Orbis Cascade Alliance’s Migration of Faceted Vocabularies to Primo VE

AbstractThere has been a continued effort among cataloging communities to implement new fields and subfields in MARC 21 to support more structured data that benefit end users. In the current article, we describe how the Orbis Cascade Alliance integrated fields and subfields of this type into Primo VE, in order to provide faceted vocabularies and other facets within the discovery interface that were otherwise unavailable from the vendor. We discuss challenges in migrating the normalization rules behind the facets, the extent to which they are being utilized by member institutions, and possible next steps for promoting their use more extensively.Keywords: Faceted vocabulariesPrimo VEnormalization rulesconsortiumdiscovery platforms/servicesfacet AcknowledgmentsWe thank Adam L. Schiff and Lesley Lowery for their detailed comments on earlier versions of the paper. We are grateful to the NRSG members for their continued work on implementing normalization rules in Primo VE. The usual disclaimer applies.Notes1 Mark McKnight, “Are We There Yet? Toward a Workable Controlled Vocabulary for Music,” Fontes Artis Muscae 59, no. 3 (2012): 290, https://www.jstor.org/stable/42765606.2 Orbis Cascade Alliance, “Use of Faceted Terms in Cataloging,” Google Docs, updated December 2020, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wlGuj8Xy3CLGfsOhH­VnU1YOZU3lZI4gJ/view?usp=embed_facebook.3 “Configuring Normalization Rules for Display and Local Fields,” Ex Libris Knowledge Center, last modified November 25, 2021, https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Primo/Product_Documentation/020Primo_VE/Primo_VE_(English)/050Display_Configuration/Configuring_Normalization_Rules_for_Display_and_Local_Fields.4 Beth Iseminger et al., “Faceted Vocabularies for Music: A New Era in Resource Discovery,” Notes 73, no. 3 (2017): 409-31, https://doi.org/10.1353/not.2017.0000.5 Kelley McGrath and Lesley Lowery, “Getting More out of MARC with Primo: Strategies for Display, Search and Faceting,” The Code4lib Journal 41 (2018), https://journal.code4lib.org/articles/13600.6 Marek Nahotko, “Knowledge Organization Affordances in a Faceted Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC),” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 60, no. 1 (2022): 86-111, https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2021.2015734.7 David J. Comeaux, “Usability Testing of a Web-Scale Discovery System at an Academic Library,” College & Undergraduate Libraries 19, no. 2-4 (2012): 189–206, https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2012.695671.8 Kelsey Brett, Ashley Lierman, and Cherie Turner, “Lessons Learned: A Primo Usability Study,” Information Technology and Libraries 35, no. 1 (2016): 7–25, https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v35i1.8965; Blake Lee Galbreath, Corey Johnson, and Erin Hvizdak, “Primo New User Interface: Usability Testing and Local Customizations Implemented in Response,” Information Technology and Libraries 37, no. 2 (2018): 10–33, https://doi.org/10.6017/ital.v37i2.10191; W. Jacobs, Mike DeMars, and J. M. Kimmitt, “A Multi-Campus Usability Testing Study of the New Primo Interface,” College & Undergraduate Libraries 27, no. 1 (2020): 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.2019.1695161; Kylie Jarrett, “Findit@Flinders: User Experiences of the Primo Discovery Search Solution,” Australian Academic and Research Libraries 43, no. 4 (2012): 278–99, https://doi.org/10.1080/00048623.2012.10722288; Greta Kliewer et al., “Using Primo for Undergraduate Research: A Usability Study,” Library Hi Tech 34, no. 4 (2016): 566–84, https://doi.org/10.1108/LHT-05-2016-0052.9 Kliewer et al., 572.10 “Configuring Normalization Rules for Display and Local Fields.”11 Orbis Cascade Alliance, “NRSG Primo VE Feedback,” accessed February 15, 2023, https://trello.com/b/Ij4Zi9db/nrsg-primo-ve-feedback.12 “An Overview of CDI,” Ex Libris Knowledge Center, accessed February 1, 2023, https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Primo/Content_Corner/Central_Discovery_Index/Documentation_and_Training/Documentation_and_Training_(English)/CDI_-_The_Central_Discovery_Index/010An_Overview_of_the_Ex_Libris_Central_Discovery_Index_(CDI).13 McGrath and Lowery, “Getting More out of MARC with Primo.”14 Adam L. Schiff, email message to author, June 15, 2017.15 “Primo VE 2022 Release Notes,” Ex Libris Knowledge Center, updated January 20, 2023, https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Primo/Release_Notes/002Primo_VE/2022/010Primo_VE_2022_Release_Notes.16 Adam L. Schiff, email message to author, January 31, 2023.17 Schiff.18 Schiff.19 Susan C. Wynne and Martha J. Hanscom, “The Effect of Next-Generation Catalogs on Catalogers and Cataloging Functions in Academic Libraries,” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 49, no. 3 (2011): 179, https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2011.559899.20 Wynne and Hanscom, 189-190.21 Casey Mullin et al., “Retrospective Implementation of Library of Congress Faceted Vocabularies, March 2022,” Report (ALA Core Subject Analysis Committee, March 25, 2022), https://alair.ala.org/handle/11213/17998.22 “An Overview of CDI.”23 Although, not a usability study, and representing older technology than this paper discussed, Hall did collect statistics on the quantity of facets used in academic libraries. The average number of facets displayed in her study was 9.8, with a range of 5 to 18. Catherine E. Hall, “Facet-Based Library Catalogs: A Survey of the Landscape,” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 48, no. 1 (2011): 1–8, https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.2011.14504801195.24 Orbis Cascade Alliance, “A Guide to Display and Local Fields in VE for Alliance Members,” Google Docs, accessed March 18, 2023, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BkfbHhqcPnfsa0j4BdAXQyqg1ZgQBTerU351ZDdG0hI/edit?usp=embed_facebook.