Alma
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1791 results found
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Please add the feature „Chat between Institution Zones“ to the Metadata Editor
Ex Libris should offer the option of creating a chat for each data record. This feature would facilitate communication between individual libraries regarding incorrect data records.
Currently, communication concerning bibliographic records are sent by email via a mailing list. For a library that has many departments with numerous employees, it is difficult to develop a workflow for jointly processing these emails. In a chat, several people within an institution can communicate with each other without having to coordinate internally beforehand.
But smaller libraries would also benefit from this chat function. When several emails are sent back and forth on a…367 votesCould you please clarify whether this request refers to communication between consortia (Network Zone) members regarding their shared data?
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Add “Report to Ex Libris” Option to Failed Scheduled Alma Jobs
Scheduled Alma jobs that end with errors do not currently provide a built-in “Report to Ex Libris” option. Reporting such issues requires opening a support case manually and copying information from the job report.
Idea: Extend the existing “Report to Ex Libris” functionality (available at the portfolio level) to scheduled Alma job reports.
For scheduled jobs that end with Error or Failed status, allow users to open a reporting screen, pre-filled with the relevant job details (Job ID, process ID, error message).
Benefit: Provides a consistent reporting experience for recurring system jobs and improves accuracy of job-related support cases.155 votes -
Allow cross-use of MARC21 authority fields 500 and 510
Alma currently enforces strict validation rules that restrict the use of fields 500 and 510 based on the type of authorized heading (100 vs. 110), preventing cross-usage and triggering validation alerts.
However, in real cataloguing practice (including MARC21 examples and records from the National Library of Spain), it is both common and necessary to establish relationships between different types of authorities (personal ↔ corporate) using 5XX fields. For example, a 110 record may include 500 fields linking to persons, and a 100 record may include 510 fields linking to corporate bodies.
This restriction limits the accurate representation of relationships such…107 votes -
Flexible and normalized comparison of portfolio coverage dates in Overlap & Collection Analysis
Currently, Overlap & Collection Analysis compares portfolio coverage dates exactly as they appear in the portfolio coverage fields. As a result, equivalent coverage ranges are not always recognized as matches when the dates are recorded at different levels of detail or when some components are missing.
For example, coverage such as:
• 2.1.2016, Volume 1 Issue 1
and
• 2016, Volume 1 Issue 1
may represent the same start point, but the system treats them as different because one includes a full date while the other includes only a year.
In many knowledge bases and vendor data, coverage dates are…120 votes -
Allow CZ records to preserve or support local subject access for non-english indexing
We would like Alma to support a stable and sustainable solution for managing local subject access in Community Zone records.
Currently, when CZ records are updated, subject fields (65X) may be overwritten or removed. Although local fields can now be recovered in local indexes, this doesn't solve the core issue: subject access in our language is lost from the standard 65X fields, and this information becomes invisible to our consortial members.
We manage a large and continuously growing volume of electronic records, and the loss of controlled subject access has a significant impact. We have already identified more than 6.000…
107 votes -
Enable adding labels in bulk to title-level records for large sets
During large-scale projects such as: weeding/deletion, we need to mark many records with a label indicating their status.
Current Limitation:
Labels cannot be applied efficiently to large numbers of records; it is limited to 50 at a time.Requested Enhancement:
Provide a bulk mechanism to add labels to title level records beyond current limits.Benefit:
Improves efficiency, reduces manual work, and supports large collection management workflows.77 votes -
Override and reset the maximum renewal date
We would like to be able to override and reset the maximum renewal date when renewing loans that has gone over the initial maximum renewal period.
The override option that we have today, only overrides the renewal blockage and not the maximum renewal period. When the new due date arrives, the "maximun renewal date" is still expired and the renewal has to be handled by a librarian.
As it is now, we have to return and reloan the material for the patron, a manual prosess that takes time and opens up for errors.
212 votes -
Preserve “Requester Note” when converting Purchase Request to Resource Sharing Request
When a Purchase Request is converted to a Resource Sharing Request in Alma, the system automatically adds the note “Request has been converted from purchase request” to the new Borrowing Request, and the original “Requester Note” is not retained. This requires staff to manually copy the original note into the Borrowing Request to preserve patron context and avoid missed information. Automatically carrying over the “Requester Note” would make the conversion process faster, more consistent, and less error-prone.
89 votes -
Add “Additional ID” as an option for the costumized view on the pages “Scan In Items” and “Manage Patron Services”
Today, when “Additional ID” is used as pickup number for borrowers picking up their hold requests, the librarian will not be able to see the Additional ID when scanning a book with a hold request on the “scan in item”-page. To see the "Additional ID", the librarian will need to enter the “Active Hold Shelf»-page.
This makes the process difficult for the librarian, when he or she needs to manually write the “Additional ID” on the pick up-slip that is placed in the book.
If “Additional ID” were added as an option for the costumized view on the “Scan In…139 votes -
Update All Relevant Indicators When Correcting Preferred Terms Linked via Cross-References
The recent enhancement to Preferred Term Correction correctly updates bibliographic headings when the preferred and non-preferred terms are in different authority fields (for example, 410 → 130), and changes the bibliographic field tag accordingly (e.g., 610 → 630).
However, the current implementation does not fully synchronize MARC indicators between authority and bibliographic records.The enhancement documentation states:
"When a bibliographic field is updated to an X30 field, the non-filing indicators in the bibliographic record will be adjusted based on the linked authority record. According to MARC21 standards, the 1st indicator of authority field 130 (Nonfiling characters) will be copied to…57 votes -
Please add more "View only" roles to Alma
Alma already offers some "View only" roles:
- Fund-Ledger Viewer
- License Viewer
- Course Reserves Viewer
but there is still a need for more.Please add the following:
- Invoice Viewer
- Purchasing Viewer
- Physical Inventory ViewerThanks!
