Alma
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33 results found
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Separate new and deleted portfolios behaviors of "Activate new portfolios associated with service automatically"
"Activate new portfolios associated with service automatically?" has just 2 options (Yes and No), and it doesn't just control what happens when new portfolios are added to the collection; it also controls what happens when portfolios are deleted from the collection. I think there are probably additional use cases besides these as well.
If "Activate new portfolios associated with service automatically?" is set to "Yes":
New portfolios added to CZ collection are automatically activated in IZ
Portfolios deleted from CZ collection are totally deleted from IZIf "Activate new portfolios associated with service automatically?" is set to "No":
New portfolios…191 votesDear community,
This idea is planned to be included in the February 2025 Alma release.
Thank you once again for bringing our attention to this need.
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Finished claiming job does not give the library the option to check which vendors received a claim letter
When a claiming job is finished running in Alma you can view “events” from the finished job. This gives a line for each claim processed in the job, and lists three different identifiers: JOBID, POLINEID and VENDORID. None of these identifiers are searchable for the library, and the library then have no option to control what letters were sent in that specific job. If the identifiers listed in the job events were changed to the PO line reference and the vendor code the library would have the option to find the relevant POL and vendor and…
31 votesDear All,
I’d like to update you that we plan to enhance the "PO Line - Claiming" job report on February 2025 release.
The job report will include a list of vendors to which letters were sent successfully, including the related PO lines. A similar display will be added for the errors as well.
Thank you,
Zohar Shemesh
Alma Product Team
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PO line edit screen - Display "Recent Selections" for the "Access Provider field"
This idea was submitted by Ex Libris to evaluate the need for the enhancement specified below:
Today when adding/editing the "Material Supplier" field (Vendor information section), Alma present the user with the recent 5 selections in order to assist them with the selection and make their work easier with less clicks.
The need here is to add the same functionality described above also to the "Access Provider" field.
6 votesDear Community,
This is to update you that this idea will be part of February Release 2025.
Best Wishes,
Zohar Shemesh
Alma Product Team
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Alma overlap analysis tool to include different identifiers in one comparison
We would find it useful if the overlap analysis tool compare a list that includes different identifiers. i.e. ISSN, EISSN, ISBN, EISBN, TITLE in one comparison.
Currently it only allows you to compare overlap within just one identifier. This is very important with collections from vendors that include different kinds of material.
Being able to conduct this kind of overlap analysis is important for us in terms of making purchasing decisions and we feel that including this kind of feature in the overlap analysis tool would make this a more efficient process within Alma.203 votesDear community,
We began working on this idea,
Our solution will allow selecting up to 3 matching identifiers to be used in the comparison (in order). This will apply to both Collection Overlap Analysis and Look Up Titles. This is expected in Q3 2025.
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Add ISO 639-3 microlanguage names to Alma title search facets
In Alma titles search facets, display the microlanguage name instead of its code. PCC recently approved the implementation of the ISO 639-3 language codes for use in MARC 008/35-37 and also 546$b.
Example: where the language facet for a title search shows...
Language
Chinese (1)
wuu (1)...the following would be more useful...
Language
Wu Chinese (1)16 votesDear all,
We agree that support for ISO 639-3 languages in 041 is important, and are working on a solution for this.
Language marc codes are used in several places in Alma, including controlled vocabulary, advanced language search by selecting a language from a list of languages (which are mapped to marc codes in the metadata) and search facet.
The ISO 639-3 list introduces some complications to several of these workflows, such as languages that are mapped to different codes (e.g. French, which is mapped to fre / fra in the different coding systems). Our solution concept is therefore:
- Introducing a new search index, "Language code", which will allow searching for the language code from the MARC record directly, regardless of the source of code - planned for the coming November release (to be fully operational after the November re-indexing).
- We are working on future plans to offer more comprehensive…
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PO line description should represent current bibliographical data
Alma provides insufficient data in PO lines for the task of pulling a list of subscriptions a library has of a specific publisher's titles:
The PO line description contains only bibliographical data from the bib record as it was at the time the PO line was created. Subsequent changes in the publisher data are not updated in the related PO lines.
Even in newly created PO lines, Alma introduces the content of MARC field 264 _1 instead of 264 31 if such a field exists, i.e. it copies the first, not the current publisher’s name into the PO line description.
…
155 votes -
59 votes
Dear community,
We and our Sage partners are currently working through the auto-holdings integration with Sage that will include two dedicated collections: one for Journals and one for Monographs.
The development is in advanced stages but is depending on the provider as well.
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Allow Fulfillment Network Member (AFN) to lend resources, but not serve as a physical pick-up location for other network members' patrons
Since some institutions have buildings with perpetual restricted access, we have some AFN fulfillment network member libraries that are willing to send their materials to another AFN member library for pick-up, but, for all functional purposes, they are closed to the public. They don't want patrons from the other AFN institutions to visit their library in person, and thus, don't want patrons from another AFN institution to select their library as a pick-up location.
This need has been heightened during the pandemic, with more institutions closed to the public.
We know that turning off all circ desk hold shelves will…
100 votesIt will be possible to set the library with a ‘pickup for guest users’ indication that can be turned off. This will prevent the library from showing up as pickup location on AFN/FN request forms
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Dark Mode/Theme
Like the title suggest, A dark mode/theme for Alma.
Having the white background can be very sore on the eyes, and many prefer the reverse ( black background / white font ).32 votesAs part of our roadmap, we are planning to add a high contrast color scheme each user can switch to when needed.
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Allow the system to change formats for example Physical One time to Electronic One-time and vice versa.
