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Page 1+ Ex Libris Library System: Primo VE Customizations & Alma Integrations

Common Primo VE customizations & Alma integrations

IMPORTANT! BEFORE YOU START

Before you start, make a back up copy, or record the original configuration!! <-- the exclamation points mean that I am very serious

To make a copy:

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Duplicate
  3. Name the copy

Some of these changes need to be done in the customization package.  If you need help with this, refer to the recorded Study Group Session or the written instructions.

Some of the integrations need an API key.  An API key is a computer password that you add to a 3rd party system like Springshare, that tells Alma that it's safe to talk to this 3rd party system.  You can generate them here.  If you are new to API keys, instructions are here.

This Libguide was created on-the-fly to help the CLO-18 colleges with their Primo VE implementation and Alma integrations (CLO Libguide is here).  There may be typos and other errors, but please send serious errors to me.  As you may know, I worked at Bibliocentre for many years (the pre-OCLS consortium headquarters) and still very much support the idea of the consortium, so if you need help with any of this stuff, contact me.

Lastly, yes, I know it's chaotic to have all these items on one page, but that is intentional so that you can save an offline copy. Am hoping there is enough info here that you can use your browser's search function to find what you're looking for,

Library logo

The logo must be a .png or .svg file, with maximum size 100px height by 300px width, and maximum file size of 30 KB.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Upload Logo File <-- upload file
  5. Logo Clickable URL <-- when users click the logo, redirect to this URL

You can also save the logo as library-logo.png and place it in the /img file of the customization package.

Change the content on the home page

You'll need to know HTML, or use an HTML editor to open and edit the homepage_en.html file.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify /html/homepage/homepage_en.html
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

You do not have to keep the home page boxes or even preserve the box structure.  You can delete everything in the homepage_en.html file and replace it with your own HTML code.

CLSP Study Group session on Primo configuration.

Change any label

Configuration > Discovery > (Display Configuration) Labels

  • Search for the text you want to replace:  
  • Change the "Search for Labels" dropdown option to "Description".
  • Enter the current label. 
  • Click the three dots (...) and "Edit" the table.  If the label appears in several tables, you will need to look at each table to identify the specific label you want to change.  Refer to this Ex Libris documentation.
  • On the next page, use the browser's search function to find the text you want to change. 
  • Enter your new text in the "Description" field, and Save.

Some labels to consider changing:

Change the favicon

The favicon is that tiny image that appears in the browser tab, next to the browser tab name (you can change the name by changing the label, see instructions for "Change any label" on this page, label code = "main.title").

The favicon must be 16px by 16px, and saved as favicon.ico.  The .png file gets saved to the /img folder in the customization package.

favicon image in browser tab

 

Options in top bar (Browse, Journal Search, etc.)

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. tab = Links Menu
  4. turn on/off and edit options

Sidebar: Locations repeating? Add Library name to Location

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. tab = Brief Results
  4. In the "Facets" section, find "Location", click the three dots (...) and Edit
  5. In the "Edit Facet Slots" screen, click on "Display Library Name" and "Done"

 

Remove Logo Padding

To "embiggen" your logo, you can remove the logo padding.  Add the code below to /css/custom1.css.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify  /css/custom1.css
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package".
    /* remove logo padding */
    prm-logo .product-logo, prm-logo img {
     padding: 0em;
    }

Re-order citation styles

  1. Configuration Menu > Discovery > Other > Citations Styles
  2. Edit each style to change the "Order"

To add citation styles: ExL documentation

Add advanced search facets to basic/simple search

You can add advanced search facets to the basic/simple search, e.g. see the search bar at Baylor University.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Advanced Search Configuration
  4. At the top of each option, click on "Enable For Basic Search"

 

Display location of items at other colleges

The search at Centennial is set up to display results from other colleges only if the Search Scope = "All Ontario Colleges"  In the side bar, the number of results from other colleges are displayed separately from the Centennial results.  When you click on an item from another college, the name of the college appears, as in this sample search.  

