Alma
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87 results found
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Copy and paste multiple MARC fields into the metadata editor
We would like to be able to copy multiple lines from MARC records and paste them into the metadata editor so that multiple MARC fields are pasted into the record in one action. This would help us enormously with our workflow of importing MARC authority records from LibrariesAustralia into Alma.
For us, this is necessary because the LibrariesAustralia headings are not in the community zone and are unlikely to ever be included there and Alma does not allow for Z39.50 import of authority headings.
We have this functionality of copying and pasting multiple fields in the LibrariesAustralia Cataloguing Client and…
550 votesDear all,
I believe we now understand the requirement better: To be able to paste a block of text in MARC 21 format, and have Alma parse it and populate the MARC tags, indicators and subfields accordingly.
This is a larger development, but we hope to be able to add a solution for it to our future roadmap.
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Allow user to ‘Withdraw’ and ‘Open Predicted Items’ from the ‘Received Items Screen’.
Currently, ‘Withdraw’ and ‘Open Predicted Items’ functions cannot be performed from the ‘Received Items List’, during normal receiving operations.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qdNSY1xkPr71R7XJzPp8QtQJEa_h-00i/view?usp=sharing
Instead, a user must back out of the receiving windows, perform a title search, and access these features through the ‘List of Items’ window.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17yB9XwMI6MYAmnHq95mna6cOUMpXzlbq/view?usp=sharing
This drastically decreases efficiency in performing routine tasks in Prediction, Receiving, and Weeding.
What should be changed: As Serials Processors, we would like to see the ‘Withdraw’ and ‘Open Predicted Items’ functions added to the ‘Received Items List’ window, so that all serials management tasks can be done from one screen. This would eliminate the…
524 votesDear community, as part of the ongoing UX improvements in Alma, the "Receive new material" screen (aka Receiving WB) is planned to be refactored and support the need described in this idea. For more information see Alma roadmap:
Thanks,
Noam Fass | Alma product team
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Improve Alma Job Reports for Failed Record
It would be extremely helpful if more details were given when there are failed records or records with exceptions on the jobs we run in Alma. Many of the job reports only report the number of failed records. It would be great if the report would provide MMSID information so the we know what records failed.
505 votesWe are investigating the options for enhancing the job reports as part of a general enhancement to the jobs UX, which will then allow gradually deploying report enhancements to the different jobs in Alma.
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Add "item policy" and "temporary location" automatically to predicted issues
Acquisition librarians want to add automatically the "item policy" and "temporary location" to predicted issues to speed up their work and limit the number of clicks. At this moment the added value of prediction pattern functionality is being restricted by the lack of functionality (parameter setting) …
Use case: It’s not possible to add the item policy/temporary location as a parameter to continuous pol’s. If issues are created via prediction patterns the item policy/temporary location should be indicated automatically based upon parameter settings on pol level. This would save a lot of time and additional clicks when receiving the issues.…492 votesWhen creating a a POL, it will be possible to also define a default item policy and temporary location. This will be used when items are created (by a prediction pattern or manually) on POL or at receive time
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'Not Needed After' date should be mandatory on patron physical request form.
It would be helpful if the 'Not Needed After' date is mandatory on the patron physical request form to improve the requesting process for Patrons when there is a high demand for physical items.
394 votesHi,
An approach we’ll be looking at is that an optional ‘Last Interest Period’ request policy will, if set, be used to set a default the last interest date (Primo and Alma). This way every request will have a last interest date set by the policy and overridable by the patron.
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Increase customisation options for the resource sharing request form
User experience testing that we conducted showed that most users prefer to place resource sharing requests via the resource sharing request form in Primo. Users also expressed frustration with some aspects of the form including the format of the fields. They also expected that the Library could add notices relevant to the resource sharing service to this page.
The current options for configuring this form do not allow us to meet the expectations of our users. We would like to have more options for customising the page the form is on and the form itself. Specifically we would like :…
358 votesWe are looking into improvements that can be made to the Primo VE form, such as:
- Add a custom notice or message to the form
- Improve the form fields’ responsiveness to the requested format (book/article and physical/digital)
- Look into ways to enhance the configurability of the look and feel for the form
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Bursar integration: Additional fee statuses in Alma & Allow fee status change with job Import from Bursar
Currently there exist in Alma only the fee statuses “open”, “transferred” and “closed”. Transferred means fee was exported to external Bursar system. When the fee is imported back to Alma, it is automatically Closed. For staff it is not possible to tell if the closed fee was paid, waived, unpaid etc. without consulting the 3rd party Bursar system.
