Primo
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672 results found
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My Library Card: date of the last renewal
We suggest that the "Date of the last Renewal" field should only update when a successful renewal happens, rather than when the courtesy letter is sent.
It happens in local loan and in Rapido, and it is confusing for patrons. We would like this workflow was adjusted.
42 votes -
Allowing to opt out of loading OAI Repository records into Discovery Network
Allowing to opt out of loading OAI Repository records into Discovery Network
1 vote -
Use all occurrences of a bibliographic field within GES Bib Field Enrichment
Institutions can define which fields are extracted from the bibliographic record metadata to be used in General Electronic Services by adding fields to the GES Bib Fields Enrichment mapping table. However, if the bibliographic field occurs multiple times in the record, only the first occurrence of the field is used. This means that the GES is not calculated for any subsequent occurrences of the field. For example, if I want a GES to be displayed based on a particular value in a 590 local note, the GES will only display if that value occurs in the first of what may be many 590 local note fields. I request that all occurrences of the fields defined in the GES Bib fields enrichment mapping table be used in GES calculation for display in Primo records.
Institutions can define which fields are extracted from the bibliographic record metadata to be used in General Electronic Services by adding fields to the GES Bib Fields Enrichment mapping table. However, if the bibliographic field occurs multiple times in the record, only the first occurrence of the field is used. This means that the GES is not calculated for any subsequent occurrences of the field. For example, if I want a GES to be displayed based on a particular value in a 590 local note, the GES will only display if that value occurs in the first of what may…
1 vote -
Restore One-Click Permalink Access in NDE Brief and Full Record Displays
As a library staff member and end user, I would like direct, one-click access to copy a permalink from both the brief and full record displays so that I can quickly and efficiently share stable links to resources without navigating through multiple menu layers.
Description:
In the original Primo VE UI, both brief and full record displays include a dedicated permalink button that allows users to access a permanent link to a resource with a single click. This streamlined access is essential for common workflows including:
- Reference and instruction staff sharing resources with students and faculty
- Liaison librarians embedding links in course management systems
- Researchers capturing citations and sharing resources with colleagues
- Students bookmarking materials for later access
In the NDE UI, the permalink functionality has been moved behind a "Share" button, requiring users to:
- Click the Share button
- Identify and select the permalink option from a menu
- Then copy the link
This additional step creates friction in a high-frequency task and reduces discoverability of this essential feature—particularly for users who may not intuitively associate "sharing" with generating a permanent link for personal use or citation purposes.
Requested Enhancement:
Restore a dedicated, top-level permalink button (or clearly labeled "Copy Permalink" option) in both brief and full record displays in the NDE UI.
This should be:
- Visible without requiring interaction with another button
- Enabled by default in new NDE views (the "share options" button is disabled by default at time of writing)
- Positioned prominently alongside other primary record actions
This change would maintain feature consistency with the original UI and support established user workflows without requiring retraining or workarounds.
As a library staff member and end user, I would like direct, one-click access to copy a permalink from both the brief and full record displays so that I can quickly and efficiently share stable links to resources without navigating through multiple menu layers.
Description:
In the original Primo VE UI, both brief and full record displays include a dedicated permalink button that allows users to access a permanent link to a resource with a single click. This streamlined access is essential for common workflows including:
- Reference and instruction staff sharing resources with students and faculty
- Liaison librarians embedding links…
86 votes -
Incorporate a systematic review content type/filter into Primo
Systematic reviews are key to evidence based medicine practice. They “... establish whether scientific findings are consistent and can be generalised across populations, settings, and treatment variations, or whether findings vary significantly by particular subsets (Mulrow, 1994).” They also identify existing gaps in the literature requiring further research. The number of systematic reviews published has grown from less than 50 a year in the early 1990s to almost 36,000 in 2022 (Brignardello-Petersen, 2025) Health sciences researchers, clinicians and students would benefit from the ability to efficiently limit search results to systematic reviews in Primo with a corresponding content type/filter. Currently users must search for “systematic review” as keywords or subject terms which are inconsistently applied across CDI sources. Similar filters exist in other search platforms including PubMed and EBSCOhost CINAHL and Medline.
https://www.elsevier.com/connect/why-systematic-reviews-matter
Mulrow CD. Rationale for systematic reviews. BMJ. 1994 Sep 3;309(6954):597-9. doi: 10.1136/bmj.309.6954.597.
