(Go Live) FRBR Configuration

Legend: not started IN PROGRESS STALLED decided

Recommendations

Discovery FG recommends harmonizing on FRBR suppression of the following types of materials:

• Art books

• Music and performing arts materials (eg. music recordings and scores)

• Law materials

Because suppression rules must be the same in both the NZ and the IZ in order for FRBR to work correctly, we recommend that the NZ suppression rules be in place before go live. Campuses developing complementary rules in their IZ are encouraged to disable FRBR entirely if they have extensive holdings in these areas until they are able to implement their targeted suppression rules.

Reasoning

Primo FRBRization can group records that are not versions of the same thing, or are not considered the same thing by subject-matter experts. This has undesirable effects for academic users, who are more likely than a public library user to want a specific version.

• In art, books catalogued with the discipline-standard approach of an artist’s name in a 1xx can be inaccurately grouped, even with different authors and different imprints. 

• In music and performing arts, music recordings can be inaccurately grouped, even with different artists and different track lists. Scores can also be inaccurately grouped. Music librarians have documented related concerns at: https://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/mpage/mdr_es 

• In law, editions of major treatises are grouped in ways that frequently do not align with researcher expectations. 

ExLibris has reported that suppression rules must be present in both the NZ and the IZ to be effective across materials. From Basecamp:

• The rule placed in NZ would be applied to all NZ records that meet the criteria no matter the records are linked to which IZ.

• In consortia to suppress FRBR/Dedup the same rule should be placed in IZ and NZ to ensure the records in IZ as well as the records linked from NZ are all covered by the rule.

• The NZ rule would suppress the NZ and NZ-linked records for all IZs. If some IZ campuses don't have the rule in place, their IZ records would not be suppressed.

Background

Primo views can “Enable FRBR.” This configuration affects search results by grouping records into “versions” based on shared bibliographic information like title and author. Each version can be viewed as a full record. (In contrast, Primo’s “deduplicated” records display as a single record.) With FRBR enabled, a Primo view’s brief search results shows grouped records as a single result, with a notation that “Multiple versions” exist. 

Supreme Court Practice FRBR Example:

Important one-volume legal treatise first published in the 1950s. Authors and editors have changed over time—but not with every edition. So FRBR groups do not align with subject-matter-expert expectations. 

Irvine Test Load Primo default search profile results. Boost My Institution value = 100 in Discovery Ranking Configuration. 

FRBR not enabled: eBook and latest print are results 1 and 2

Open

FRBR Generic display

Open

FRBR Preferred display w/criteria = Alma Print. Latest print and eBook are results 1 and 2.

FRBR Configuration Options in Primo VE:

1. Discovery Administrators enable FRBR for a Primo view. 

1. Discovery Administrators choose which record to display as the brief result for FRBRIzed groups. Since May 2020, administrators can set criteria for the preferred record to display as the brief search result. Metadata expertise is essential to effectively configure the FRBR preferred record. See Examples
   
   

2. Discovery Administrators can also adjust by setting up rules to “suppress” FRBR. Options are granular, and include suppression by item type, location, and values in fields. Metadata expertise is essential to effectively suppress FRBR.
   See Suppressing Groups of Records from Dedup/FRBR for Primo VE 

Current FRBR Configurations at Already-Alma Campuses:

Production and Test Load. (Note: individual campus Discovery Administrators can make separate views to test different FRBR settings.)

Dependencies

• RMFG needs to time to write the suppression rules and coordinate implementation in the NZ

• Local Implementation Teams need time to implement the same rules in their IZs

Questions to consider

• How does FRBRization impact usability?

• Which materials are negatively impacted by FRBRization?

• Must FRBR suppression rules be harmonized?

Action Log