To give the librarians and end users more transparency about the (invoice) status of a fee, we would need more differentiated fee statuses. Also, we need to be able to set this status when importing the fees back to Alma using the…354 votesAdditional 10 closed fee statuses will be mapped in a code table. Libraries will be able to change their description. Fees with any of these statuses will be considered closed for all purposes.
The same types will be used also for transaction types.
When an import from bursar is processed, each fee may optionally include a code of the status to which the fee will change.
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Ctrl-z/Undo in the Metadata Editor
Currently, there is no Ctrl-z/Undo function in the Metadata Editor.
Please add this function.
Use case:
A record is in draft mode and the cataloger deletes a field accidentaly, there is no way of bringing it back.
Or a cataloger works on an exisiting record, makes a lot of changes and only wants to undo the last actions, but not go back to the previous version.350 votesDear Alma Community,
As part of our ongoing commitment to align our internal development processes and increase roadmap transparency with our community, to provide a more realistic and transparent view of Alma development, this idea that was previously marked as “Planned” had been reassigned a status of “Accepted”.
The “Accepted” status signifies that the Alma Product Management team recognizes the value of the remaining part of this idea, and is committed to its development. However - as we are still looking into possible solutions, it is not expected to make it onto the roadmap this year. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we implement this change.
We understand that this change may lead to disappointment or frustration, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience it may cause. Please know that your ideas and suggestions are extremely important to us, and we are committed to continually enhancing Alma based on…
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Change due date when patron account expiration date reduced
As a Fulfillment Manager, I would like the due dates of a patron's books to be changed to their account Expiration Date if this is reduced. Eg, if a book is issued to a student for 10 weeks and they withdraw from their course, the original due date remains which can be some weeks after they have left. This can cause confusion for library staff and the patron.
332 votesWhen a loan due date is shortened due to patron expiry, Alma will retain and internal an indication for that on the loan record. This way when the patron expiry is updated (shortened OR extended) the loan due date will be recalculated using the loan date (i.e. as if the recalculation is happening at loan time).
This way, the due date may be extended or shortened according to the new expiry date.
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Metadata editor: Enable moving up and down within a field using arrow keys
It would be nice to be able to move up and down within a field using arrow keys in MDE. For example, when a lengthy 505 or 520 MARC field has many lines, the cataloger must now move to the desired line using either mouse or left/right arrow keys, since pressing up/down arrow causes the pointer to move to the previous/next field.
My suggestion is that the pointer should be able to move within the field using up/down arrows and move only to the previous/next field when the pointer is on the first/last line of the field.
Using up/down arrow…
332 votesDear all, we are currently working on a design concept for a new form interface option for cataloging, which will make it easier to navigate long fields and subfields - we will take this request into account as part of this design. See our "Form Editing for MARC 21 Bibliographic Records" roadmap plans for more information: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Materials/010Roadmap/Alma_Roadmap_Highlights_(2024-2025)/Metadata_Management#Form_Editing_for_MARC_21_Bibliographic_Records
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Increase the visibility of digitization requests in case of multiple requests
When there is more than one digitization request on a same item (same or different requesters), only the first request is displayed in the Task List. When this request is completed, the second request is not listed in the Task List or in the “In Process Items” page, except when the barcode is scanned again.
We think that “In process Item” page should not be empty once the first request is completed. Or least, there should be an alert informing the operator that there is another request on the same item just ready to be fulfilled...
322 votesWe’re looking at adding an indication in the Manage In Process Items next to a request where there are more digitization requests for the same item in the queue. A row action will allow the staff to complete the current active request and activate the next.
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Make 'requester' clickable after 'scan in items' step of handling a request
It would be convenient if it was possible to click on the requester after the 'scan in items' step when managing a request.
321 votesWhen scanning in a requested item, the requester name appears. There will be a link to the requester’s user record if the logged in user has priveleges to access the user edit form
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Add an order action in the Purchase Request to “Approve and order from the CZ
Add an order action in the Purchase Request to “Approve and order from the CZ.” Alma would add an alert to the citation and redirect the user to the Community Zone, to the desired portfolio. The operator will only need to click on the "Approve and order from the CZ". Currently the only Action is “Approve and Order” which creates a local portfolio not linked to an E-Collection. It’s cumbersome and time consuming to re-link the POL and portfolio to the correct Community Zone record.
