Alma
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64 results found
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Add “next year” as an option in serials subscription date range drop down menu for invoice lines.
Many of the invoices we process are for serials subscriptions for the following calendar year. Having “next year” as an option, for invoice line subscription ranges would be quite helpful.
260 votesDear all,
As we are analyzing the requirements for this idea, I'd like to clarify with you what should the identification of "Next Year" be?
- Is it the next calendar year (so if selected in any date in 2024 it will return the entire 2025, meaning 1.1.2025-31.12.2025)?
- Is it the next 365 days? Including today or not including today?
- Is it the next 12 months? Including current month or not including current month?
- Other?
Many thanks,
Zohar Shemesh
Alna Product Team
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Improve the e-book purchase request workflow
The purchase request workflow needs to be improved for acqusition of electronic resources.
Currently, you can either approve or reject a purchase request. An approval automatically creates a POL and a standalone portfolio based in the Purchase Request BIB record. Both outcomes are unfortunate when working with e-books. An e-book will usually be ordered on the vendor site (e.g., the ProQuest portal) rather than through an Alma POL. It should be possible to select whether a POL is created. More importantly, we'd like the option, upon approval, to select and activeate a title from among CZ collections instead of having…257 votes -
Add Data Type category for the Title Report in COUNTER 5 section of analytics
The Master Title Report of COUNTER 5 includes ebook and journal titles. It is difficult to use this master report in analytics without having a data type or section type option to differentiate between which titles are journals and which are ebooks. The master title report is useless in analytics without this option. Please add the data type or section type category from the COUNTER 5 Master Title Report into the Analytics Usage Report.
254 votesDear colleagues,
We are pleased to let you know that we have accepted your request to add the fields:
* data type
* section type
to the Counter master reports data in analytics.
All the best,
Shoshana
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Allow configuration of quick cataloguing form required fields
We currently only use the quick cataloguing form at circulation desks to create quick records to loan items found on the shelves but not found on Alma. The items are loaned and then the work order routes them to the cataloguing team on return. All these items already have call numbers so we'd like the call number field to be a required field in the quick cataloguing form. Sometimes returned items are incorrectly returned to the shelves and if the quick catalogue record does not include the call number they are often impossible to track down.
226 votesDear all, we are currently looking into the possibility of a re-design of the quick cataloging functionality - we will take this request into consideration as part of this future change.
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Provide birthdate information in search results of patron search
When searching for patrons through Fulfilment>Manage Patron Services, it would be useful if the search results included the patron's birthdate so that library staff had a unique identifier to check against when there a multiple patrons with the same name.
226 votes -
Change item information RESTORE change type should allow clearing temporary item information.
When using the Restore change type under Change item information, the only change made is toggling the "item is in temporary location" back to NO. Any values filled in for temporary library, temporary location, temporary item policy, temporary call number, etc. remain. Restore should clear those fields, or allow operators to keep those fields by unchecking a box that would be checked by default.
If the item has been scanned to have an item policy for special circ rules, that information remains in the record when it is restored, even though that information is not applied. If the item is…
224 votesA check box will be available when selecting the 'restore' option to enable clearing out the temporary information fields.
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Add preferred pronoun field that displays in Fulfillment Manage Patron Services display
We will be asked to provide a place to store preferred pronoun for our users (e.g. he/his/him) at some point in not too distant future.
We cannot use Note field for this information because we have been told by Ex Libris that if we import notes the entire note section in a user record is overwritten.
We need a configurable field (i.e. we can add the categories of preferred pronoun) that displays in the patron info section of the Fulfillment Manage Patron Services display
222 votesThe core user record will have a field for selecting a preferred pronoun. The options will be from a configurable drop down such as:
- he, him, his
- she,her,hers
The field will be updatable from:
- Alma form
- SIS
- API
- Primo (VE)
The preferred pronoun will in the Manage Fulfillment Options screen.
It will be possible to locally override this field without overriding from the SIS, like other fields allow (such as user group).
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Expand 'Bulk Change Due Dates' to disregard expired patrons and include recalled items
Configuring Alma to deliver an exclusively off-campus service in response to the Coronavirus pandemic included the extension of due dates for us. We were thankful for the 'Bulk Change Due Dates' functionality, which we were able to use to push back the due dates of a majority of items on loan (until 1 June in the first instance for us). We encountered problems though when it came to any items borrowed by patrons whose records were due to expire before that date. The items wouldn't go beyond the patrons' expiry dates, which under normal circumstances would be exactly how we…
221 votes -
Add notifications to Alma reminders
I appreciate the addition of the Reminders in Alma, but I think it would be even more useful if reminders could trigger email notifications when the reminder date has arrived.
219 votesA new task will be added to the tasks widget, alerting catalogers when reminders' date arrives.
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AFN Fulfillment Network, Add patron's home institution to the fields available on the hold shelf's display
When an Automated Fulfillment network allows for their patrons to pick up materials at any Institution in the AFN, it is possible for a patron to pick up their item at a third institution, that is neither the patron's home library, nor the item's home library.
With how Alma currently manages Linked Users, and with the fields available for display on the Active and Expired hold shelf screens, library staff at that third (pick-up only) institution are unable to determine which institution the patron is from.
