Alma
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1901 results found
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Incorporate All AI Metric Types/Access Method from recent 5.1.1 COUNTER Standard Update into Analytics
Counter Standards were recently updated to incorporate new metric types and new access methods for AI Bot Traffic within COUNTER standards (https://www.countermetrics.org/code-of-practice/best-practice/bp-ai/). Requesting that Ex Libris incorporate all metric types and the new access methods into analytics.
115 votes -
Reinstate Add item and Add item from template menu options/buttons in New Physical Items experience
In the New Physical Items Experience, the "Add item" and "Add item from template" options are missing from the Title items list page when conducting an All Titles or Physical Titles search. The options are still present when conducting a Physical Holdings search.
I have filed a case with Clarivate and confirmed that this is expected behavior, not a regression: "Currently, the Add Item and Add Item from Template options are available when accessing the Items List through a Physical Holdings search, but they are not available when coming from an All Titles or Physical Titles search. This appears to…
95 votes -
Automatically Remove or Flag Bibliographic Records Without Inventory Created by "Link Local Portfolios to Community" Job
Current Behaviour:
When local portfolios are linked in bulk to the Community Zone using the Link Local Portfolios to Community job, the associated local bibliographic records remain in the Alma repository even after inventory has been removed. These records become bibliographic records without inventory and require manual cleanup.
Currently, institutions must:
Monitor for Bibs without eInventory
Create a set of Titles Without Inventory.
Run the Delete Bibliographic Records job against the set.
Perform ongoing monitoring to identify and remove residual records.According to Ex Libris Support, there is currently no mechanism to prevent this behaviour, and it is considered a…
59 votes -
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…378 votesCould you please clarify whether this request refers to communication between consortia (Network Zone) members regarding their shared data?
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MDE: same behaviour for all languages/scripts which are written from "Right-to-Left"
Hi,
There are several scripts that are written from "Right-to-Left":
Arabic, Aramaic, Azeri, Divehi, Fula, Hebrew, Kurdish, N'ko, Persian, Rohingya, Syriac, Urdu.When typing a Hebrew letter in the Alma MDE the direction switches automatically from "Left-to-Right" to "Right-to-Left". Same for Arabic, Azeri, Modern Aramaic, Kurdish, Persian, Urdu (see attached file: Alma-MDE-Scripts-written-from-right-to-left.pdf).
Please provide us the same behaviour for all the languages/scripts concerned.
In our library, we are especially interested that when typing a Syrian letter the direction also switches to "Right-to-Left" automatically.
Thank you in advance!
95 votes -
Badges for Resource Sharing
There are two Request Types in the patrons' list of Requests:
a. "Patron physical item request" which is used for regular requests and b. "Patron physical item request (resource sharing)" which is used for RS requests.
They are very similar and this is confusing for Fulfillment staff when checking Requests, especially when both types appear.
See attached file with two examples of requests: the first one is for Resource Sharing, and the second one is a regular request.
Proposed solutions:
1. We would like to suggest creating a new Resource Sharing Badge so that Fulfillment staff can clearly differentiate between…80 votes -
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.169 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 -
Option to automatically suppress Bib records when AutoHoldings portfolios are unlinked or deactivated
The Issue:
Currently, when using vendor AutoHoldings collections (such as Wiley, Elsevier, etc.), Ex Libris recommended best practice is to set "Automatically delete portfolios removed from service" to No. This protects institutions from permanent data loss if a title is temporarily dropped or updated by the vendor.However, when AutoHoldings unlinks or deactivates a portfolio in the Institution Zone (IZ), the portfolio remains in the system while becoming inaccessible. Because the bibliographic record is not automatically suppressed, patrons still encounter these titles in Primo VE as "Not Available" or broken links, leading to a poor user experience and unnecessary support…
48 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…135 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…110 votes -
Ability to de-activate collections with EasyActive setting
Once you have chosen EasyActive over FullyFlexible, there is no way to switch back (https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/Electronic_Resource_Management/070Alma_Single_Activation_Source_for_CDI/020Single_Activation_with_the_EasyActive_Setting). However, at the time of switching there is no way of knowing what future collections will be added, and all CDI records of future collections will be returned in an unfiltered Primo search. For various reasons, we have had to switch to a default unfiltered search in Primo and now results are flooded with CDI records, some not of good quality. If there is no way to switch to FullyFlexible, then please provide an easy method to de-activate collections so that the CDI…
43 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 -
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.
217 votes -
Incorporation of All Indigenous Syllabics from the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Unicode Block (Revisited)
A previous enhancement request (March 2019; now closed) states that "not all Indigenous syllabics render in Alma, and thus, do not render in Primo either. As an important aspect of Canadian Libraries' commitments to Truth and Reconciliation, and as it is UN's International Year of Indigenous Languages, it would be excellent if Ex Libris could prioritize resolving this issue so that we can allow Indigenous users full discoverability of resources in their own languages."
We have tested the whole range of Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics in our Alma/Primo and can report the following results:
Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics (Range: 1400–167F)
**ALL…61 votes -
Improving Participant Management and Anonymous Feedback for Database Trials
We recently used the Database Trials feature in Alma and would like to suggest the following improvements:
Anonymous Participant Feedback
It would be very helpful if participants could submit their feedback anonymously. Experience has shown that anonymous feedback encourages more open and honest evaluations, thereby providing a better basis for decisions regarding the acquisition of electronic resources.Improved Participant Management
Currently, participants can be added either individually or via a set. However, once they have been added, the options for managing the participant list are very limited. Participants can only be removed one at a time. If the wrong set…
50 votes -
Encumbered Balance Amounts only link to unpaid purchase order lines
In the Summary Details of an allocated fund code, there are hyperlinked amounts listed next to Expended Balance and Encumbered Balance. We want the Encumbered Balance amount to link through to only purchase order lines that make up the total balance amount listed in the hyperlink.
Currently it links through to any purchase order line that had an encumbrance placed on it with this allocated fund code. Regardless of whether the purchase order line has already been expended and disencumbered or still has an outstanding encumbrance waiting to expend on it.
This would be helpful as it would give us…
53 votes -
Create a Distinct Process Status for Loaned Items Marked Lost When the Lost Loan Is Deleted
When an item is on loan to a patron and the loan has been marked Lost, deleting that lost loan in Alma changes the item’s process status to Missing. This creates confusion because the item is not simply missing from the library’s shelves; it was previously checked out to a patron, declared lost through the overdue/lost billing process, and then administratively removed from the patron’s active loan record.
A distinct status such as Lost Loan Closed would more accurately reflect the item’s history and current condition.
Benefits
This enhancement would:
• distinguish deleted lost-loan items from regular missing inventory,
•…24 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…164 votes -
Library closure added to calendar in borrowing library should affect existing Rapido loans in lending library
A library closure added to the calendar of the borrowing library will affect the due date of a Rapido loan for the borrower and the borrowing library but will not affect the due date in the lending library. On the original (lending library's) due date, the system will revert the extended due date to the original due date, mark the item overdue, but users are not notified and the due date remains unchanged in their accounts. Users could be billed for an item they didn't know was overdue.
This should have been fixed by the May 2025 release, following CERV…
24 votes
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