The purpose of this web page is to provide transparency for the Ontario colleges about OCLS's e-resource management practices in the Network Zone.
The ERM Practices are a living document and a collaboration between OCLS and the eResources Steering Committee (ESC). New practices will be added to this page and updates to existing practices will be made as new circumstances arise and with approval of the ESC.
When adding a new collection to the NZ, OCLS will follow this order of preference:
OCLS will move to next step in the hierarchy when there is no collection available or when the available option is unacceptable. We will use our best judgment to determine what qualifies as “unacceptable.” We will consider access and discoverability in Primo and we will take college feedback into consideration. In the event of uncertainty, OCLS will consult with the ESC.
For e-resources that can’t be discoverable by title or item level (e.g., directories, bibliographies, abstract/indexes, 3D imaging tools; identified here as “databases”), but do have some high-level permalinks (e.g., direct URLs to each module, product, or collection on the platform), there are two methods for access in Alma/Primo:
For example, ReferenceGroup directories can be accessed from the platform landing page, or by direct URL (e.g., to the White Pages directory, the Businesses directory, etc.)
Per Practice 1, OCLS will activate the CZ collection(s) available regardless of which of the two methods above is employed.
If OCLS creates a local collection instead, we will use information about the e-resource in ConsortiaManager to guide our decision-making about which method to use. In the event of uncertainty, we will consult with the subscribing colleges for guidance.
Whether OCLS has activated CZ collections or created ones locally, if a college requests that we use the alternate method for any given e-resource, we will create new collection(s) locally for that college and offer other subscribing colleges the choice between the two options.
Decisions about changes to NZ collections for French eresources will be made in consultation with Boréal and/or La Cité directly and exclusively rather than by involving the ESC.
If there’s any uncertainty about whether other colleges might in the future be interested in the resource (e.g., it’s not exclusively a French-language resource or it’s a French language learning resource), then OCLS will consult with the ESC for guidance.
OCLS will consider the following factors when naming local collections.
OCLS will announce new local collections to the subscribing colleges – either on the eResources listserv or else to the colleges' Page 1+ ERM Contact directly, depending on the number of subscribers – as well as the ESC.
In the event of uncertainty, OCLS will consult with the ESC and subscribing colleges prior to making the new collection available in Primo.
OCLS will append local vendor records and electronic collections with "(OCLS).” For the electronic collections, we will override the title to exclude the reference to OCLS in Primo.
Screenshot of fields in the Electronic Collection Editor in the Alma NZ:
Screenshot of record heading in Primo:
In CDI, ebooks are indexed at the title and chapter level. (As opposed to e.g., e-journals, which are only indexed at the article level.) Because ebooks are also indexed at the title level in Alma (as portfolios in package collections), Primo returns duplicate records for ebook titles. (Exceptions apply; the foregoing describes typical Alma/Primo behaviour.)
ExLibris suggests two optional methods to eliminate the duplication of ebook titles in Primo: the “Do not show as Full Text available in CDI even if active in Alma” field at the collection level (a.k.a. the “Suppress CDI eBooks” option), which also has the effect of suppressing item records for that collection from Primo; and the “Exclude CDI eBooks” Primo search configuration parameter, which doesn’t have any effect on item records.
More information is available in the ExLibris Knowledge Center article, eBooks in Discovery.
OCLS will not use the Suppress CDI eBooks option to eliminate ebook duplication because of its adverse impact on item-level discoverability and access.
Colleges may use the Exclude CDI eBooks option in their IZ. See “e-Resources in Alma: Troubleshooting“ in the Alma & Primo Guide for more information.
By default, package collections are not discoverable in Primo by collection name.
For example, a Primo user can find a link to Academic Search Premier by searching for a journal or article in that collection, but not by searching by name, “Academic Search Premier."
OCLS will adhere to this default behaviour in the NZ and local package collections will either be created without a collection-level MARC record (“bib”) or with a suppressed bib.
Options for colleges to enable platform-level access for package collections in their IZ are set out under "eResources in Alma: Activating & Managing“ in the Alma & Primo Guide.
In “Briefing Note 13: Unsuppressing Record Names for Electronic Collections in the NZ” (Aug 2022), the eResources/Acquisitions Subcommittee of the Page 1+ Implementation Project recommended that OCLS reverse the default Alma/Primo behaviour described above by un-suppressing collection-level bibs for CZ package collections. Their objective was for the Page 1+ colleges to be able to use Primo as a replacement for the traditional “A to Z” library web page.
OCLS’s preliminary tests to make collection-level records discoverable in Primo were not successful and indicated that even if it could be possible for some collections (further testing required), it would not be for the ~50% of NZ collections that require linking parameters.
In re-consultation with the Subcommittee (Dec 2022), the decision was made to accept the Alma/Primo default rather than pursue a partial fix.