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views > (tab) General
  2. Scroll to the bottom, "Discovery network settings".
  3. Click "Display location from member institutions."  This option indicates which college owns the item.
  4. "Include member in institution physical inventory facets", choose "Only in cross institution search."  This option ensures that the other colleges appear in the results only if the user chooses the "All Ontario colleges" search scope.
  5. "Library Facet", choose "Display member libraries separately".  This option ensures that in the sidebar, your college's results are separate from the results from other colleges.
  6. Related optional change: in this same Libguide page, search for: Collapse the list of colleges in "Get it at other institutions" 

Alma configuration

Add a reply-to email address to letters

  1. Configuration > General > (Libraries) Add a Library or Edit Library Information
  2. tab = Contact Information
  3. scroll down to "Email Addresses" and add email address

Helpful ExLibris video (1:45 run time).

EBSCO, Gale, Proquest, and other collections need client IDs to work

SpineOmatic spine labeller

  1. Add access to Alma Cloud Apps.
  2. Get SpineOmatic from the cloud apps feature in Alma, and install it on your PC.
  3. Generate an API key for "Bibs" either Read/Write or Read Only permissions.  If you are new to APIs, instructions on how to get a key are here.
  4. In the SpineOmatic desktop app, you will add the API key and choose these options:
    "Use RESTful API"
    Alma URL: https://api-ca.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com 
    Method: (leave as is)

More help:

Google Scholar

OASIS integration

Study Group session for this integration.


Generate an API key for "Acquisitions" with read/write, and "Configuration" with read-only.

Open a Support Portal call and send them the API key with your request to set up Oasis integration.

The vendor will need:

> Supplier ID
This is the "Code" for Oasis in: Acquisitions > Vendors

> Customer Order API ID
This is the "Code" of the Oasis integration profile at: Configuration > General > Integration Profiles

> "owning code"
This is the location for receiving items.  If multiple Libraries in Alma can receive and process items, the vendor can create a drop-down list for you in Oasis to choose the Library for each order.  If you receive and process at a central Library like Centennial does, i.e. you have only one "owning code", they will hardcode it in Oasis for you so that you can skip that annoying step of choosing a Library for each order.

ProQuest Support can see your current Oasis fund and location codes.  These codes must be in upper-case. If there are any new ones that are not now in Oasis, you will need to send them a list in a spreadsheet with that information.  The system can also pass reporting codes from Oasis to Alma, so if you want those included, you must add the to them spreadsheet as well.

More information in the ExLibris documentation.

ProQuest Support will contact you to schedule a testing time.  For the test, you will order an item in Oasis as usual, and send the ISBN and title to ProQuest Support so that they can monitor the API call.  After a couple of minutes, you check Alma for the new POL (e.g. search "Order lines" for the title). If the POL looks good, ProQuest Support will cancel the Oasis order, and you can delete the POL from Alma.

EBSCONET integration

Study Group session for this integration.

If you don't see the "ILS Integration" option in the EBSCONET drop-down menu, you'll need to ask your EBSCO rep to have it added.

Publishing Holdings to Oasis and GOBI

Study Group session for this integration.


SUNY Libguide and direct links:

Depending on your security settings, you may have to add new FTP servers to 

  Configuration > General > External Systems > Allowed S/FTP Connections

Connect the link resolver to EBSCO

Add course reserves

Hide "Search Inside" feature for journals

Add this code to the custom1.css file.

/** Hide "Search Inside" for journals **/
 prm-search-within-journal {display: none;}
 .search-within-p-only {display:none;}


Hide the feature for print-only titles.

/** Hide "Search Inside" for print journals **/
.search-within-p-only {display:none;}

RSS publishing

Add a persistent banner to the search results page

The Resource Recommender feature is limited because the suggested resources pop up only if the search matches the exact character string in the Tags, but the Banner option can be useful, as you can set it to appear for any search.

   Configuration > Discovery > (Other) > Resource Recommender Configuration > Banner

ExL documentation.

Add Collections

You can see examples in Centennial's account.  

For this collection, the titles were added from an Alma "Set".  Once the titles are added, you can edit the title list manually by adding and removing titles.  Optionally, you can add all titles manually.  Note that if you use a Set, even a logical set, new items must be added manually (“Alma does not support dynamic collections/sub-collections. This means that it does not add titles automatically when logical sets are updated.”).

1.  Resources > (Manage Inventory_ Manage Collections > Add Top-Level Collection

2.  Enter Title, Name, Description, Library, and a thumbnail image that is less than 100 KB in JPG, PNG of GIF.  "Save" the collection.

