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.
120 results found
-
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.18 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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
add modification date to "Monitor Requests & Item Processes"
It would be helpful to have the modification date, not just the request date as filter on the "Monitor Requests & Item Processes" page. Now it's almost not possible to find items which are e.g. stuck in hold shelf processing.
The request date does not allow to filter for items/requests which have been processed recently.9 votes -
Block the patron (several days) if they do not pick up a physical item that was requested and that they have reserved on the hold-shelf
Create a new TOU request type Policy type to sanction the not pick up of the item from the hold-shelf
31 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 -
Send borrowers an email when they place a request
It would be good if, when someone places a request on Primo, they could be sent an email receipt to confirm what they have requested. (This is an idea for both Alma and Primo, as I assume the email would be sent from Alma).
Not only would it be useful for users to have confirmation (a lot of webforms will send users a copy of their completed form, so people half-expect one from Primo/Alma), but it would allow libraries to include important messaging.
eg. at the moment, January 2021, we're in lockdown again, so the email could ask people to…
37 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…234 votes -
Store information about request history
It is currently not possible to see whether an item has previously been requested, only that it's checked out. I want (often) to be able to tell: how many times throughout the history of this item has it been requested and in what way (page from shelf, recall, something else). It's super weird to me that this isn't present in the fulfillment history at least, and probably in analytics.
49 votes -
Confirmation Notice for Curbside Bookings
Alma has allowed for the Booking Request feature to be set-up and modified as a means to provide curbisde service or make appointments. However, it appears that no letter exists to confirm the appointment day/time with the user, which would be most helpful in providing user instructions, cancellation information, contact numbers, etc. I propose that this letter be added to enhance communication and expectations especially during this challenging time of changing services and delivery options. Thank you!
23 votes -
Digitization Requests - remove 'next step' from process
When managing Digitization Requests after 'Scan In', there is an obligatory 'Next Step' which has to be selected before getting the option to 'Attach documents' (and get the status from 'Digitization' to 'Document delivery'). Is it possible to remove this 'next step' from the Digitization process?
99 votes -
Option to add user details to Pick from Shelf & in export list
For institutions that manage requests differently depending on User Group or other values in the user record, it would be useful to have this info displayed with the rest of the request data in a pick from shelf list. Alternatively it would be useful to have this data in the export list so that staff managing these requests have this additional data to hand.
34 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.
157 votes -
Option to Return Items Without Filling Patron Requests
Items checked in that have patron requests on them are automatically placed on hold shelf and the patron is immediately emailed. Currently Ex Libris allows a delay for the notice for a maximum of 999 minutes, which is often not long enough. Sometimes materials come back that need repair, updates, or to be quarantined. This can take varying amounts of time. It would be ideal if the system would allow us to have the option to check materials in without triggering the hold process, so we may complete any necessary steps we need to before an email is triggered to…
42 votes -
User information in Print slip report
We are currently using the print slip report for our click and collect service but for us it is missing some vital user information around the requester. We would like to see the primary identifier in the report. We tried to deal with this in analytics but we also require the item barcode and this caused problems where there are multiple items under a title. The print slip report contains all the information (including the multiple barcodes) we need except for more extensive user information to help staff deal with this off site. The name is not enough, particularly where…
24 votes -
A separate booking calendar
Now, it is not possible to establish a separate calendar for booking request, the library's opening and closing times are used.
We would like the booking request to have a separate calendar from the Library's general hours.43 votes -
Prioritising Digitisation requests over hold requests for processing
Is it possible to have digitisation requests automatically prioritised to the top of a request queue over the physical item requests. Currently all physical item and digitisation requests go by the date they are placed by the patron. We find that patrons are waiting months sometimes just to get a copy of a chapter, where as if all digitisations were automatically at the top of the list they could all be processed and then items loaned to patrons.
67 votes
- Don't see your idea?