

What are Alma and Primo, anyway?

What are Alma and Primo, anyway?

Lightning talk presented at Boston College Library Staff Day, August, 2016. Quick overview of Alma and Primo, the library's two primary library systems. Demonstrates the architecture and relationship between these two systems.


Emily Singley

August 08, 2016


  1. What are Alma and Primo, anyway?

  2. What is Primo?

  3. None
  4. Primo discovery service =

  5. Primo local metadata article index • BIG index of article

    metadata – “Primo Central Index” – licensed from vendor • Locally loaded metadata – library catalog, also Hathi Trust records
  6. What is Alma?

  7. None
  8. Alma = library management system

  9. Primo Alma article index local metadata Primo and Alma talk

    to each other • Patron account data is updated in Primo in real time • Local metadata is loaded into Primo
  10. Primo ??? article index local metadata Primo can talk to

    any Library Management System
  11. ??? Alma article index local metadata Alma can talk to

    other discovery services
  12. Primo Aleph article index local metadata Boston College used to

    use Primo with a different library management system
  13. Aleph Primo Built-In OPAC • Before Primo, we used Aleph

    for both library management and patron catalog search. • Aleph had a built-in user-facing catalog search called an “OPAC.” • Aleph search only included the library catalog (no article index).
  14. What is Holmes?

  15. Holmes “Holmes” name is no longer used =

  16. Primo = User services Alma = Library management Holmes