3. Click (...) to "Edit" the collection.

4.  In the "Title List" tab, you can "Add Title" or "Add Titles from Set".  To create a new Set, enter an item search in the top bar, and click "Save and Filter Query" to save the new Set.

5.  Once your titles are added, you can edit them by adding more or removing some.  Click "Save".

6.  To make your collections appear in Primo VE, 

Configuration > Discovery > (Display Configuration) Configure Views > (choose View) > (...) > Edit > Links Menu (tab) > Collection Discovery (toggle to ON)

You can change the label here.  At Centennial, we changed it from "Collections Discovery" to "Special Collections & Exhibits".


Ex Libris documentation.

St. Lawrence College's CSS and JS files

St. Lawrence College has made their custom1.css and custom.js files available here:

https://codeberg.org/slclibraries/slc_page1plus

Bookmarklets for troubleshooting Primo VE issues

IGeLU (International Group of Ex Libris Users) created this site with useful bookmarklets for troubleshooting Primo VE issues.

The UResolver Debug View, available in the Chrome store, created by Jeff Peterson at the University of Minnesota, is useful for the "View It" option in Alma.  In your "View It" window, there will be a bug icon in the top left.  Click it to see the underlying code when checking your links. 

Suppress "Request other issue" in the full record

In the full record, you may see an option to "Request other issue".  The option appears in the full record if the item has a description or the resource holding has a summary holdings field. The feature enables patrons to request items that may have not been cataloged.

To suppress the feature, 

   Configuration > Fulfillment > (Discovery Interface Display Logic) Display Logic Rules

Add a rule:

   hide service =  General Hold Request

The documentation explains that

> General hold request – Request to have an item held at a circulation desk when the holdings record is empty or request an issue for a journal regardless of whether any of its issues have been cataloged. For more information on general hold requests, see Creating a General Hold Request.

which is different from a

> Hold request – Request to have an item held at a circulation desk.

Remove background colour in "APPLY FILTERS" for search option

To remove the background colour for the APPLY FILTERS button on your search screen, add this code to your custom1.css file:

/* remove APPLY FILTERS background colour */
    .prm-positive-bg, .multiselect-submit .multiselect-submit-inner .md-button.md-primary {
      background-color: #e9e9e9; }

Add OCLS CLEAR Usage Rights

Prevent users from changing My Library Account profile info

  1. Configuration Menu > General > (General Configuration section) Other Settings
  2. Set "primo_patron_info_updatable" parameter to "N"
  3. Click "Save"

Add public notes to the full display record

Sidebar: change order of results

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. tab = Brief Record Display
  4. change the "Sort Type" option
  5. move options up or down to re-order

Sidebar: add a date filter for new items

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views > (tab) Brief Results
  2. section = "Facet"
  3. entry = "New Records"
  4. Slide the switch to on position.

If your records are in the NZ, the date reflects when the record was added to the NZ.

Primo VE date filter

Remove Refworks option from Menu drop-down list

If you are not using Refworks at all, you can deactivate it.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. tab = Brief Record Display
  4. slide the Refworks tab to deactivate it - the option will no longer appear in the full record display

If you want to remove the option from just the top drop-down menu, but keep it in the full record display, you'll need to add this code to the custom1.css file.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify /css/custom1.css
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

   /* remove Refworks from menu dropdown */

   .my-refworks-ctm {
   display: none;
   }

   .my-refworks-separator-ctm {
   display: none;
   }

Remove the yellow "Sign in" bar

To remove the yellow "Sign in" bar, add this code to the custom1.css file.  Note that if you remove the "Sign in" bar, it will not appear on the results screen, but also will not appear in the full item record.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify /css/custom1.css
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

  /* remove yellow Sign In bar */

.alert-bar {
display:none;
}

Add askON

To add the askON pop-up, you'll need to download the customization package and edit /js/custom.js

Change the highlight below to reflect your college's askON URL.  You can get this information from OCLS, or if you have the askON chat widget in your Libguides, from Libguides > Admin > Look & Feel > Custom CSS/JS (tab).  Look for this line: 
x.src = (document.location.protocol === "https:" ? "https://" : "http://") + "ca.libraryh3lp.com/js/libraryh3lp.js?507";


/*----------below is the code for LibraryH3lp-----------*/
var needsJs = document.createElement('div');
needsJs.setAttribute('class', 'needs-js');
document.body.appendChild(needsJs);

var s = document.createElement('script');
s.id = 'localScript';
s.src = 'https://ca.libraryh3lp.com/js/libraryh3lp.js?507';
document.body.appendChild(s);
/*---------------LibraryH3lp code ends here---------------*/

Collapse the list of colleges in "Get it at other institutions"

In the full record of Course Reserves items, Discovery Network results appear. You may not be able to suppress the Discovery Network results entirely, but you can at least collapse the list of colleges.

