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.
123 results found
-
Allow customization of the Notify User check box in Confirm Request Cancellation box.
Current default is that this item is checked, however with local processes, we would prefer not to automatically notify the patron in most circumstances. It would be better for us to opt-in than to opt-out.
1 vote -
Prevent the reservation of items from other libraries if material exists on the user's campus
By default, Alma allows the user to request material from any of the libraries registered in the system.
For us this is not always desirable, because in certain cases the library where he can request the material is located hundreds of kilometers from where he is, and the transport of this material becomes difficult and time-consuming.
This is especially problematic when the material exists in the library/campus where that user is registered. The requested item would take longer to arrive from somewhere else than if he waited it to be returned to his campus.
To solve this, we would like…
31 votes -
Ability to assign fulfillment proxy to existing users
We recently tested the fulfillment proxy feature as we have a few departmental workflows we have been using shared internal accounts for. We find the functionality to be the inverse of what we would like to see. For example, we have about 10 users who place RS requests for the law review. We would like to add the fulfillment proxy to these existing user rather than making them new internal accounts.
12 votes -
Differentiate “regular” Hold Request and Interested User Request or Change “Interested User Check” Order
Because Alma does not have the granularity to separate an Interested User request and a regular hold request, our Interested User hold process does not work.
When the “Non-Requestable Processes Fulfillment Unit Rule or Change Order” is configured to prevent “in process” items from being requestable, any items that have an Interested User that are in our Technical Services Work Order are treated as “in process” and therefore, the interested user request is blocked. While we do not want most “In Process” items to be requestable, we do want our Interested User requests to be fulfilled.
Because of this configuration,…
15 votes -
Sort booking requests by Start Time
When monitoring resource requests on Fulfillment > Monitor Requests & Item Processes, a "Sort by" button with an option to sort by Start Time would ease the handling of booking requests.
The booking requests are currently sorted by Request Date, which is not very useful, and can not be sorted by any other field.A "Sort by" button actually does appear on Fulfillment > Pick From Shelf.
Another option could be adding the Start Time on the drop down menu of the bar "Requests" on top of the page.
69 votes -
Allow transferring a recall to the next eligible item without placing a new request
In the event a patron with a recalled item has extenuating circumstances that prevent the item's timely return, it would be helpful to pass the recall process to the next eligible item in the holding, e.g. the next oldest loan. Currently, we are only able to extend the due date of the current loan, and advise the requesting patron to cancel then re-request the item - this would cause issues if there is a queue of requests for the item, and we would like to be able to "bump" the chain of requests down if possible.
28 votes -
Allow Request Notes to be edited even with complex Fulfilment Rules
We introduced Fulfillment Rules to check if there are any "Process Types" assigned to an item and make them unrequestable. For example if an item is MISSING, REQUESTED, LOST, LOANED, etc.
This allows an item without a process type to be requested fine. Unfortunately, the moment you try to edit the Request Note and update the request, it ends up rechecking the Fulfillment rules and oddly cancels the request.
We were hoping we can use the edit Request Note process to mark items when our library officers have done 1st/2nd/3rd shelf searching of items before they become officially marked as…
3 votes -
Consultation in Alma FF
There is no easy solution in Alma FF to indicate that an item has been consulted in the library and that it can be reshelved.
When items are placed on the hold shelf and are briefly consulted in the library, there is no easy way to directly reshelve them in Alma FF. The workarounds are far from ideal and are very labour-intensive when facing a large amount of physical requests: cancel the request (but this is not correct and influences our request statistics) and reshelve via the expired hold shelf, update the expiry date to yesterday (but this requires a…
159 votes -
When a hold expires, have them display in the task list
In the same way that requests show in the task list, it would be helpful that when the hold is expired that it will also show in the task list. People would see on their desktop if an item needs to be shelved or returned to a campus library, instead of remember to check the Expire Hold shelf.
9 votes -
Add block action for patron digitization requests in User Block Definitions
The configurable blocked actions for user blocks in Alma are:
01 – loan
02 – loan, renew
03 – loan, renew, holdIt is therefore possible to configure that blocked users are not allowed to place requests at all.