Brignardello-Petersen R, Santesso N, Guyatt, GH. Systematic reviews of the literature: an introduction to current methods. American Journal of Epidemiology, 2025 Feb; 194(2):536–542 doi:10.1093/aje/kwae232
Systematic reviews are key to evidence based medicine practice. They “... establish whether scientific findings are consistent and can be generalised across populations, settings, and treatment variations, or whether findings vary significantly by particular subsets (Mulrow, 1994).” They also identify existing gaps in the literature requiring further research. The number of systematic reviews published has grown from less than 50 a year in the early 1990s to almost 36,000 in 2022 (Brignardello-Petersen, 2025) Health sciences researchers, clinicians and students would benefit from the ability to efficiently limit search results to systematic reviews in Primo with a corresponding content type/filter. Currently…
169 votes -
Journal Title Facet Should Include Local Records in Blended Scopes
Currently, the Journal Title facet in Primo only applies to records from the Central Discovery Index (CDI), excluding locally cataloged article records and those imported from external sources such as institutional repositories. This behavior leads to inconsistent and confusing results for end users, especially when using a blended scope that includes both CDI and local records.
Problem:
Users conducting searches—particularly in the local language—often retrieve a significant number of local article records. Despite these articles being published in journals, their journal titles do not appear in the Journal Title facet.
Users are unaware of the distinction between CDI and local records and perceive the facet as broken or unreliable. This undermines user trust and the usability of the facet as a filtering tool.Our question is to
- extend facet generation logic to include journal titles from local records (Alma-records and imported via import profile)
- or if this is not possible, allow customers to customize the facet in order to include local records.This would ensure:
- Consistent and complete facet behavior across all indexed content.
- Improved user experience and trust in the system.
- Better support for institutions that rely heavily on local cataloging or repository imports.Currently, the Journal Title facet in Primo only applies to records from the Central Discovery Index (CDI), excluding locally cataloged article records and those imported from external sources such as institutional repositories. This behavior leads to inconsistent and confusing results for end users, especially when using a blended scope that includes both CDI and local records.
Problem:
Users conducting searches—particularly in the local language—often retrieve a significant number of local article records. Despite these articles being published in journals, their journal titles do not appear in the Journal Title facet.
Users are unaware of the distinction between CDI and local…3 votes -
Add Due Date to Real Time Availability Status in Brief Records
We would like to be able to see the status messages to include Due Dates, where applicable.
Example: add date to Not available - Loan message, something along the lines of Not available - Checked out until {date}.8 votes -
Put search/feedback links in logical order on mobile menu - NDE
In NDE on small screens, the Advanced Search, Feedback (Report a problem) and Ask Anything (natural language search) links appear in the menu in that order - see screenshot attached.
At minimum, the two search options should be adjacent, and in the order they appear on full screen. The feedback/report a problem should not be in the middle of them, as it is a completely different type of function.
Some institutions may even wish to relocate the feedback option to the bottom of the top menu links.
The original case response was to log here on the idea exchange, as there is no plan to address this.
In NDE on small screens, the Advanced Search, Feedback (Report a problem) and Ask Anything (natural language search) links appear in the menu in that order - see screenshot attached.
At minimum, the two search options should be adjacent, and in the order they appear on full screen. The feedback/report a problem should not be in the middle of them, as it is a completely different type of function.
Some institutions may even wish to relocate the feedback option to the bottom of the top menu links.
The original case response was to log here on the idea exchange, as…
24 votes -
Implementation of CDI rights at the article level and not just at the database and title levels
CDI knows that a given article belongs to a given journal and knows that we have a subscription to it for this year (based on our SFX subscriptions). CDI therefore displays the article citation as part of the content to which we subscribe and creates an OpenURL link based on the citation metadata. If the citation in CDI is correct but this content does not exist on the platform, this generates errors in our catalogue and returns results that we do not have access to.
ExLibris does not have rights at the article level (only at the database and title level), so Primo has no way of knowing that a particular article is not available on the platform.
