to see? How should we choose which causes to champion?
    • Lindsey suggested tying our “calls to vote” to webinar topics or other professional development. Laura added that we could add an “Idea Exchange Idea of a Month” to the Office Hour announcements. Ideally, all committees could submit Ideas. This regular exposure can invite more people to participate.
  • Search Ranking
    • Colin asked if there’s anything new to report? He brought this issue to the Public Services Committee at COD and is compiling use cases and recommendations. He changed some of the rankings at COD based on Andrew’s configuration experiences. (In the Committee’s Google Drive Search Ranking folder.)
    • Lindsey shared some documentation as well, and talked a bit about how date boosting didn’t help her situation, which was trying to boost continuing publications “Harvard Business Review” and “Wall Street Journal.” Jessica recommended using the Resource Recommender for this purpose.
    • Colin: Has anyone used the PO number for boosting? He thought there was documentation that explained how to do this but can’t find it. He’ll send you a Starbucks card if you find it!
    • The group discussed that our Spring webinar could share our experiences with boosting and explain how to use Resource Recommender.
    • To do: Continue testing boosting and try out the resource recommender, if you haven’t.