October 27, 2008
New functionalities further enhance Primo flexibility, enabling libraries to tailor the application to meet institutional and user discovery and delivery needs
Ex Libris™ Group is pleased to announce the general release of version 2.1 of the Primo® discovery and delivery solution. New functionality contained in version 2.1 is a result of continued collaboration with the international Primo user community, currently over 100 strong, spanning 15 countries and four continents, and growing rapidly.
Some highlights of this version include:
Enhanced user interface customization options: New functionalities allow libraries to configure the user interfaces of their home page and display pages through the use of CSS and the Primo back office layout editor. The layout editor enables customers to ”drag and drop” tiles to the location they want on the page or to create customized tiles. Primo DeskBar and Search Box enable users to search library material from their desktops while working on other applications without opening Primo or even a full internet browser. Institutional customization is automatically retained as the library upgrades to new versions of the Primo application.
Increased front end functionality:
New features include ranked result sets, blended from multiple deep-search nodes, the local index, and remote search; and push to EndNote Web, which enables users to save records from Primo to their EndNote Web account.
Enhanced availability information:
Primo now enables users to see the availability status of items that they are searching for in a specific library rather than the status of the item in the entire institution. All of the optional locations can be displayed in a bubble or in an expand/collapse user interface component in the brief display screen.
Extended enrichment features: Institutions can configure Primo to present book covers from multiple sources (e.g., Amazon, Google Book Search, Syndetics Solutions, and other sources). If one of these sources has a book cover for the specific result, Primo will present the book cover from the appropriate source. Institutions may also choose to import Indexed Content Enrichment (such as tables of contents or abstracts) from external sources using plug-in architecture. Libraries also have the freedom to develop their own plug-in components for adding other enrichment sources.
Ex Libris open platform: Primo customers will be offered with even more APIs for the development of unique code for extending the institution’s Primo application. Developed code can be shared across the Primo community via the EL Commons Web site.
”We are very excited about the enhancements which will be available in version 2.1 of Primo,” Pascal V. Calarco, head of library systems at the University of Notre Dame commented. ”The ability to configure the tiles’ location in Primo’s user interface as well as the ability to add customer defined tiles will be a particularly valuable enhancement for our users.”
”Primo version 2.1, featuring a huge range of enhancements, is an important milestone for the company and our customers.” Gilad Gal, Primo product manager at Ex Libris, commented. ”We are privileged to have such a strong and collaborative international customer base to help us identify the new features included in this version, which is focused on further enhancing the flexibility of the product.”
About the University of Notre Dame:
The University of Notre Dame is a national Catholic research university that provides a distinctive voice in higher education that is at once rigorously intellectual, unapologetically moral in orientation, and firmly embracing of a service ethos. The Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame include the 14-story Theodore M. Hesburgh Library and nine branch libraries. With the Kresge Law Library, the Hesburgh Libraries contain over 3.3 million volumes, 68,000 serials, nearly 4 million microform units and 35,000 audiovisual items.
For additional information on the University of Notre Dame, see http://nd.edu/
About Ex Libris
Ex Libris is a leading provider of automation solutions for academic libraries. Offering the only comprehensive product suite for electronic, digital, and print materials, Ex Libris provides efficient, user-friendly products that serve the needs of libraries today and will enable them to transition into the future. Ex Libris maintains an impressive customer base consisting of thousands of sites in more than 70 countries on six continents.
Dedicated to developing creative solutions in close collaboration with our customers, Ex Libris enables academic, national, and research libraries to maximize productivity and efficiency and, at the same time, greatly enhance the user experience. By empowering users to discover and obtain the information they need, libraries ensure their position as the bridge to knowledge.
For additional information on Ex Libris Group, see http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/.
