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.
133 results found
-
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.
134 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…224 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!
144 votes -
Allow booking requests only on the quarter hour and half hour
If your booking resolution policies are set to "Minute", users can select any minute in the hour as a start and end time. We would like a configuration option that allows us to limit booking request start and end times to just the quarter hour and half hour.
7 votes -
Consider only the opening days and hours when calculating the transit time
The Transit Time Rule for Physical Item Requests calculates the transit time in calendar days.
As a result, days and times when the library is closed are also indicated as estimated delivery times for the requested media.
These times are also displayed in Primo and thus give users incorrect information.
Would it be possible to consider only the opening days and hours of the libraries when calculating the transit time?8 votes -
Prevent placing different request types on the same item
Currently in Alma there is no cross check and no way to prevent a patron from placing both a Physical Item Request and the Digitization Request on a single item. The Ex Libris expectation is that requests will be reconciled through the request queues. However this adds additional time to the request process as it requires contacting the requester to confirm which type of request they need. I encountered the lack of a preventive configuration created a concrete clash as it came to our attention when a patron placed both types of requests on an item. This impacted 3 locations…
1 vote -
Pick from Shelf, sort by title
Hello,
Currently our Pick from Shelf has 4 options to sort the titles:
Location Name- Asc
Location Name - Desc
Call Number - Asc
Call Number - DescI would like to see the titles sorted into alphabetical order.
Thanks!
3 votes -
Current loaned item borrower user group as parameter in terms of use
Sometimes we need to restrict requests based on the group of the user that has the item currently borrowed, not only the group of the user that is trying to request.
This is particularly useful when you have items loaned to a user for an specific loan period (sometimes even for months or years) and you want to avoid users to request that item loaned to that specific user group but allow them to request items currently loaned to other user groups.
Take teachers and students for an example. You would like students to be able to request items currently…
3 votes -
Ability to queue borrowing requests for a temporarily inactive partner
Hi,
For resource sharing, we use Alma partners with the ISO profile type that are part of the Libraries Australia Document Delivery (LADD) network.When partner libraries suspend themselves from LADD services, their Status updates in Alma to Inactive.
However, sometimes a Library is the only possible lender of material. In these cases, we would prefer to wait until the Library becomes Active again, instead of trying to source a partner overseas (for us in Australia, time-consuming and much more expensive, plus challenges with postal delays). At present, we add a Note to the request that it is to be…
3 votes -
Monitor Requests & Item Process Activity Status Filter
Add Activity Status: Rejected to "Monitor Requests & Item Processes"
It would be extremely helpful to have the Activity Status Rejected on the "Monitor Requests & Item Processes" Activity Status Filters. If it could be added as an option with Active, Completed and All, that would remove a ton of extra time and labor for our fulfillment processes.19 votes -
Provide multiple hold pickup options within a single Alma library
We'd like to provide, within a single Alma library, the following pickup location/delivery options to our users: locker, circulation desk, or mail to home. At present, this is only possible through the creation of additional libraries.
164 votes -
See the same information in Monitor Requests & Item Process menu that is seen in Borrowing Requests menu
It would be helpful to see the same information in the different places a staff member might check to see the status of a patron request. In the attached document, you'll see that there is much more useful information in the borrowing requests menu, including the preferred pickup location which is a critical detail. Can we have the same info display in both?
3 votes -
patron names
Could the Patron name be displayed in the "Pick Up Request " window in Alma just as the 'Requestors Note". This saves time instead of having to click to find the name of the requestor.
1 vote
- Don't see your idea?