Question

What are the various ways to include eBooks in SFX, Primo, and Primo Central?

Answer

There are several different options:

1) If the library already includes eBook citations in the local catalog, these records will be harvested and loaded into Primo with the rest of the ILS data. It would not be necessary to activate eBook collections in Primo Central or eBook targets in SFX.

Pros: Existing workflow where eBook records are loaded into the ILS remains the same
Cons: None

When eBooks come from ILS
- eBook citations are extracted from the ILS and loaded into Primo
- eBook records are local records; the library can control the data in the MARC record and how it gets normalized in Primo
- The link to the eBook is in the 856 field in the MARC record, and is normalized into the PNX field as 'links:linktorsrc'.
- Primo assumes that eBooks are available, and will prompt for a proxy login if it is included in the 856 field.

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2) If the library does not maintain eBook citations in the local catalog, the eBook collections can be activated in Primo Central and eBook targets activated in SFX.

Pros: Do not need to load eBooks into local catalog
Cons: Primo Central citation is not editable, eBook collection needs to be maintained manually in SFX

When eBooks come from Primo Central
- eBook citations from active eBook collections (Ingram, ebrary, etc.) are returned in the Primo search results
- eBook citations are remote records; Ex Libris receives these citations from the vendor and transforms them into PNX records that are stored and accessed in the Cloud
- If eBook citations come from both the ILS and Primo Central, they will not be de-duplicated
- In most cases Primo uses the citation data to form an OpenURL, and a link resolver generates the link to the eBook In other cases the vendor provides the direct link in the citation
- Primo Central uses the institutional_holdings.xml file from SFX to determine eBook availability
- To configure eBooks from Primo Central, the eBook target, target service and portfolios must be activated in SFX, and the Google Scholar export scheduled to run on a weekly basis. The specific eBook collections will also need to be active in Primo Central

Additional Information

KCS #42392 Create SFX Institutional Holdings for Primo Central
KCS #2184 Include e-books in Google Scholar Export
KCS #22188 Are EBSCO e-Books Included in Primo Search Results?

Category: Configuration