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45 results found

  1. IZ Level Opt-Out of Embedding the Knowledge Center's AI Assistant in Alma

    Background:
    The August 2025 Alma release embedded the Knowledge Center's AI Assistant in Alma. There is currently a way for an individual user to hide the Knowledge Assistant but there is not a way for admin users to opt-out their institution if the Knowledge Assistant is not an appropriate tool for their institution.

    Request:
    Add a new Customer Parameter which allows institution zone admins to opt-out of the Knowledge Center's AI Assistant so it is disabled for all users in Alma.

    Alternative option: Create a Knowledge Assistant role and only users with the role have the Knowledge Assistant embedded in…

    232 votes
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    Planned  ·  6 comments  ·  Other  ·  Admin →

  2. Search for ISBN with hyphens

    Previously, it was possible to search for ISBNs with hyphens (e.g., 978-82-693905-0-6) using the "All titles – keywords" search in Alma. However, this functionality no longer works with the release of the new title search.

    While the search still works if you manually switch from "keywords" to "ISBN," it would be much more convenient if ISBNs with hyphens were recognized in the keyword search as well. As it stands, users are forced to repeatedly switch search types, resulting in unnecessary clicks and a less efficient workflow.

    129 votes
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    Planned  ·  2 comments  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  3. Request Access Type in Title Report harvest

    In COUNTER R5.1, title reports are getting more important as the list of data type has been expanded. A lot of non-journal and non-book usage (e.g. conference proceedings, reports, newspapers, theses, etc.) can only be found in title reports. However, in R5.1, while data type is a mandatory attribute that vendors have to send in title reports when the reports are requested, Access type is not. Access type includes: Controlled, Open Access and Free to Read. In order to get Access type to be included in title reports, the request queries must include the request for Access type. Otherwise, they…

    16 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Acquisitions - General  ·  Admin →
    Planned  ·  AdminZohar Shemesh (zohar.shemesh@exlibrisgroup.com, Ex Libris) responded

    Dear all,

    This idea was accepted and will be part of February Release 2026.

    We will add the option to select additional attributes to request in SUSHI harvest, for COUNTER R5/R5.1 reports:

    DR

    IR

    PR

    TR

    These attributes could be set by default setting for the institution level, and also for each report type individually within the SUSHI account.

    Thank you,

    Zohar Shemesh

    Alma Product Team

  4. Support "Parent" fields in COUNTER R5.1 IR reports

    COUNTER R5.1 reports can be harvested into Alma, and then users can review these reports in Analytics.
    For ‘Item Reports’ (IR) not all “parent” fields are supported in Alma and in Analytics.

    Mandatory parent fields for IRA1 in R5.1 are:
    Parent    Title
    ParentAuthors
    Parent    ArticleVersion
    Parent    DOI
    ParentProprietaryID
    ParentPrintISSN
    ParentOnlineISSN
    Parent_URI
    (See https://cop5.countermetrics.org/en/5.0.3/04-reports/04-item-reports.html)

    NOTE: If any parent information is included in an Item Report, the ParentDataType MUST be specified (see https://cop5.projectcounter.org/en/5.1.0.1/03-specifications/02-formats-for-counter-reports.html#report-body)

    These fields should be supported by Alma and Analytics.

    324 votes
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    2 comments  ·  Acquisitions - General  ·  Admin →
    Planned  ·  AdminZohar Shemesh (zohar.shemesh@exlibrisgroup.com, Ex Libris) responded

    Dear all,

     

    I'd like to update you that we will add support for IR and IR_A1 parent fields in a future Alma release.

     

    When sent in the report, we will map the parent fields into Alma DB, and show them in Analytics, under Usage Data Local (COUNTER) subject area.

     

    In case the report does not include parent fields (for example in IR, which requires to add the parameter Include_Parent_Details=True), the parent fields can be loaded into Alma using the manual upload for COUNTER reports.

    Adding the option to request for additional reports attributes when SUSHI harvesting will be done as part of a separate development. We encourage you to progress its priority via Idea Exchange. See for example the following idea: https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173/suggestions/49818182

     

    As for the request to add MMSID to Usage Data Local (COUNTER) subject area; we will not be able to add the MMSID to…

  5. Searchability for MARC 361

    We would like to be able to search MARC-361 in Alma, if possible also specifically in subfields of the 361.

    https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd361.html
    https://www.loc.gov/marc/holdings/hd361.html

    107 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  6. Index 532 field

    MARC21 field 532 should be indexed in Alma and Primo. This is important for accessibility notes.

    4 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Metadata Management  ·  Admin →

  7. MARC field 788 should be searchable

    The MARC field 788 ("Parallel Description in Another Language of Cataloging") is used by Library Archives Canada to store information about how to link to record numbers of alternate languages (ie, French to English, and vice versa). This information goes into the $$w (Record number) field.

    Having this field searchable would assist in finding records for the same things in different languages.

    8 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Metadata Management  ·  Admin →

  8. Record all changes to an Electronic Collection in the History tab, by user or System and the change made

    All changes to be recorded in the Electronic Collection History tab, including the user account or System making the change and what was changed.

