Managing Local Customizations in Primo (Without a Safety Net)

Abstract

Since implementing Primo in 2011, the University of Kansas Libraries have made a number of complex changes to their indexed data sources. We have over 5.4 million local records indexed in Primo, yet we’ve worked with a very small core team (3 – 4 people) post-implementation. Much of our early work on changing Primo views and normalization rules was done on a very ad-hoc basis – and without a sandbox or test environment! From implementing our first set of lateral links, to aligning local and Primo Central resource types, to many other normalization rules changes - and even some experimental deDuping and “de-FRBRing” -- we’ve learned some lessons along the way about making, testing, and documenting local changes. In this session, we’ll share some of what we’ve learned about testing and tracking changes to normalization rule sets and mapping/code tables.