Related change: search this Libguide page for "Display location of items at other colleges".

Add this code to your custom.js file:


var app = angular.module('viewCustom', ['angularLoad']);

/*collapse Get It at Other Institutions*/
app.component("prmAlmaOtherMembersAfter", {
  bindings: {
    parentCtrl: "<",
  },
  controller: [
    function() {
      var ctrl = this;
 
      this.$onInit = function(){
        {
          ctrl.parentCtrl.isCollapsed = true;
        }
      };
    },
  ],
});

Primo VE search widget to embed on web pages

Find your code in this Basecamp link.

Change the highlighted portions below.

  1. The first highlight is your Primo VE base URL.
  2. The second highlight is your view (see the name in: Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views)
  3. The last set of highlights is for changes to the labels, colour, and formatting.

More information here like changing the search scope, etc.


<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<!-- Script that converts the query string into valid parameter -->
<script type="text/javascript">
function searchPrimo() {
document.getElementById("primoQuery").value = "any,contains," + document.getElementById("primoQueryTemp").value;
document.forms["searchForm"].submit();
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<!-- Fill in Highlighted Parameters -->
<form id="simple" name="searchForm" method="get" target="_self" action="https://librarysearch.centennialcollege.ca/discovery/search" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=utf-8" onsubmit="searchPrimo()">
<input type="hidden" name="vid" value="01OCLS_CENTENN:CENTENN">
<input type="hidden" name="tab" value="Everything">
<input type="hidden" name="search_scope" value="MyInst_and_CI">
<input type="hidden" name="lang" value="en">
<!-- Fixed parameters -->
<input type="hidden" name="query" id="primoQuery">
<input type="text" id="primoQueryTemp" placeholder="enter keywords" value="" size="20">
<!-- Search Button -->
<input id="go" title="LibrarySearch" onclick="searchPrimo()" type="button" value="LibrarySearch" alt="LibrarySearch" style="height: 25px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; background: #00a4a2; color: #ffffff; border: 1px solid;">
</form>
</body>
</html>


     The code above produces this search bar.

 

 

     This search bar has modified code.

Find books, articles, videos, and more.
 

 

Springshare integration

Springshare integration is for LibConnect and Pickup Manager.  If you want to harvest Libguides and the Springshare A-Z database list into Primo VE., see the box on this page called, "Repository metadata harvesting: Libguides".

ILS Integration: Connect your ILS to LibApps > Connect with Ex Libris Alma

You'll need to generate an API key but the work is straightforward from there.

Repository metadata harvesting: Libguides and Springshare AtoZ database list

Configuration Form > Primo VE - Digital Repository > Provide OAI URL of the repository

Find your OAI information in the Libguides admin module: Your Libguides OAI info lives here:

To import Libguides and your Springshare A-Z database list if desired, use these instructions, or these instructions.

If you want Libguides or AtoZ databases to appear as an option in the Resource Type limiter list, you’ll need to add local fields for these new resource types.

> Create local fields that you can use to... filter search results

Add Oasis "Check Availability & Pricing" integration

Study Group session for this integration.


Open a Support Portal case for the Oasis product and

  1.  request an API key for the Alma "Check Availability and Pricing" integration
  2.  list your campus IP addresses

Once you get your API key, in Alma

  1. Acquisitions > Vendor
  2. Search for, or add vendor = Oasis
  3. tab = Systems Integration
  4. Click "Availability and Pricing"
  5. "System Type" = "OASIS"
  6. Enter API key and "Save".

Helpful video (3:30 minutes) & ExL documentation.

Syndetics Unbound

To see a record with Syndetics Unbound metadata, in the full record, click on "EXPLORE".  You may need to wait a few seconds for the option to appear.

