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131 results found

  1. Multiple Quick-Cataloging Templates

    Scenario:
    There are multiple workflows and purposes for which the Quick Cataloging interface is used. For example, in course reserves, staff frequently need to create records for different resource formats beyond book and article. Staff at the circulation desks need to create records any time an item brought to the desk is not found in Alma, and these resources can take any form - from sound recordings on CD to equipment like laptop chargers.

    Problem:
    Not all of these materials fit the current “book” and “article” templates provided for Quick Cataloging. To enable efficient use of the Quick Cataloging feature,…

    163 votes
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  2. Search by any standard number in Search External Resources

    We would like to be able to search WorldCat by any standard number (UPC, ISMN, music publisher number, video publisher number, etc.) through the Search External Resources tool. This would be particularly helpful for locating audio-visual resources without having to search in the native interface.

    54 votes
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  3. Display the date a work order is created

    When a work order is created to put an item in process internally ("Technical Services (CAMS)" or "Show to supervisor" or "Preservation") it would be helpful to have Alma display the date this status change happened.

    It could be in the "item history", and/or the "In process" display, and /or in the "list of items." Currently, the receipt date is the last date displayed in these locations, which does not help with locating an in-process item.

    88 votes
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  4. Use of parentheses in advanced search

    Currently advanced search does not allow the use of parentheses. We'd like to suggest the capability of using parentheses in doing some complicated search logic. This can shorten the search query a lot. Currently, we have to repeat the search queries, and apply a combination of AND/OR search logic. The attachment explains the situation with a screen shot of current search logic.

    24 votes
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  5. Show orders and requests in repository search regardless of role

    Every staff member should be able to see if there are orders or requests for a title regardless of their roles.
    It's important e.g. for staff at info/circulations desks to see why a title without items is found - as well as for receiving operators to see if there are any patron physical item requests...

    Still, of course, one should only be able to edit orders or requests with the respective privilege.

    17 votes
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  6. Analyse and normalise special characters and diacritics in Alma records

    In order to enable correct and consistent automatic linking between Bib. headings and authority records, Alma's treatment of diacritics needs to be normalised, and made configurable according to the Authority file being used. In addition there are special characters in use (such as quotation marks), that have more than a single graphic representation that should be normalised in order to prevent discrepancies in Almas' match and link mechanisms.
    SFC#00533813, SFC#00375370 relate to the issue.

    66 votes
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    Dear all, we would like to update that in addition to what was done in the May 2020 Release, we are looking at ways to allow libraries to select if diacritics should be taken into account in the linking process. We are exploring adding diacritics matching as a condition in the authority control rules to support flexibility, setting this for specific authority vocabularies only.

  7. Add a lock feature to prevent selected items from being withdrawn when running a job

    I envisage this as a simple checkbox within an item's record which prevents that item from being accidentally withdrawn. (A parallel exists in many photo editing software packages.)

    I also envisage this as being a property which could be engaged or disengaged on a set of items via a job.

    When running a withdrawal job, any such "locked" items which were not withdrawn should be listed individually in the job report so that the user can determine whether this was correct (in case an item has been accidentally locked by a user, for example).

    A use case is as follows:

    24 votes
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  8. Refine search and Search external resources function

    When using the "Search external resources" function under profiles including several external catalogs, we can only use refine search link on the first tab.

    It would be great if the refine search link was on all tabs rather than on the fisrt tab only.

    73 votes
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  9. Task list customization

    Currently, the task list is automatically configured based on user roles. However, there are many features assigned to a role in Alma that a user may not actually deal with. For example, as electronic resources manager, I do not need to see print order lines to claim for print titles. This is particularly an issue because other departments do not always use the task list in their workflow, so mine can become cluttered with their content. We would like additional customization to be available within the task list, so that we only see relevant tasks.

    18 votes
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  10. Fix Call Number Sorting for certain classifications

    Certain call number classifications that don't follow the typical format (LC class code, class number, Cutter code, title code, pub date) aren't sorting correctly in Alma's Browse Shelf Listing or Primo's call number browse.

    One example is from a classification concerned with books about Civil War troop regiments:

    E
    577.5
    24th
    .T55
    2010

    Which should typically sort like this:
    E577.5 1st
    E577.5 2nd
    E577.5 3rd
    E577.5 10th
    E577.5 24th
    etc.

