Revisiting Primo Normalization Rules in the Context of Aleph to Alma Migration and PCI Implementation at the University of Minnesota

Abstract

Although the University of Minnesota Libraries implemented Primo in 2007, many faculty, students, and library staff preferred to continue using MNCAT Classic (the Aleph OPAC) to provide more reliable known-item searching, title/author/subject browsing, and better support for complex and sophisticated searches. With migration to Alma in December 2013, MNCAT Classic was decommissioned, and Primo became the sole catalog interface. At the same time, the Primo Central Index and a blended search were implemented for the first time. This presentation will discuss how responses gathered from MNCAT Classic users, MNCAT Classic usage data, review of Aleph OPAC indexing, the intricacies of Alma/Primo interoperability, and the implementation of Primo Central guided reevaluation and revision of Primo MARC normalization rules before migration to Alma. It will also discuss how public and staff feedback during the first few months of the live Primo/Alma environment are influencing ongoing local changes in both systems.