Create Syndetics widgets & see examples

Other resources

KBART: Elsevier, Ovid, Springer, Wiley, Taylor & Francis integration

1.  A note about Wiley:  The first time you run the job, you may get a message that the holdings file is not available.  From the Alma listserv:

> Our autoholdings uploaded successfully after  Wiley generated the institutional KBART reports at 2am PT last Saturday.  When it did not last week I got this message “The holdings files for the token value entered in the Wiley integration profile are not yet available.”  [If it's not working] I’d double check the token or wait til next Monday to run it again.

2.  Also note that you'll need to activate the KBART collections again after Go-Live, as none of the new activations will survive cut-over.

3.  Reminder: you will need to add a parameter to the Ovid collections in the "Edit Service" option:
      Edit Service > (tab) Linking > (Linking Parser Parameters) IPAUTH = yes

4. UPDATE 

The full list of vendors is:

  1. Elsevier
  2. JSTOR
  3. Ovid
  4. Project MUSE
  5. ProQuest Ebook Central
  6. Springer 
  7. Taylor & Francis
  8. Wiley

Increase the font of the login box

Add to your custom1.css file:


/* increase font weight for login box */

prm-stand-alone-login h2, prm-stand-alone-login h3 {
  font-weight: 500 !important;
}

Grant permissions to the ProQuest Support Portal

This is how to grant permissions to another user to give them access to your college account in the ProQuest Support Portal. These instructions assume you have Portal access.

1.  Register the new user at https://support.proquest.com/s/register?language=en_US
2.  You login to the Support Portal and go to Additional Actions > Grant Permissions
Enter the new user's information.  The new user will receive an email asking them to login and change their password, etc.

Mendeley configuration for Primo VE

ExLibris documentation.

Refer to the ExLibris instructions, but here are the basic steps:

1. Create a Mendeley account at https://dev.mendeley.com/myapps.html

2. In Alma, change these settings:

   Configuration>Discovery > Other > Customer Settings

  • mendeley_application_id,
  • mendeley_secret
  • mendeley_redirect_uri

mendeley_application_id = the number that is assigned by Mendeley for your newly created profile. In Mendeley, click on "My Apps" to see it.

mendeley_secret = the API key generated by Mendeley

mendeley_redirect_uri template (substitute with your data)= http://mycollege.com/primaws/mendeleyPost?vid=01OCLS_MYCOLLEGE:MYVIEW

 

Add Unpaywall links to Primo VE records

Move Unpaywall to top of full record display

Instructions from Harvard.

Add

  • Service Type = Open Access
  • Service Name = Open Access

Add search within full text feature to Primo VE

See the feature here in the left side panel, Expand my results > Search within full text

  1. Configuration > Discovery > (Search Configuration) Search Profiles
  2. Choose any profile with the Central Index, e.g. CentralIndex, MyInst_and_CI
  3. Click the three dots (...) > Edit > (List of Scopes included in the Search Profile) > choose an entry 
  4. Click the three dots (...) > Edit > Edit FT search configuration

Your options are

  • Yes, always (always on, user can't turn off)
  • Yes, per end-user selection (default is on, but user can turn off)
  • No, always (always off, user cannot turn on, i.e. hidden)
  • No, end-user selection (default is off, but user can turn on)

Save your settings.

ExL documentation.

Add a footer to Primo VE

Ex Libris instructions here [PPTX download]

Add an alert to the Primo VE search screen

Librarian

Profile Photo
Eva McDonald
Contact:
Centennial College
P.O. Box 631, Station A
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M1K 5E9
416-289-5000
Website
Subjects: General

Change colours

If you know CSS, ExL has a guide here identifying the page elements.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify /css/custom1.css
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

If you would rather not use CSS, use Primo Studio. There is a description here of each of the colour fields.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Click "Go to Primo Studio"
  5. Make your colour changes and click "Update theme"
  6. Info here from the official ExL documentation.
  7. Once you are happy with the result, click "Download"
  8. Go back to the "Manage Customization Package" tab and go to "Upload Package".  Upload the "Customization Package".
  9. It may take a few minutes for your changes to show up.