CDI knows that a given article belongs to a given journal and knows that we have a subscription to it for this year (based on our SFX subscriptions). CDI therefore displays the article citation as part of the content to which we subscribe and creates an OpenURL link based on the citation metadata. If the citation in CDI is correct but this content does not exist on the platform, this generates errors in our catalogue and returns results that we do not have access to.
ExLibris does not have rights at the article level (only at the database and title…
1 vote -
Primo VE Permalink Verification Process
We would like a process to verify a file of Primo Permalinks are still valid for our institution.
Our librarians and professors place Permalinks in online documents for our patrons. As the documents age and portfolio IDs change the links can fail. This is very frustrating for our patrons.
The only link verification method today is to manually click on each permalink. This tedious and time consuming process is not cost effective when there are hundreds of links to check. Using standard web link checkers that operate in batch only establishes that a page does not result in an HTTP error.
An Alma-specific verification process would help ensure the usability of web content that links to Primo. Ideally, a user could upload or paste a list of URLs into a tool, which would then check that each link resolves to a valid Alma or CDI record. As this relies on knowledge of both Alma and CDI record IDs, an external tool does not make as much sense as an ExLibris maintained solution.
We would like a process to verify a file of Primo Permalinks are still valid for our institution.
Our librarians and professors place Permalinks in online documents for our patrons. As the documents age and portfolio IDs change the links can fail. This is very frustrating for our patrons.
The only link verification method today is to manually click on each permalink. This tedious and time consuming process is not cost effective when there are hundreds of links to check. Using standard web link checkers that operate in batch only establishes that a page does not result in an HTTP…
1 vote -
Copy text from digital viewer
When reading documents in the digital viewer, it would be nice to have the ability to copy text directly from the page. You can do this if you download the document. I was attempting to do this with a larger file that mentioned other reports I wanted copy the name of a report to view/search for in the catalogue; however, the digital viewer does not allow users to select text from the document.
13 votes -
Drag-and-drop to reorder search-criteria rows in Primo VE Advanced Search
As an end-user building a complex multi-line advanced search, I want to drag any criteria row to a new position so that I can quickly reorganize my query without deleting and re-typing fields.
I'd imagine a little click-drag icon on the left that the user could use to re-order query fields. I found an example built in react at https://react-querybuilder.js.org/demo , screenshot attached.
3 votes -
Primo NDE change order of fields in request forms
We would like to be able to change the order of the fields in the Request forms in Primo NDE
For example: in the Request another Issue Digitization Request Form the 'Comment' field is in the middle of the form, and we would like it to be in a more consistent place, at the bottom of the form.
1 vote -
Resource Recommender by user group or campus
Resource Recommender in Primo VE can only show suggestions based on search tags or “Display Always.”
There’s no way to show recommendations based on who the user is — for example, their user group, campus, or department.
This means libraries can’t personalize results - such as:
Business students see business databasesThis would make the discovery experience more relevant and user-friendly.
7 votes -
Enable Full Support for Custom Meta Tags in the <head> of Primo VE Views to Improve SEO
At present, Primo VE only allows institutions to configure the <meta name="description"> tag within the <head> of the HTML. Other essential metadata elements — such as <meta name="keywords">, <meta name="robots">, or custom meta tags for open graph and social media optimization — cannot be added or controlled through the platform’s configuration interface.
While it is technically possible to include additional meta tags through the customization package, these elements are inserted into the <body> rather than the <head>, and therefore are not recognized by web crawlers. This limitation significantly reduces the ability of libraries and academic institutions to optimize their Primo VE discovery views for search engines and improve organic visibility.
Enhancing SEO capabilities within Primo VE is particularly important for institutions that rely on open discovery to increase access to academic, research, and heritage resources. Allowing administrators to define comprehensive metadata in the <head> would make it possible for search engines to properly index and display discovery views, leading to broader discoverability and engagement.
We propose that Ex Libris extend the SEO configuration options in Primo VE to include the ability to define and manage additional meta tags within the <head> section of the HTML. Ideally, these settings would be configurable per institution or per view, much like the current main.description field. Examples of useful additions include:
<meta name="keywords" content="">
<meta name="robots" content="">
<meta property="og:title">, <meta property="og:description">, and other Open Graph tags
This enhancement would bring multiple benefits:
Improved organic ranking and visibility of library discovery portals in major search engines.
