In 2018, a new letter for hold shelf items was introduced thanks to this idea exchange (https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/32042020-new-letter-for-hold-shelf-slips) It has been very helpful in managing physical item requests, since the letter is customizable.

We see that improving this letter to also include pickup numbers for resource sharing requests/physical non-returnable. Since these requests do not get a Request ID which then becomes the Additional ID - but rather an Internal ID – the letter could be improved to include a portion of the Internal ID as the pickup number.

For instance, a RS request has the internal ID 4177325980002286. Following the same logic as how Additional ID is generated, the pickup number would become 417-732-598 and can be included in Hold Shelf letters to the end user as well.

This would work for both regular material types, and physical non-returnable, since both are assigned an internal identifier on the borrowing library side.

We are trying to configure a more automated workflow for Resource Sharing in our consortium. We recently reconfigured our Resource Sharing settings. Our Partners' Locate Profiles were all changed from not checking availability (so we had time to manually manage queues) to "Check for availability" so that items will pass instantly through the Rota if an item is not available at a partner. Then each of the Resource Sharing Libraries modified their Library Details from cancelling requests on locate failure to not cancelling requests on locate failure, which keeps the request Active after it passes through the Rota unfilled, and puts it into a status of Locate Failed. Currently, there is no job to automate the process of Recalculating the Rota Assignment for requests in any Status, let alone the Locate Failed status, so we are manually passing these requests back through the Rota by manually selecting Recalculate Rota Assignment for each one. We would like to perform this automated Recalculate Rota Assignment job daily for a set amount of time or until an entered "date not needed by" gets near (monitored manually), at which point we can help the patron acquire the item via others means at our own discretion. This setup will help our requests reach available partners more quickly and allow an automated way of re-checking Partners for requested items that become available again.

In the SNLP workflow the partner changes from the own partner code to the partner who ships the request automatically. Therefore most of the requests have the correct partner when the item arrives at the library.
So most of the time there is no need to modify a partner and the staff's attention to this attribute is not as high as it is to other attributes of the request. If we observe this AFTER receiving the item, there is no possibility to do so.
Because we don't know to which partner we have to send back the item after it has been returned by the patron, we now have to missapply other fields of the request to store this information.
Perhaps not all libraries want to allow their staff to do so, so we suggest a new parameter which can be switched off, if it is not needed.

A borrowing article request is stopped for local ownership when the library has an electronic database that may have coverage for the journal.

Currently, the borrowing locate local ownership check does not check the year, volume, or issue in the article request to determine if the library has access to this specific year in the database. The borrowing locate does not check for embargo status.

Because the citation year is not checked for local ownership, requests are stopped from being automatically sent to lending libraries that have the article. Library staff must spend time checking if their library has access to the specific year in their electronic databases.

In Alma Configuration> Fulfillment> General>Other Settings the rsuresolverlocate can be used to check a lending library’s electronic coverage.

An additional Customer Parameter should be added to allow a borrowing library to check their own library’s database coverage information. If a request is for an article that is not within the database coverage or is in an embargo the request should be sent to the lending library without staff mediation. Requests that are found in the library’s database should be kept in the Ready to be sent status for staff to review.

This was entered as NERS enhancement request 7052.

Thanks

We would like the ability to view the original XML/ISO messages sent between lender and requester in our Lending requests. There is information we need that doesn’t display in requests when they come into our system.

Examples include:

*Copyright declaration: we need this for copyright compliance reporting purposes

*Maximum cost: if this doesn’t display, we have to confirm that the requesting library accepts our charges if the cost is going to be over the standard charge

*Expiry date: the request status changes to Expired if this date is passed, and the request moves on in the rota

*Need by date: the field is in the request, but the information doesn’t display. We need to be able to see this so we can notify the requesting library if we can’t supply the item in time

*Date and time that request is received: we need to know the date and time a request comes into our system so we can ensure our turnaround time meets the service level – particularly important for Express requests

Being able to view the ISO messages in requests would be invaluable.

When a borrowing library receives a resource sharing item after the request's needed by date has passed, Alma automatically updates the request to returned without displaying any alert. This causes a substantial amount of confusion for staff. We would like Alma to display an alert when a resource sharing item is being automatically returned to the lender because it was received after the request's needed by date. We would also like the opportunity to override this automatic return so users can have the option of using the item.

Likewise, Alma automatically updates borrowing reqeusts to returned when they've been cancelled by the user after the lending library has already shipped the item. Alma does provide an alert when this happens, which is helpful. We would like the option to override this automatic return too.

If a user in an AFN requests that a resource sharing item be delivered to an institution other than their home institution, the request must be filled within the AFN in order for the user's preferred pickup institution choice to be honored. If it is filled by an institution outside the AFN, the preferred pickup institution reverts to the user's home institution, and the user is never notified of this change until the item is placed on hold at their home institution. Instead of placing these items on hold at the user's home institution, we would like Alma to put them in transit to the user's preferred pickup institution once they're received at the home institution.

When we go to the list of Lending requests or Borrowing requests (either via the Tasks menu or directly under Fulfillment),
we get requests for both our libraries/campuses. This is the case, even if we have already chosen one of the libraries as our «current location».
When we choose one particular library as the current location it would be very helpful to get a list of request only for this library.
As it is now, we need to scroll down at the bottom of the left-side menu to choose the current Owning library.
Alternatively, if the above solution is not possible, is it possible to move the menu-selection «Owning library» and «Pickup location»
to the top of the menu? We cannot configure this ourselves.