Add a background image to the home page

To add a background image to your home page (see example), add this code at the top of the homepage_en.html file.  The image must be in .PNG format and hosted on a web server so that you can see the image if you go directly to the URL.

Choose an image that looks seamless repeated horizontally and vertically, because depending on the user's display settings, the repetition may appear tiled instead of seamlessly repeated.

If you are using a large image like a photograph, instead of an all-over wallpaper pattern, the code is below. 

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify  /html/homepage/homepage_en.html
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

<!--add background image to main page-->

<style>
  body{
    background-image:url("https://someurl.com/image.png");
    background-repeat: repeat;
  }
</style>


<!--if using a photograph, use this code instead-->

<style>
  body{
    background-image:url("https://someurl.com/image.png");
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-attachment: fixed;
    background-size: cover;
  }
</style>

Add a background image to the brief results screen

This customization has not been tested for accessibility.  The image must be in .PNG format and hosted on a web server so that you can see the image if you go directly to the URL.

Add the code below to /css/custom1.css.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify  /css/custom1.css
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

Search /css/custom1.css for the section of code that starts with: prm-background, html, body, prm-search

The original code is in red.  Add the rest of the code and change the sections highlighted in yellow.

 .card-content-block {
  background-color: #e9e9e9;
  border-color: #e1e1e1;

  background-image:url("https://someurl.com/backgroundimage.png");
  background-repeat;
  background-attachment: local;

 }

Add an image to the search bar

If you've created a skin like this example, but do not want to add the background to the results screen (e.g. because the background will obscure the functions), you can remind users of the theme by adding a small image to the search bar.  This image is hidden/disappears in the mobile view.  The image must be in .PNG format and hosted on a web server so that you can see the image if you go directly to the URL.

Add the code below to /css/custom1.css.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Modify  /css/custom1.css
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

Search /css/custom1.css for the section of code that starts with: prm-primary-bg

The original code is in red.  Add the rest of the code and change the sections highlighted in yellow.


.prm-primary-bg, prm-spinner.overlay-cover.light-on-dark:after, prm-search-bar, prm-atoz-search-bar, prm-browse-search-bar, prm-tags-search-bar, prm-newspapers-search-bar, prm-collection-gallery-header .collection-header-inner, prm-tree-nav prm-spinner .diamond {
  color: white;
  background-color: #00a4a2; 

  background-image: url("https://someurl.com/image.png");
  background-origin: content-box;
  background-repeat: no-repeat;
  background-size: 100px 31px;
  background-attachment: local;
  background-position: calc(100% - 20px) right;

}

Change highlight colour

Add this code, courtesy of Daniel Gloor at Humber, to your custom.js file:

/*** Custom highlight colour for search terms ***/
.text-highlight, mark {
    box-shadow: inset 0 -0.15em 0 0 #333;
}

/*** Custom colour for cursor highlight ***/
::selection {
    background: #efeee6;
}

Change the Primo VE shortcut icon for Android/iOS devices

The image must be 150px by 150px and saved in the customization package.  Save as home-screen-icon.png in the /img subdirectory.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = Manage Customization Package
  4. Download "Current View Customization Package".  If this does not exist, download "Template View Customization Package".
  5. Unzip the package (Extract all files).
  6. Add your home-screen-icon.png to the /img subfolder.
  7. Zip up the package and re-load it.  On the "Manage Customization Package", go to "Upload Package", and add the "Customization Package"

 

Add radio buttons for scopes to the search widget

HTML code courtesy of Lingling Jiang of Sheridan.  The code is for the hompage_en.html file.

Lingling explains:

> In the example HTML file, I used the various search codes configured in our Alma (Sheridan). The following changes should be done if you want to adapt to your college's config:
> 1. the 'action' attribute of <form> must be the string of your Primo VE and use other codes defined in Alma as instructed from the ExL document.
> 2. For radio buttons, here is the snippet, modify or duplicate one of them to add more radio options. Pay attention to the value attribute of the <input> element for each option as it impacts the JS code in #3.
> 3. In the <script> section, this new Javascript function will update the form submission when a radio button is clicked. If you add a new radio button in the above HTML snippet, you need to update this function by duplicating one of the case...break segments and change values for the corresponding <tab_code> and <scope_name> in your Alma.

