1. Primo at the British Library Mandy Stewart

2. www.bl.uk 2 About the British Library The British Library is the National Library of the UK It is a world-class cultural and intellectual resource serving the needs of today’s researchers It is also the custodian of the UK’s written and spoken heritage

3. www.bl.uk 3 About the British Library The collection includes well over 150 million items, in most known languages Each year: –Six million searches are generated by the British Library online catalogue –Nearly 400,000 people visit our Reading Rooms

4. www.bl.uk 4 Current Strategic Priorities 2011 to 2015 Guarantee access for future generations Enable access to everyone who wants to do research Support research communities in key areas for social and economic benefit Enrich the cultural life of the nation Lead and collaborate to grow the world’s knowledge base

5. www.bl.uk 5 Strategic Priority 2 in 2008 Connect our users with content “We need to look beyond the traditional library catalogue, exposing our collection to wider audiences, taking account of the interests of rights holders, and allowing users to shape and personalise their research, connecting users with content, content with content and, ultimately, users with other users.”

6. www.bl.uk 6 Strategic Priorities in 2008 Developing strategy for next generation of discovery and access services to library collections and research information What do users want? Larger aggregations of data Single point of discovery Integration with delivery and access services Interaction with our content

7. www.bl.uk 7 Why the British Library chose Primo Primo was a 1 st step in implementing new search and navigation technologies: Offered functionality we needed for new core services Promise of scalability Community dialogue on development path – Product Working Group To try out new models of digital discovery and access services Experience of working with Ex-Libris on Aleph gave us confidence that they understand [some of] the British Library’s needs

8. www.bl.uk 8 Getting User Feedback Sessions arranged to ask for feedback from groups of users: Post graduate students – would they use it? Reading Room Focus Groups – reaction to the change Specialist testing laboratory – how do they use it?

9. www.bl.uk 9 Primo Planning Project plan phased to account for: New releases of software – more frequent than usual Addition of new data sets Development of new functionality Improvements to Web 2.0 capabilities These changes led to a situation of “permanent beta” (or continuous improvement) for the project

10. www.bl.uk 10 Content in Explore the British Library 10 Data has now been harvested into Explore the British Library from the following sources and totals 63 million records: Electronic Table Of Contents article records Aleph records Sound Archive records SFX Knowledge Base Content Management System eJournal Articles Trade Literature Web Archive

11. www.bl.uk 11 Catalogues in Primo – Related Material Types 11 ILS Catalogue incorporates: Sound Archive Web Archive Research Datasets Electronic Resources (SFX) Digital Library Material TypeSource catalogue Archived Websites Books Journals Audio visual Scores Maps Images Newspapers Research Datasets Newspaper Library BNB Catalogue Document Supply Articles Content Management System Electronic Table of Contents Other BL Web pages Reports Theses

12. www.bl.uk 12 Source and delivery systems 12 ILS Catalogue incorporates: Sound Archive Web Archive Research Datasets Electronic Resources (SFX) Digital Library Source catalogue Newspaper Library BNB Catalogue Document Supply Explore the British Library BL Website Web Sound Archive requesting Delivery system Reading Room Request SFXSFX Subscribed Digital Library System Remote Supply Content Management System Electronic Table of Contents EThOS

13. www.bl.uk 13 Goodbye to the Aleph OPAC January 2012 the old Aleph OPAC was switched off Extensive communications and training were carried out for staff and customers It was still a shock! However Reader Satisfaction Survey results in December 2012 showed levels of satisfaction back up to pre switch off levels

14. www.bl.uk 14 Archives and Manuscripts Search Our Catalogue Archives and Manuscripts: This is a separate implementation of Primo An in-house developed cataloguing system for archives and manuscripts material provides data to Primo Data migration from legacy systems was a complex and challenging task Special requirements to provide a hierarchical view of data now in progress User Panel provided testing and feedback Now provides access to 3 million Archive and Manuscript records via Primo September 2012 old system (MOLCAT) switched off 14

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16. www.bl.uk 16 Primo Implementation: What went well The user experience! Generally good feedback on better search experience Access to much more of the British Library collections from one place My Workspace - users like this compared to the previous OPAC arrangements Configuration flexibility Data loading – has improved with new releases and our experience with multiple loads has improved our expertise 16

17. www.bl.uk 17 Primo Implementation: What we learned Continuous improvement or permanent beta is a cultural shift for staff Primo exposes errors in data and poor consistency across catalogues Moving to a single search across all content forces a review of some of our cataloguing practices Complete user experience of discovery to delivery needs to be considered at all times 17

18. www.bl.uk 18 Current developments Spring 2014 will see the opening of a new News and Media Reading Room at St Pancras Print, microfilm and digitised newspapers will be available via Explore the British Library The British Library does not have full coverage in all formats Customers will be directed to digital content first then microfilm then print, managed our ordering system Access to the BBC Archives will be available within the News and Media Reading Room

19. www.bl.uk 19 Current Developments The British Library has harvested the whole of the UK Web Domain (20.84Terrabites) which is now available via its own separate search system A full text search will be available via Explore the British Library for Reading Room customers by the end of 2013 Primo Central Implementation of Primo Central is in progress

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21. www.bl.uk 21 Thank you – any questions? mandy.stewart@bl.uk