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Alma

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63 results found

  1. Ability to create true temporary "on the fly" items that disappear

    The "quick cataloging" in fulfillment is fine for items that are expected to be shunted to technical services after they are returned, but some items, like journals that don't normally circulate, don't need to be processed after, just returned to the shelf. There should be a true "on the fly" process that creates a temporary record that is automatically deleted once the item is scanned back in.

    6 votes
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  2. Add "Copy ID" to loan information in Manage Patron Services

    When viewing a patron's current loans in "Manage Patron Services", Alma will display information like the loaned item's barcode, but it doesn't display its "Copy ID". When libraries have multiple copies of one item, it can be difficult to tell which item is out on loan to a specific patron without leaving the Patron Services page and going to view the item itself. "Copy ID", like "Barcode", is a unique identifier for an item and should be visible in the same way.

    5 votes
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  3. Making the temporary location change before the loan

    We would like the temporary location change to be made before the loan, to enable us to exclude the temporary location from the loan count using a Loan limit rule.
    Thank you for considering this request.

    3 votes
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  4. Digital Loans

    It would really be helpful to have a tab or include borrowed digital books under patron loans so that its easy for them to renew or see what digital books they borrowed and need to return.

    Currently there is no ability for a patron to see what digital books they may have borrowed and need to return.

    3 votes
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  5. Display Number of Renewals information under ‘Other Details’ of a Physical item

    To enhance the circulation service and provide convenient access to usage information, we suggest displaying the renewal information including ‘number of renewals’ and ‘last renewal date’ under the ‘Other details’ section of a physical item in Alma. The number of renewals records how many times the due date of a loaned item was extended before the ‘maximum renewal period’. This figure is often essential to measure the usage and understand patron’s intention to continuously keep the loaned item.

    In current release of Alma, the information under ‘Other details’ of a physical item shows usage information for circulation such as loans,…

    3 votes
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  6. Allow automatic barcode generation in quick cataloguing form from Manage Patron Services

    The quick cataloguing form has a variant depending on whether you access it through Fulfillment > Manage Patron services > loan tab > create item or through Resources > add a physical item.

    In the first case (Fulfillment > Manage Patron services etc.), quick cataloguing is used in the case where a document is presented for loan but does not exist in the database. The barcode is then obligatory for loan, otherwise loan is not possible. The barcode cannot be automatically created.

    In the Resources > add a physical item access to this form, the barcode is not mandatory but…

    3 votes
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  7. Option to reset reloan limit at a specified time each day

    We manage laptops as inventory in Alma, and as such they are governed by Terms of Use and Advanced Policies. Our policy is that a user can checkout one laptop at a time, renew it once, but then can't checkout any more in that same calendar day.

    Currently the reloan limit allows blocking by "Other - you may define the time span (in the Unit of Measurement) in which the same item may not be reloaned - minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months. Note that this option includes the Parallel option and blocks both parallel loans and same item loans…

    3 votes
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  8. Library Independence - Campus Level

    We have a large group of university libraries that operate together and share fulfillment rules, as well as a number of different colleges and other libraries that operator independently. Each college has a distinct Alma campus, while the centralised libraries are a member of a single campus. We would like the centralised staff at these libraries to be able to view loans at any of the libraries sharing their same campus. The only way to achieve this seems to be to assign a Fulfillment role at every library - which creates other problems.

    I suggest a level of library independence…

    3 votes
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  9. Restrict circulation of reading list items to students in a course

    Hello,
    In Alma, our library would like to add students to a course, and then have circulation of the reading list for that course restricted to the students in that course.

    In other words, students who are not linked to a course would be unable to checkout items from the reading list for that course.

    Ideally, this would be an option when creating or editing a course.

    Thank you.

    3 votes
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  10. List of Home Delivery Request to print labels and inform courier company

    We manage a big number of home delivery requests. Alma does not allow you to create a list of loans of home delivery to print labels and send the list to the courier company.

    The only way to do it is the day after by Analytics or developing a custom solution using webhooks and users API, to have it the same day.

    It is necessary to make a list of patrons name, address, zip code, city, telephone and email address to print labels and create a csv file to be imported to the courier company software.

    We can't wait a day to print…

    3 votes
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  11. Optional Campus Restriction on Personal Delivery

    PROBLEM:
    If an institution has multiple libraries and campuses and provides hand delivery of items to faculty offices, when a faculty patron requests personal delivery of an item from another library the item will be routed to the closest circ desk that support campus delivery, even if that circ desk is located miles away from the faculty patron's office.

    PROPOSED FUNCTIONALITY:
    As a fulfillment manager, I want to be able to configure Alma so that the personal delivery option can be restricted to the user's campus, so that items requested from another library will be routed to the circ desk…

    1 vote
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  12. Create the button "claim never borrow" on Loan service

    Since Alma has a "Claimed Return" button, could create a button for users who never borrow this book in the loan tab.

    1 vote
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  13. Add options to Terms of Use "is renewable"

    We would like the ability to require staff mediated renewals for certain items based on Terms of Use. Currently, TOUs have a flag for is renewable, but this allows patrons to self renew in their Primo account.

    Desired state: the is renewable flag would allow us to customize into options:
    - is renewable by staff and patron
    - is renewable by staff only

    "is renewable by staff" would allow staff to use the existing renew options in manage patron services to renew the item, but would prevent the user from renewing from within Primo.

    The other option would function as…

    1 vote
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  14. Add due date or overdue status to the search bar criteria

    Would it be possible to either add criteria to the search bar which either includes the Due Date of a loan, or a flag of Is Overdue (equals Yes/No)?

    Reason: If we want to check on certain overdue items, I can't find a quick & easy way to investigate them. Adding these to the search bar would leverage the other search criteria to make easy Logical sets of items that are overdue in certain areas (such as reserves or equipment loans).

    The current alternatives all have drawbacks:

    Creating a fulfillment set requires us to input the criteria for the due…

    1 vote
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  15. Enable configuration options to only prevent renewal of overdue loans (while keeping non-overdue loans renewable)

    It isn't possible to prevent renewal of overdue loans without using a block, which also prevents renewal of non-overdue loans.

    We would like to be able to prevent loans that have become overdue from being renewed.

    1 vote
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  16. Allow deletion of a loan transaction after the item has been returned

    Sometimes as library staff we loan an item to a user by accident. The staff member returns the item accidently loaned in Alma and then realises that it's not possible to delete the loan transaction.

    Please can this functionality be added as follows:

    1) Be available by permission to certain Alma roles

    2) Require a note to be added explaining why the loan transaction has been deleted for audit purposes.

    3) Ability to report in Alma Analytics on deleted loan transactions with the deletion note field also available for reporting in Analytics.

    1 vote
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  17. 1 vote
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  18. Fulfillment: User receives an email when an item that has requests on it is issued to them and the loan period is shorter than normal

    In our loan Terms of Use the Recall Period and Requested Item Due Date are set to 3 days. If a user requests an item, but then another request is placed on the item before they collect it from the library and it is issued to them, when the item is issued to them they are not informed that there is another request on the item so the loan period is only 3 days. The first the user knows about this is when they receive the overdue notice on the day after the item was due. Most of our libraries…

    1 vote
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  19. Self checkout app

    Is there a mobile app for patrons to self checkout material? It would improve our patrons' experience and would be a big space saver

    1 vote
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  20. The 'Open Day' option in Grace Period

    It has been more than 4 years in planning since July 2019. I hope this planned item will appear in the schedule of new release of ALMA in 2024.

    Grace Period only for open days
    https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/32157484-grace-period-only-for-open-days

    1 vote
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