Show search scopes on the main page/new search page

Add this code to your custom.js file:


/*show search scopes in new search*/
app.component('prmSearchBarAfter', {
  controller: function($scope) {
    this.$onInit = function() {
        $scope.$parent.$ctrl.showTabsAndScopes = true;
    }
  }
});

Add a footer

Code courtesy of Katherine McMillan of St. Lawrence.  Katherine sends this custom1.css code below to prevent the footer from blending into the Primo VE sidebar.


/* Footer and facet fixes */
#facets > prm-facet > div.primo-scrollbar.is-stuck {
    z-index: 1 !important;
}

Add Availability Facet Counts in Primo VE

Code courtesy of Lingling Jiang of Sheridan.

Create custom local scopes

Create a search scope permalink for a Location

Add the Primo VE Feedback/Broken Links Reporting Tool

Advanced Customizations

You can find many useful customizations at the Orbis Cascade Alliance's Primo VE Toolkit.  Note that some of the customizations require inheritance from their consortium's Central Package.

Check their Primo VE Delivery Services Cookbook for more customizations.

There is useful CSS code for Primo VE customization here, from Manuela Schwendener.

Touchnet payment integration

ExLIbris instructions here.  Will add better instructions as soon as we get the account info we need from the College to install it.

  1. Add access to Alma Cloud Apps.
  2. Get Touchnet Payment Helper from the cloud apps feature in Alma, and install it on your PC.

Stunnel configuration

Instructions here.

Use:

    connect = ca01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com:6443

Remove the "Read online" link from the brief and full records

Your records may have two links: "Read online" and "Available online."  The "Read online" link is described here:
   ExLibris documentation.

Quicklinks (“Read online”) is a relatively new feature, released in Dec 2021, so there will be cases, mostly in older records, where non-OA links are not proxied and OA links are proxied, contrary to how the feature is supposed to work (see example here where the "Read online" link should have been proxied).  

To remove Quicklinks:

  1. Configuration > Discovery > Configure Views
  2. Choose a view, click the three dots (...) and Edit
  3. Tab = General
  4. Display Quick Links <-- uncheck the box

Change the "No Results Found" message in Primo VE

Activate "Search in Full Text" option

Add the "Search in Full Text" limiter to the Brief Results page.

    Configuration > Discovery > (Search Configuration) Search Profiles

  1. Choose a profile that includes the Central Index.
  2. Click the three dots (...)
  3. Choose "Edit FT search configuration".
  4. Your options are to always have this option on, or always off, or on or off with end user choice to change it.

ExL documentation: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Primo/Product_Documentation/020Primo_VE/Primo_VE_(English)/040Search_Configurations/010Configuring_Search_Profiles_for_Primo_VE

 

Turn on Newspapers Search

See the feature here.

  1. Configuration > Discovery > (Other) Central Index and proxy set-up
  2. Search Configurations > Newspaper search (check box) & Save
  3. Optional: Featured Newspapers > Add New Featured Newspaper (create code, add name of newspaper, and ISSN) & Save
  4. To make the feature appear in Primo VE, go to your View (ExL instructions for Configuring Discovery Views).
  5. (View) > (tab) General > Display link to Newspapers Search (check box) & Save
  6. Optional: to add Newspapers Search to top bar, (View) > (tab) Links Menu > NewspaperSearch (toggle on) 

ExL documentation.

Add a Libguide box to the Primo VE home page

Alma Digital: Add a thumbnail to digital objects

Alma Digital: change Collection banner image to single image, rather than multiple images representing many subcollections

Resources > Manage Collections > (choose/create the Collection/subcollection)

You can add a banner image to Collections/subcollections in two places:

  • the "General" tab
  • the "Discovery" tab.

If you add images in the "General" tab, this may result in multiple images (up to 4) in the banner.

If you select or add images in the "Discovery" tab, this will result in only 1 image in the banner.

Images can be no larger than 100 kB, and ideally, 300x180 px.

Alma Digital Viewer Set Up

This is a very helpful 12-minute video that walks you through, step-by-step with screenshots, on how to set up the Alma-D Viewer so that the item can be viewed in the full record: http://exl-edu.com/01_Alma/Alma_Digital_New_UI/Configuring_Viewer_Services/story_html5.html?lms=1

Sample item: Ascent alumni magazine (Spring 2021)

 

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