Greater institutional autonomy to implement customized SEO strategies.
Enhanced alignment with open access and digital scholarship initiatives that depend on online visibility.
Better integration with current web standards and practices for discoverability and metadata management.
Given the growing importance of digital visibility in higher education and research communication, this enhancement should be considered a high priority. It would empower libraries to position their Primo VE discovery environments as accessible, well-indexed, and SEO-optimized gateways to knowledge.
At present, Primo VE only allows institutions to configure the <meta name="description"> tag within the <head> of the HTML. Other essential metadata elements — such as <meta name="keywords">, <meta name="robots">, or custom meta tags for open graph and social media optimization — cannot be added or controlled through the platform’s configuration interface.
While it is technically possible to include additional meta tags through the customization package, these elements are inserted into the <body> rather than the <head>, and therefore are not recognized by web crawlers. This limitation significantly reduces the ability of libraries and academic institutions to optimize their Primo…
1 vote -
Primo NDE UI: Introduce Dark mode
Our users are complaining that the new UI is too bright and causes eyestrain and specifically requesting a Dark Mode option. We have also developed our new website using the same materials/components as are used in the NDE to align our visual identity so we know that it is possible with the tools at hand. Lastly, I recently saw this article and the first thing it mentioned is that young people want dark mode: https://www.choice360.org/libtech-insight/5-surprising-things-ive-learned-about-gen-z-college-students/
197 votes -
Ability to boost Ranking of Search Results in Primo VE based on accessibility
Some of our consortium libraries would like the ability to boost the ranking of books that readers can request from libraries.
Currently, the Ranking Configuration page enables you to configure various aspects of the ranking algorithm based on Field Boosting, Date Boosting, Resource type Boosting, Institution Boosting, but not on accessibility.90 votes -
Sort Favorites by Call Number, Library & Location
Patrons often use the Primo My Favorites function to build lists of titles that they want to retrieve from library stacks. Currently, the only sort options for these lists are Date Added, Title, and Author—none of which are particularly helpful for retrieval. Please consider expanding sort options to include Call Number, Library and Location?
35 votes -
Allow users to customize PNX addata subfields
Currently, the normalization rules for creating addata subfields are not available to users. As a result, redundant information is included in subfields intended for authors, creators or titles and as result the citations are inaccurate.
82 votes -
Primo Research Assistant Recibir nuevos datos estadísticos
Una de las recientes adquisiciones dentro del sistema ALMA tiene que ver con la integración del asistente de investigación, una inteligencia artificial que facilita la búsqueda de información por medio de consultas que el usuario hace, en la que la respuesta se sujeta con la documentación existente en el acervo electrónico del sistema bibliotecario.
Al ser tan útil esta herramienta, en nuestra institución nos importa direccionar a los usuarios la información que más les puede resultar útil, y los resultados que ofrece el asistente de investigación pueden beneficiar a esta meta.
Hemos explorado los reportes que Primo puede generar, en particular, “Primo Research Asistant”, sin embargo, esta información ofrece datos sobre las selecciones del usuario, si acceden o no al archivo.
Nos interesa saber si podemos extraer otros datos dentro de la plataforma, como lo son:
• Consultas dentro del asistente de investigación
• Temática o documento que se muestra en los primeros resultados que muestra el asistente
• Número de veces que el usuario hace copia de la información que el asistente de investigación genera
• Número veces que se usa el asistente de investigación en un periodo específico de fechas
• Datos del usuario que hace uso del asistente de investigación
• Porcentaje de recursos institucionales y externos que muestra el asistente de investigación en la respuesta de un estudianteUna de las recientes adquisiciones dentro del sistema ALMA tiene que ver con la integración del asistente de investigación, una inteligencia artificial que facilita la búsqueda de información por medio de consultas que el usuario hace, en la que la respuesta se sujeta con la documentación existente en el acervo electrónico del sistema bibliotecario.
Al ser tan útil esta herramienta, en nuestra institución nos importa direccionar a los usuarios la información que más les puede resultar útil, y los resultados que ofrece el asistente de investigación pueden beneficiar a esta meta.
Hemos explorado los reportes que Primo puede generar, en…
1 vote
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