We propose a distinction between the different request types in blocked actions.
Blocked users should be able to place hold requests, as it can be checked at the latest at the time of loaning whether there is a block, and users then have to take care of the unblocking (e.g. by paying fees) in order to be able to loan the…
122 votes -
Alternative work order behavior - Usage should be departmental, not individual
We would like an alternative to how work orders work now. We want the department (or “agent”) to initiate the request, rather than an individual using their own personal account. So that usage is calculated as “departmental” or work order, rather than the individual.
1 vote -
Expired Hold Shelf to Alma mobile
It would be practical to get the Expired Hold Shelf lists to Alma mobile so we didn't have to print them on paper.
129 votes -
Enhanced “In Transit” flow/functionality
We encounter a lack of important functionality to efficiently follow-up on In transit requests (physical item requests to another pick-up location). We would like the functionality to be extended with the following additional features:
1. A patron facing letter when the requested item is placed “in transit” by the owning library, so that the patron is better informed of the status of his request.
We want to create a situation that once a requested item is being transported, there is in fact no way back and a fee needs to paid.
2. To make it impossible for patrons to…122 votes -
More humanity in the letters: add the name of librarians who take care of the requests
Automatic processes in Alma make library staff save time and efforts, but also significantly reduce human interactions with patrons (very few emails are personally sent by librarians to patrons). Lots of Alma letters sent to patrons are nameless and only signed by generic service names like "Acquisitions Department", "Circulation Desk", "Library ABC" etc. (see @@department@@ in the Labels). Some staff members suffer from this dehumanization in the processes.
We want to give a name and a face to a request when patrons get notified and would like to enrich some Alma letters with the name of the librarian who took…
118 votes -
List the "Pick from Shelf" list, "Monitor Requests and item processes" and results from a "Requests" search in order from latest to oldest
We would find it helpful if it were possible to view requests (both active and complete) in order from latest to older without the need to export and filter
3 votes -
Show 'chapter/article title' and 'chapter/article author' in completed digitization requests and in Analytics
For copyright reasons, we need to track whether users have requested an article from an issue or a chapter from a book from which they have already received a scan.
Completed digitisation requests in Alma do not show the chapter/article title or chapter/article author, only the overall title requested. The data is not available in Analytics either.
This means that we are reliant on a local spreadsheet to track what users have already requested.
We would like to see the data available on the completed requests and in Analytics.
76 votes -
Allow other libraries to handle digitization
Under
Add a Library or Edit Library Information>LibrariesAdd an "Allow other libraries to handle digitization" tick box similar to the "Allow other libraries to handle personal delivery"
This intention would be that the item to be digitized would not need to be sent back to the library originally listed as the managing department.
This is particularly useful for those with multiple digitization departments in different locations. It would save on postage, time taken to complete the request and reduce manual intervention and monitoring by library staff.
For further clarification: Information on- Allow other libraries to handle personal delivery is…
10 votes -
When a hold expires, have them display in the task list
In the same way that requests show in the task list, it would be helpful that when the hold is expired that it will also show in the task list. People would see on their desktop if an item needs to be shelved or returned to a campus library, instead of remember to check the Expire Hold shelf.
4 votes -
Work Orders: package of required enhancements
Work orders are useful but often cumbersome and don't work as required. A package of enhancements/fixes would make them much more useful and useable:
• Adding notes when creating work orders in bulk. This would enable having fewer work order types as explanatory notes could be used instead.
• Makes notes more (immediately) visible when scanning in (pop up message?). Again would enable fewer work order types as items could be easily catergorised according to explanatory note upon receipt at managing department.
• Select recall/not recall at work order placement (like pick from shelf), not baked into type (and in…232 votes -
On-shelf requests for specific user groups
We have limited human resource for picking up the items for on-shelf requests. Therefore, we hope this service is only available for patrons in need, for example, disabled patrons or distinguished professors/researchers.
Therefore, we need Alma to support “specific user groups’ to “request for on-shelf items”, and “pick up in different library/campus only”. It would also be nice if we can limit the number of on-shelf requests in a period of time.
This will definitely help librarians to provide precise service efficiently!
146 votes
- Don't see your idea?