313 votes -
Batch deleting PO's
There is currently no system job to delete PO's. These have to be done manually using the Acquisitions>Purchase Order>Delete PO function individually in ALMA.
We have 1000's of old orders migrated from our legacy system that are no longer required. We also now only keep 7 years worth of orders in line with current financial practice and so would like to be able to set a job to batch delete at rollover into the new fiscal period.
307 votes -
Subdivided LCSH headings should be flipped by Preferred Term Correction
Preferred Term Correction is not flipping all LCSH headings when the authority record changes. If there is an authority record that has a subdivision, it is only flipped by PTC if the heading in the bib has no additional subdivisions. This means there is a significant gap in the PTC process that requires manual attention and handling, which is unsustainable. The PTC process needs to be more thorough.
For example, this LCSH:
$a Germany $x Politics and government $y 19th century
was updated by LC to be:
$a Germany $x Politics and government $y 1789-1900
When the authority record changed,…
307 votes -
Make configurable pop-up assistance in metadata editor
Currently the po-up assistance in metadata editor for subfields 260$a$b$e$f, 264$a$b, 505$r$t and 561$a is hardcoded and it can not be deactivated. Activation/Deactivation should be configurable. We have many queries from our catalogers about that.
303 votes -
Improve 'Electronic Resource Activation Task List' Management
The Electronic Resource Activation Task List does not adequately cover the multiple tasks and steps that operators need to complete during the resource's lifecycle. For example, for most electronic resources, there are usually multiple tasks in progress simultaneously (e.g., entering the EZProxy stanza on the server, ensuring admin access to the publisher's site). But because the Electronic Resource Activation Task List allows only one status to be assigned to a resource, there is no way to manage multiple simultaneous tasks nor easily determine what task has already been completed. This results in double handling and inefficient use of managing our…
299 votesDear Alma Community,
I am writing to inform you of a recent change that affects the status of an enhancement you have created or supported in the Idea Exchange.
As part of our ongoing commitment to align our internal development processes and increase roadmap transparency with our community, some Ideas that were previously marked as “Planned” have been reassigned a status of “Accepted”.
The “Accepted” status signifies that the Alma Product Management team recognizes the value of these Ideas and is committed to their development. However, enhancements are not expected to make it onto The Roadmap in the next year.
We believe that this change will ultimately benefit our user community by providing a more realistic and transparent view of Alma development. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we implement this change.
We understand that this change may lead to disappointment or frustration, and we sincerely apologize for any…
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Serials: Editing of Description Needed
When opening predicted items, the Description-Field is populated by the data provided in “Next Predicted Item´s information” and displays these data in a certain punctuation-logic. Unfortunately, this logic is not equal to the description- (and punctuation-) logic used in German speaking countries (which is following ZETA-Standard) – and there is no possibility to edit this. Since there has to be a correct description (for sorting etc.), the only way is to open and edit every single item once it is created by prediction pattern. This is causing a lot of unnecessary work to be done manually - we need the…
283 votesDear all,
It will be possible to have predicted items' descriptions created from the enum/chron fields using Alma's description templates.
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Short Term Loans - Courtesy and Overdue Notices
The new shortloancourtesyreminder & shortloanoverduereminder cannot be configured for multiple locations. For institutions with several hourly loan locations (for example Boston College maintains 2 and 3 hour loan periods for Course Reserves and a 4 hour loan period for some technology items) this dictates that the reminder notice has to be set based on the location with the shortest loan period. The overdue notice must be timed to make sense for for the longest loan period.
In our test configuration we used the following time parameters:
shortloancourtesyreminder - 105 minutes
short…284 votes -
Extend the "interested users" functionality
Acquisition librarians want to extend the current "interested users" functionality in order to serve the end user in a better and faster way. The current "interested users" functionality is not sufficient enough, to become useful and really benefit from this functionality we would like to extend it with:
• The ability to sort the interested user list.
Use case: some users (e.g. academic staff) have priority and should get the issue first!
• Make it possible to create hold requests on these items regardless of the existing fulfillment policy:
Use case: some libraries don't allow requests for available items, but…279 votesDear community, this idea was reviewed and accepted, below you can find the suggested design, please feel free to comment if you have further suggestion:
1. It will be possible to sort the interested users list using arrows. The hold requests will be activated as per the order in the interested users tab.
2. A check mark for ‘Loan to first interested user’ will cause the received item to be automatically loaned to the first interested user when the item is received.
3. It will be possible to print the list of users (in the proper order) when the item is received
Thanks,
Noam Fass | Alma product management team
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