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    Harvesting and Publishing Alma Records in Primo

    Translatable

    If you are working with Primo VE, see Primo VE for more details.

    Before you can harvest the exported Alma data in Primo, you must configure the institution, data source, normalization rules, and publishing pipe in Primo. For more information on configuring the institution, see Configuring the Primo Institution. The sections below describe how to define the data source, configure the normalization rules, and publish the records in Primo.

    Define Alma as a Data Source

    Alma can manage MARC21 and Dublin Core (DC) metadata and publish it to Primo. If you manage both MARC21 and DC data in Alma, you will need to set up separate data sources, normalization rules, and pipes for each data source to load the data correctly into Primo.

    In order to harvest records from Alma, you must first define the Alma data sources in Primo.

    To define for an Alma data source (MARC21 and/or DC):
    1. Open the Primo Data Sources page (Ongoing Configuration Wizards > Pipe Configuration Wizard page > Data Sources Configuration.

    2. Select Edit next to your Alma institution in the list.

      The Data Sources Attributes page opens.

      Data Sources Attributes.png

      Data Sources Attributes Page
    3. Configure the data source. The following fields are essential for Alma data sources:

      • File Splitter – Select OAI splitter.

      • Source system – Select Alma.

      • Character Set – Select UTF-8.

      • Source format – Select MARC21 or DC.

      • Original Source Code – Enter the Alma institution code.

      • Input record path – Enter record.

    4. Select Save & Continue.

    Create a Set of Normalization Rules

    Normalization rules determine how the source records are converted to Primo PNX records. For new installations, it is recommended that you copy the following templates to create a set of normalization rules for each type of data supported by Alma (MARC21 and DC):

    • Alma MARC - Template – Contains all definitions required to load MARC21 data and to work with Alma online. For more information on the Alma MARC - Template, see Alma MARC 21.

    • Alma Dublin Core - Template – Contains all definitions required to load DC data and to work with Alma online. For more information on the Alma Dublin Core - Template, see Alma Dublin Core.

    If you are performing a migration, it is recommended that you create a copy of an existing normalization rules set and add or modify the following PNX fields. For example, if you are using the Alma MARC - Template template:

    • Control/almaid – This field contains a combination of the Alma institution code and Alma system number (MMS ID).
    • Dedup/C5 – Add the MSS ID, which is used for matching.
      Alma publishes separate records to Primo for each delivery type originating from the same MMS record in Alma. To prevent multiple records from displaying in Primo, deduplication must be enabled, and the MMS identifier in the Alma records must be mapped to the dedup/C5 field in the PNX records.
    • Delivery/delcategory – Alma delivery is based on the delivery types Alma-E (for electronic publications), Alma-P (for print) and Alma-D (for digital materials).
    • Delivery/institution – This field should be created from INST $$a and AVE $$i, as mapped from the Summary tab on the Organization Unit Details page in Alma (Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > Libraries > Manage your Institution’s Libraries).
    • Display/creator, Display/contributor, Display/subject – If headings enrichment is activated for Browse, it is necessary to suppress the creation of the creator and contributor fields from non-preferred headings.
    • Display/availlibrary – This field should be created from the AVA field that is published by Alma.
    • Display/type – The Alma_Type mapping table is used for the Alma-D delivery category. In addition, the database resource type is created when the ECT (Electronic Collection Type) field is set to database.
    • Facets/toplevel – Include Alma-E and Alma-D as online_resources.
    • Facets/AtoZ – This facet should be created for the A-Z list.
    • Facets/Collection – The collection facet can be created from the COL field that Alma includes for Alma-D records.
    • Facets/creatorcontributor and Facets/Topic – Primo Version 4.1 and later releases include Browse functionality. If Headings Enrichment is activated for Browse, it is necessary to suppress creation of the creator and contributor fields from non-preferred headings.
    • Links/thumbnail – A link should be added for the Alma-D delivery category.
    • Links/linktosrc – A link is created from 856 fields for Alma-P. This is done in case the conversion to Alma could not create an Alma-E record.
    • Links/linktoholdings – It should be disabled if present.
    • Link/backlink – Disable this field because Alma does not have an end-user interface from which to link to the Alma records.
    • Search/searchscope – Define a search scope for retrieval of Alma data if necessary. In addition, a scope should be added for the A-Z list.
    • Search/general – Add 001, which contains the MSS.
    • All Browse section fields – Used for Browse functionality. Refer to the Browse section for more information.

    Deploy, Load, Index (not Alma-specific)

    After you have configured the institutions, libraries, Alma data sources, enrichment sets, normalization rules, and so forth: you must apply your changes to the system and normalize the records published by Alma.
    These steps are not specific to Alma and do not require special attention for Alma, but you will need separate pipes for each source that Alma supports (MARC21 and DC). For more information, see Configuring the Publishing Platform Pipe Flow.
    To load the Alma records into Primo after records were published from Alma:
    1. In the Primo Back Office, run Deploy all.
    2. If you have not already done so, create a publishing pipe for the harvesting and loading of Alma data. For more details, see Defining a Pipe.
      Use the S/FTP connection that was defined in Alma. For more information, see Configuring S/FTP Connections.
    3. Execute your publishing pipe. For details, see Pipe Monitoring.
    4. Run the Indexing_and_Hotswapping process. For more details, see Process Monitoring.
    5. After configuring ongoing publishing in Alma, schedule a pipe for ongoing updates from Alma.
    6. Schedule ongoing indexing.