As most customers should now be aware, Primo Central is available to Primo customers right now, and will become available to non-Primo MetaLib customers by way of a registration wizard in MetaLib 4.4 – just released.
However during the meeting in Ghent Ex Libris announced that that a new Primo Service will be available for all MetaLib customers. This service provides a fully hosted Primo end-user interface for the Primo Central mega-index as well as MetaLib. Institutions will also have the ability to extend the Primo search through their institution’s MetaLib installation, where necessary. Most, however, will find that their electronic collections are largely covered within the Primo Central Index.
This gives all the benefits of Primo, such as an intuitive next-generation user interface, instantaneous results, ability to narrow the search through facets, etc. at no additional cost to the institution. The only fees involved are three days of implementation to setup Primo. This is good news for the MetaLib customers, and is in-line with requests made by the MetaLib community at IGeLU 2009. This is a much more preferable option than using Primo Central as a MetaLib target.
For me, Primo Central is a potentially phenomenal new service that could revitalise MetaLib. All involved – Ex Libris, development partners, user groups – are heartily to be applauded. I can’t wait to get going!…
Jeremy Acland, MetaLib PWG Coordinator