This is because:
Since the patron is not a local patron to the pick-up…
206 votes -
Fine for failing to pick up request
We would like to have a fine automatically applied when a patron fails to pick up a request. The fine should be applied after the last pick-up date has passed if the request has not been picked up or cancelled. It should be possible to determine for which locations/user groups the fine will be applied.
203 votesA new 'Purged request fee' will be configurable for Hold Request TOU, similar to the one that already exists for booking requests. When the Expired Hold task list is used with one of the 'Reshelve', 'Transit' or 'Activate Next' functions then the request TOU will be consulted, and a fee will be created accordingly.
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Add ability to reorder Description Template Setup Rules using drag and drop
The Description Template Setup Rules list must continually be reordered, since the first (sequentially) rule for which the enum/chron combination meets all criteria is used for the description, even if the enum/chron would more exactly meet a later rule. Regardless, is is also helpful to order the list so that similar rules are grouped together, so reordering would desirable as rules are added or removed.
Currently, the only way to reorder the list is to move a selected rule up or down in the list, ONE PLACE AT A TIME. This is time consuming and inefficient.
Please add the ability…
199 votes -
Blocking borrowing requests on books published within the last year
With an active automatic rota for books, borrowing requests sent from Primo to Alma are automatically sent to partner. This applies for books published within the last year as well. Before we activated the autoROTA, we would usually change most of these borrowing requests into purchase requests and place the patron on a waiting list.
New books requested by a patron are often items we want to purchase ourselves, and not spend money on borrowing from our partners in addition. With the autoRota there is no way for us to block these borrowing requests from being sent.We would like…
200 votesHi,
We’re thinking along the lines of enabling rules that will automatically turn resource sharing requests to purchase requests based on criteria such as:
- Requester User Group
- Copyright related block
- Publication Date within time
- Request failure Yes\No → This will enable to set the rule to work when the request is created or when it is rejectedThe rules output will have options to either create purchase request in addition to the resource sharing one or cancel the resource sharing request and create purchase request instead.
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Purchase Request Library management in User records
A new multi-selection field, Purchase Request Library, was added to the User Details page with the June 2018 release. If one or more libraries are defined for a user, the user may create purchase requests only for the listed libraries. If no libraries are defined, the user may create a purchase request for any library.
But managing Purchase Request Libraries in user records can only be done record per record; there is no possibility for batch processes.
Currently, there is no option:
- to add or remove a Purchase Request Library with the Update/Notify Users job;
- to add or…197 votesThe Purchase Request library will be supported vi SIS/API and user update job, just as the Resoruce Sharing library is.
We’ll also look into making the Purchase Request and the Resoruce Sharing library be searchable in the users advanced search option.
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No Auto-Send of Activity Report Letter
The Activity Report letter automatically tries to send when “Renew Selected” and “Renew All” are selected in Alma Patron Services. This is problematic for a few reasons:
The letter is triggered even when the letter is disabled in Letter Activity configuration. It generates a ‘fail’ message for staff.
The letter slows down processes dramatically depending on how many loans are attached to the account.
A workaround is to use the letter opt-out functionality, but we'd have to continually update all of our users with the opt-out in order for this to work well for us.
I would like to see…
188 votes -
Add the ability to batch change the expiry date of items on the hold shelf
It can be useful to manipulate the Expiry date of items on the hold shelf. However you have to do this per item. It would be good to be able to batch update all items due to expire in a given period to a new value.
176 votes -
New role for Manage Import Profiles
Currently users must have a Cat Admin role or Gen Sys Admin role to be able to Manage Import Profiles (change/add profiles). This also gives them access to the Configuration area of Alma. There should be a role to permit users to Manage Import Profiles that does NOT also give them access to the Alma configuration area. Access to the Alma configuration menu should be separate from the ability to Manage Import Profiles.
178 votes -
sound alert for pop-up windows
A sound alert to accompany a pop-up window would be very helpful. We find that our student workers often fail to see important pop-up notes when they are checking out or returning materials. A distinct sound would help immeasurably!
174 votesIt will be possible to configure an audio alert for pop up messages that appear at the Patron Services WB or at the Scan In Interface.
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Claimed returned option for Lost items
In our previous system, with one click we were able to change items to Claimed Returned status, no matter what their current status was. one click and it was done.
But in Alma, for some reason, this is not possible once the item has been declared Lost. One has to go through a long and convoluted process creating a file and saving it then creating a set and saving it then running a job on the set. This involves three pages of instructional documentation and about 15 minutes of staff time every day.
We often have items claimed returned when…168 votesThe 'Claimed Returned' action will be available for lost loans. It will change the loan status to 'claimed returned'.
A customer parameter will determine whether the change to claimed returned should trigger a 'Find Item' action (and refund the lost item fees) + change to 'claim return', or only change to 'claim return'.
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delete users with expired purge date daily with scheduled job
Now deleting users with an expired pruge date has to be done manually and cannot be scheduled with a job. We would like to have a job that can delete these records more easy than now.
ExLibris came with this answer: Alma product management is aware of this issue and most likely scheduling will be possible in future Alma versions. However, there is no specific timeline for this solution, yet. Once the fix is released, information will be included in the relevant release notes and documentation.
It would be an efficiënt addidition in the ALMA jobs.
167 votesYes, it will be possible to schedule the purge users job.
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