    However, it seems as though the call number normalization isn't set for these specialized classifications and they end up sorting incorrectly, like this:

    E577.5 1st. P48 2004
    E577.5 10th .W35…

    44 votes
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  11. A way to set the Scan-in-Items drop-down-menu Status to our specific workflows

    In Cataloging when we scan in item barcodes to send a work order to shelf preparation or end-processing, the scan-in-Item Drop-down menu defaults to Cataloging. Acquisitions uses this to send material to us --but we want to send material to Shelf Preparation/End-Processing. So we have to manually mouse down to insert this everything single time. This is slow (uses up time). It would be faster and healthier (on our hands) if Ex Libris could reconfigure so any library unit in a library could unit set the Scan-in-Item Drop-down menu to default to (--or to "persist" or "stick" at--)the specific status…

    94 votes
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  12. Conversion job for any part of the record to any other part

    Hello,
    It would be nice if there was a job of conversion of every part of a record (bib, hol, item, portfolio) into another part, for example:
    Bib records into Items
    Bib records into Holdings
    Bib records into Portfolios
    Bib records into Orders
    Items into Bib records
    Items into Holdings
    Orders into Bib records
    Orders into items
    Orders into Portfolios
    Portfolios into Bib records
    Portfolios into Orders
    This way, we will not be limited by the search for any job.
    For example, we would be able to search Bib records, convert the set into items and run a job for…

    13 votes
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  13. Add Melingo to ALMA

    Hello,

    The assimilation of Melingo in Primo for the customers in Israel proved to be a useful solution.
    It would be nice if it can also be implemented in ALMA.
    If Melingo will indeed be in ALMA, the catalogers will no longer need to add Ktiv Maleh or Ktiv Haser in Hebrew in variant titles.

    Thanks.

    58 votes
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  14. Massive copy of records from the community zone to the local catalog

    In our institution, we have thousands of active electronic records for our institution but belong to the Community Zone. We want to copy massively these records to our catalog without having to do it one at a time.
    Our usual procedure is, from an excel file in which we have the ISBNs or ISSNs of the electronic documents, to upload the portfolios from the electronic collection itself. In this way we bring and activate in our institution the portfolios of the collection, but this does not generate a local copy in our catalog of each of them. So, we have…

    45 votes
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  15. Fix $g in 773 / 774 related records

    According to documentation (https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/040Resource_Management/040Metadata_Management/130Configuring_Related_Records_for_Physical_Inventory), $g in linking entry MARC fields (such as 773 or 774) "links to specific items for the record specified in the $w, $x, and $z subfields). According to support " it is outside Alma's current functionality to be able to be separate an item from a collection of related bib records. It would be an enhancement to this functionality."

    I am proposing that Ex Libris fix or enhance this functionality so it will work. My institution has a large collection of 'bound with' physical materials from the 1700s with analytical cataloging. For example, 26…

    39 votes
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  16. Full PCRE Regular Expressions in Normalization rules

    Supporting full PCRE regular expressions would make Normalization rules so powerful. Allow capturing data in one place and re-using it somewhere else, checking for substrings, etc.

    28 votes
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  17. bulk remove titles from collections (not the electronic type)

    Add the ability to remove titles in a set from a collection (not the electronic type) in bulk, as well as add titles in bulk from a set.

    56 votes
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  18. Increase download limit on large sets

    The limit on the number of records that can be download to Excel from a set is around 70,000 records. Sometimes it's necessary to download larger sets (200,000+) but this is limited by size. It would be better if there was an option to download in CSV so larger data sets could be exported. Or, the Retrieve Set Members API was improved to include the information that is present in the Excel file downloaded from the set's results page. Or, there was an additional export job that allowed a set to be exported using one of the bulk jobs under…

    52 votes
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  19. Allow option to abort import once it has been submitted

    Once an import has been submitted, there should be an option to abort or cancel the import.

    Sometimes mistakes are made. The wrong import profile is chosen, the wrong file is chosen. Often the mistake can be noticed very quickly, but there is no choice but to wait until the entire import file is loaded. And by then the damage is done, it can be very tedious in Alma to undo certain mistakes (portfolios imported to the wrong collection for example).

    Alma offers the action option to "abort" once a job has been submitted. This same option should be available…

    36 votes
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  20. Make Suppressing a location function the same as suppressing a holding in all publishing jobs

    Currently, the general publishing job exports inventory in locations which are ticked "Suppress from Discovery" in Physical Locations config, when "Excluded Suppressed Locations: is ticked in the Publishing Profile.

    Alma should handle this flag as it does for Publishing to Primo and Publishing to Libraries Australia and ignore suppressed locations, otherwise what's the point of setting this at the location level and then providing an option to Exclude suppressed records. It is extra work to set this value for each individual bib/holdings record.

    55 votes
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