Alma
Your feedback matters to us. Help us improve Alma by telling us what you’d like to see using the message areas below. You can also can support something already posted.
We would love to be able to respond to every idea that is submitted, but this is not feasible. We are, however, committed to responding to the most popular ideas—those that have received the most points.
For more information please review our FAQ and guidelines. Thank you.
55 results found
-
Display override message consistently
Based on Block preferences, override messages can be configured. But these messages are shown only once in a session (as confirmed by Ex Libris, ticket 380696). We need this message to be displayed consistently each time that an action requires an override.
We would like to be able to configure for each Block preference whether the override message is to be shown only once per session or at each action triggering an override.24 votes -
Let every institution to configure due dates according loaning library (no only owning library).
We often loan items not in the owning library but in another one. In these cases, Alma assigns the due date according to the calendar of the owning library.
This causes that sometimes the due date is a closed day in the library where item will be returned (not owning library).
It would be good for us to configure Alma in order to assign due dates according to the calendar of the loaning library, not the owning library.22 votes -
Drop-down options for loan notes
Loan notes are currently free-text, which makes it difficult to extract meaningful data from the notes. The option to configure a drop-down menu for loan notes would improve standardization and analytics.
21 votes -
check-out from user account
I don't see a direct link on the User/Patron account page to be able to check out an item. It seems that you have to go back to the main menu and select "Manage Patron Services". In Voyager, you can easily get to the Charge window from the Patron window or vice versa.
There is the "Manage Fulfillment Activities" link. I think it would be helpful if you could add the Check-out function on that page.20 votes -
Send activity report should include NZ items
Send Activity Report should include NZ items
As a library that is part of a large consortium, many of our patrons have both local and NZ items checked out. When in a patron's account, there is the option to send them an "activity report," however, those emails only contain a list of locally checked out material. Sometimes we like to send these as reminders to patrons, but patrons are often confused that they only contain the IZ items. It would be very useful for us if these reports could include all checked out materials from our NZ partners as well…
19 votes -
Display Loan HOUR in Patron Services and Manage Item Returns
Currently the Patron Services and Manage Item Returns screens display the DATE an item was loaned only. It would be helpful if they also displayed the HOUR. On the Patron Services screen, it takes extra clicks to review the Loan History in the Actions menu. On the Manage Item Returns screen, it is impossible to view the hour -- you must go to the item's history, which isn't accessible directly. The hour is already displayed in the Patron Services Due Date and Manage Item Returns Returned Date fields. I hope it is easy to add the hour to the Loan…
19 votes -
Don't Require Clicking 'Done' to Trigger Loan Receipt Notices
Currently, staff need to click done after checking out items to a patron to trigger loan receipts. This is an unnecessary step and should be eliminated. Instead, trigger receipts when an item is checked out, much like how returned item notices are triggered.
18 votes -
Lost Loan Status
Closing a lost loan changes the item's status to missing. This means that items we know are lost will turn up on lists for missing item searches, even though we know we won't find them. Not closing the loans means that we can't purge patrons from the database, even if we know that we are not going to get back the item or be paid the replacement fee.
It would be preferable if items retained a status of Lost even if the loan is closed, so that we can differentiate between items that are lost and items that just can't…
18 votes -
Send overdue notifications only on library's open days
Since we would prefer to avoid to send overdue and lost loan notifications to our patrons on Sundays and holidays, it would be great to have a further option for when to automatically run the “overdue and lost loan job”, that is, to run it only “on the library’s open days”, based on the opening hours set in the “Calendar management”.
18 votes -
Allow to change the default value of “Item owner” field to “Any Institution” when lending items
When lending items, the default value of the field “Item owner” is “My Institution“. It should be possible to decide the default value of this field, “Any Institution” for example. This would save many clicks for people working at desk.
17 votes -
Move list of "loans of this session" up higher.
When checking books out, it helps to be able to see the title pop up. Depending on the monitor, the list sometimes doesn't show up at all because it's too far down. We need to be able to see each title pop up so we can verify that we are actually checking the item out.
15 votes -
Choose users affiliated to a particular library - Bulk Change Due Date
Our situation is that we have 2 libraries (eg. Library A - Library B) in 2 different cities. Students affiliated to a particular library can borrow items (books, DVD, etc.) owned by the other library.
The problem is:
Eg. Due to COVID, library A closed and library B remain open, so students affiliated to library A can't physically return their books. I would like to bulk change due date for all loans of library A students.
HOWEVER, if I choose 'Library A' in the field 'Library' of Bulk Change Due Date feature, Alma will change due date of loans related…
7 votes -
Verificación de usuario al realizar préstamo de material.
Cada vez que se realice un préstamo el sistema identifique a través de una huella digital u otro sistema al usuario.
6 votes -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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
- Don't see your idea?