At the moment when you have created an order for a physical book, but then want to accept the e-book instead, the system does not allow you to change the format as it expects you to follow the workflow of the format you ordered in the first place.
118 votesDear Community,
This is to update you that this idea will be part of February Release 2025.
Best Wishes,
Zohar Shemesh
Alma Product Team
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Analyse and normalise special characters and diacritics in Alma records
In order to enable correct and consistent automatic linking between Bib. headings and authority records, Alma's treatment of diacritics needs to be normalised, and made configurable according to the Authority file being used. In addition there are special characters in use (such as quotation marks), that have more than a single graphic representation that should be normalised in order to prevent discrepancies in Almas' match and link mechanisms.
SFC#00533813, SFC#00375370 relate to the issue.66 votesDear community,
We are sorry to inform you that we have found an issue with this development, and as we want to be sure all features are high quality, we are delaying its release until we can test and make sure it is up to standard.
We will update when we have a final release date.
Regards,
Alma team
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Make physical item sort routines stick
For those of us working with continuing resources:
When viewing a list of physical items, the sort routine defaults to Library/Location. The items do not appear in any particular order when the results are loaded. Often I change the sort routine to Description or Receiving Date to view the most recent serial items and order them chronologically for viewing.
It would be nice if the sort routine "sticks" so that every time I open a list of items, the sort mechanism will stay on Description (not default back to Library/Location)
This would be especially helpful when managing items in the…
287 votesWe will remember the user preferences for sorting the items list, so it will be "sticky".
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Role Profiles Enhancement
When using role profiles, it would be nice if the profile could create a link to the user(s) with roles defined by the profile. Then, if you want to modify the profile, the change updates all users in the profile. Currently, you'd have to update the role profile and each individual user.
141 votesIt will be possible to maintain ongoing link between the role profile and the user record, so that you can use the template to assign a predefined set of roles to a user, and any further changes to templates will automatically affect the linked users' allowed roles.
Note - multiple profiles may be assigned to a user.
It will be possible to view the list of profiles an account is liked to for inheriting its roles, and to remove/add more profiles.
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Alma Metadata Editor needs a "delete portfolio" option.
When am in the MD Editor, looking at a record for an e-resource, I can "View Inventory" to display the portfolios. From that half of the screen, I can view or edit the portfolios. Within that view or edit, I can click on the "Linking" tab and "Test access". If I find that the link has expired and the portfolio needs to be deleted, I want to be able to delete it at this point. But I have to return to the bib. record, release it, exit the editor, click back as many times as it takes to return to…
111 votesDear community,
This Idea is currently being handled by our development team, the delete option for portfolio will be similar to what exists for item in the MDE. As always, we take privileges into account, specifically in this case, only users with role "Electronic Inventory Operator - Extended" can delete portfolios, others will not see the new option. We're expecting this to be released by Q3 2025.
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Ability to run user purge on a set
The current purge job does not allow for granularity beyond the user group and the number of options and filters for the Purge User Records job is very limited.
It would be helpful to be able to run patron purge on a set of user records, or alternatively for Alma to add a user delete job (under Manage Jobs and Sets > Run a Job) that runs on a set.
(see also NERS Request ID 5304)269 votesHi,
Of course ! We will add a job that will be able to run on a set of user records and purge them, using standard validations (such as no existing loans, fees).
Thanks !
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Linking patron name to patron record
I have noticed there are several ideas suggested in the ideas exchange regarding linking a patron's name and/or ID to their record in Alma.
These include:
- 'Link patron loan to patron record' (posted 25/05/2016)
- 'Hyperlinking from request queue/holdshelf to patron record' (posted 21/09/2017)
- Ability to view patron data via patron ID link in resource sharing' (posted 11/01/2018)I have one more to add to the list - linking within 'Manage item returns'.
When an item is returned, the patron returning the item is displayed in the 'Patron' column, with a hyperlink to their record, and the option…197 votesThe solution approach will be to add a link from the user contact info pop up to the user record. This link will be available for users that have a role that allows viewing a full user record.
By having this link added to the user information pop up we will have added to the many places where user information is displayed.
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How to distinguish namesakes
When you search a user (fullfiment > manage patron services), there is no possibility to distinguish to different user, who have the same nam (namesakes).
In the old UI, there was a patron card image, and, when clicking on, we accessed to a summary of the patron.
Now, we have no more solution.
Can you add this functionnality in the new UI?
Thanks a lot.
206 votesHi,
Makes sense ! Currently, the user information that is displayed in the user Ajax search results (e.g. patrons services WB) is hardcoded.
A mapping table, similar to the one that configures the user pop up, will control the fields that show in this list. The mapping table will enable the same fields that the user pop up allows, and allow setting the order of the fields.
Thanks,
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Grace Period only for open days
Now the unit of measurement for grace period is "days". So even if the library closed on weekend, those days are included to "Grace Period". To give fair advantage of grace period, Alma should apply the grace period excluding library closed.
For the detailed scenario as I expected, please refer to the attachment.Thanks.
331 votesCurrently, grace period can only be set in calendar days. An option to limit the grace period for Open days will be added.
Thanks,
Noam. -
Raise the limit to total number of rejections ( currently 1000) for exporting records that are not imported (due to import profile setup)
There is currently no limit to the number or records that can be imported into Alma (as far as I am aware).. there is however a limit of 1000 when needing to export the rejected data.. Workflows would be much better managed if this limit was raised to the total number of rejected records
174 votesDear all,
The export limitation of a 1000 records rejection will be raised to 5000 in the upcoming February 2025 release.
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Add "Search within results" box on a set
Hello,
It would be very useful if we had a search box of "Search within results", on a set we created with indication rules.
Thanks.
388 votes
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