128 votes -
Compare All Institutions in the NZ
The Network Zone can be made more useful if it were possible to use it to quickly compare institutions by setting. A common time consuming task is to check to see which institutions have one setting or another configured and which do not. To accomplish this currently, it is necessary to either log in to each institution and click around or log in to the NZ and then using the drop down to choose an institution and click around. Either way, staff need to open up all the institutions.
Alternatively, it would be great if, for configurations that lend themselves…
44 votes -
Linking Funds to Location Codes so the Funds allocation can be calculated by the ordered copies for the Location Codes
My library recently moved to Alma, but we found that the location codes were not linked to the Funds. It is a big problem for us as we ordered more than 30 copies for 30 locations spending on 7 Funds, while the Funds calculation had to be done by excel table and inputted the amount manually. We have to spend an hour for one order eventually.
What we expected (and suggested here is), just like our old library system, is when entering the Ordered Items part with location and ordered copies, the Funds with respective distributions shall be generated rather…
98 votes -
COUNTER metric PR_P1 or DR_D1 Searches platform to calculate Total Usage in Analytics databases cost per use reports
We request that the Total Usage field used in constructing the databases cost per use report utilize the COUNTER PRP1 Searches platform or DRD1 Searches platform metric.
Within the group of university libraries that are part of REBIUN (https://www.rebiun.org/), we have agreed to use the PRP1 metric, or alternatively DRD1 Searches platform, to calculate the cost per use of databases.
However, when configuring the report in Analytics, we encountered the problem that Alma uses the DR – Unique Title Requests metric. https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/080Analytics/Alma_Analytics_Subject_Areas/E-Inventory#Cost_Usage
Therefore, even if we build a cost per use report, it would…
93 votes -
Make it possible to add Vendor Interface fields and customize field value options for existing fields
In Alma, Vendor Interfaces in Vendor records are the place designed to hold e-resources administrative information, such as contact information, administrative details, and usage statistics details. However, the fields available to libraries were developed several years ago, are not customizable, and do not reflect the complexity of modern e-resources management. Different types of institutions have different needs and want to record different types of information, so adding a few new fields for all libraries isn't an ideal solution.
Instead, this request is for libraries to have the ability to add and manage Vendor Interface fields. Libraries should be able to…
216 votesHi Elizabeth, Katie, and everyone,
Thanks so much for sharing this idea!
From what I understand, it includes two main parts:
- Allowing institutions to edit the list of values in various fields, with a specific example being the “Implemented Authorization Method” field.
- Adding more fields and making them reportable in Analytics, along with a request for a flexible mechanism to support this.
Regarding the second point — adding a flexible mechanism is quite a complex change and could impact the timeline.
If you can point out around three specific fields that are most important to add first, it might be easier.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Thanks again,
Tamar
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Persistent User Group Data in Borrowing Requests Subject Area
We would like to request that the Borrowing Requests subject area in Analytics captures and stores the patron's information (specifically the User Group) at the time of the transaction, rather than pulling the current status from the user record.
Currently, historical reports on borrowing requests reflect the requester's present-day group. If a student who made a request three years ago is now a staff member, or if their record has been deleted, the historical data is either overwritten or lost. This makes the data entirely out of context and renders historical analysis and longitudinal reporting impossible.
In the Fulfillment subject…
62 votes -
All NZ cataloger activities must be collected in Alma Analytics
The Cataloger activity report in Alma Analytics displays only partial activity when catalogers work in the Network Zone. For example, it may display a delete action but omit record modifications, leading to incomplete tracking of cataloger actions. It is included in Known Issues (https://support.proquest.com/s/known-issues/knowledge-detail?recordId=kA2QO0000000jZp0AI) with status "No Further Action".
163 votes -
Create new reports for Authority management
National libraries and institutions managing controlled vocabularies require robust tools to ensure the integrity of their authority files. Current Alma functionality (Authority Control Task List) focuses primarily on the link between bibliographic and authority records. We propose a new set of dedicated Authority Management Reports to identify internal inconsistencies, errors, and redundancies within the authority files themselves.
Proposed Reports & Functionality
· Orphan Authority Records: Identifies authority records without any associated bibliographic records. Crucial for cleaning up legacy data or unused headings.
· MARC Encoding Errors: Detects structural errors within authority records (e.g., missing mandatory fields like 008, invalid indicators,…
46 votes -
Request expiration date in Analytics
We are trying to retrieve a list of items that are about to expire on our holdshelf but it looks like the Request Expiration Date is not available in the Requests subject area in Analytics. We were expecting it to be in the Request Details section.
Of course, the holdshelf is just a specific case, limited to patron physical item requests, but this idea can be extended to any other request type in which an expiration date is meaningful.
32 votes -
Zeros after the decimal point disappear in the price in order line items
The problem occurs when editing an order line item where the price contains zero or two zeros after the decimal point (e.g., 31.90, 37.00, 24.80). The price was entered correctly in the Acquisition Department in the format with a decimal point and two characters following it.
When the copy was edited in the target library to add the missing data, the following message appeared during saving:
Confirmation Message - Please note the following: The value in the "inventory price" field does not match the defined structure. Are you sure ypu want to perform this action?The system automatically “cut” the…
136 votes
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