    Currently there are many "System" changes only recording the Modification Date by Old Value of the previous last change and the New Value of the date of change.

    But there is no information as to what was changed.

    I am not going to provide examples of what should be changed and risk only those changed being done, as simply everything should be recorded. This is the purpose of a History log.

    Currently Ex Libris expects customers…

    7 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Resource Management - Electronic  ·  Admin →

  9. Index field 310 for the Alma Repository Search

    It would be useful to be able to search within all records with field 310 not only through the codes in 008 but also via the text in 310. We therefore suggest adding the field to the indexes for the Alma Repository Search.

    29 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  10. Index fields 700 $$4 and 710 $$4 for the Alma Repository Search

    As 100 $$4 and 110 $$4 are already indexed and can be very useful for cataloguers for searching records in Alma, we strongly suggest having also the relator codes in 700 $$4 and 710 $$4 indexed for the Alma Repository Search.

    (Follow up of support case 6659197)

    55 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  11. Index fields 772 $$w and 830 $$w for the Alma Repository Search

    As these fields are currently not indexed but would be very useful, we strongly suggest adding them to the search indexes which are available for the Alma Repository Search.
    Field 773 $$w is already indexed and we think these two additional fields could be used for similar search queries.

    (Follow up of support case 6659197)

    32 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  12. Index field 773 $$g for the Alma Repository Search

    Our libraries would like to have subfield $$g in field 773 indexed for searching in Alma, because it would allow to have more precise search queries including e.g. the issue number within a journal collection.

    24 votes
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    2 comments  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  13. Job or tool for extraction of related bibliographic records

    We would like the ability to get a hold of or extract the related bibliographic records in bulk based on a set of (other) bib-records.

    Alma already now automatically displays related records in "other details". We understand that the links are built based on bibliographic data in the MARC linking fields: 773, 774, 777, 786, 800, 810, 811, and 830 (subfield w,x,z).

    An example of a related record is a title within a monographic series. In this case, the bib record for the single monograph has a 830 $w with the MMS-ID/system number of the superordinate bib record.

    We would…

    144 votes
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    3 comments  ·  Metadata Management  ·  Admin →
    Planned  ·  AdminErez Shabo (Senior Product Owner, Ex Libris) responded

    The plan is to introduce a new search index that will enable customers to search by record relationships and generate a corresponding set of records. With this capability in place, users will be able to export those records for any necessary use.

  14. Interested In Letter – improvement to the usability

    When working on a purchase request, you can tick a box if you would like to notify the patron upon receiving/activation, and upon cancellation.

    OTB the Interested In Letter sends the same message when the request is received or cancelled. The letter in use does not seem designed for the cancellation message.

    This creates a discrepancy between what we choose to notify the patron of, and what we are actually able to communicate.

    Since we neither have access to the message table used as an input to this letter, or the opportunity to differentiate by using labels, we are forced…

    174 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Acquisition - PO & POLine  ·  Admin →
    Planned  ·  AdminZohar Shemesh (zohar.shemesh@exlibrisgroup.com, Ex Libris) responded

    Dear all,

    I'd like to update you that this idea will be developed for February 2026 release.

    The "Interested In" letter is being sent in the following cases:

    Upon receive of the item

    Upon activation of the resource

    Upon cancellation of the PO line

    The following labels will be available for customization for each of these use cases:

    Receiving:

    subject_received

    letter_name_received

    details_received

    details_item_arrival_time

    Activation:

    subject_activated

    letter_name_activated

    details_activated

    Cancellation:

    subject_cancelled

    letter_name_cancelled

    details_cancelled

    These fields could be customized from the "Labels" table when editing the letter.

    Thank you,

    Zohar Shemesh

    Alma Product Team

  15. Title search - index the 245 field on its own

    My library catalogs most new material according to the international cataloging standard, Resource Description and Access (RDA). One requirement of RDA is that each work is given a unique access point. When cataloging a new work, our catalogers must search our database to determine if their 245 field value (subfields a, n, p) is unique. This is impossible for them to do with the out-of-the-box search fields in Alma when their title is only one or two words long because the Title field searches 38 MARC fields and over 100 subfields. In our database, a basic title search of the…

    24 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Metadata Management  ·  Admin →

  16. Deliver Digital Documents: add notes

    We would like to add notes to the quick flow “Fulfillment > Deliver Digital Documents” (as is possible via the longer workflow of “Scan In > Manage In Process Items”). This way, we can swiftly deliver digital documents - regardless of file size - with a note to the patron. At this moment, for a note to be delivered to the end user, we need to take the more extensive route through “Manage In Process Items”. Here we are limited to file size and have to break up large files (as the file size limit is 25 MB and URLS…

    70 votes
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    0 comments  ·  Resource Sharing  ·  Admin →

  17. Allow to define several local search indexes, including standard MARC fields

    Following the partial implementation of idea "Ability to search via free text MARC tag and subfields" (https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/17197337-ability-to-search-via-free-text-marc-tag-and-subfi) under NERS 2020 #6795, here is perhaps a more modest suggestion, that hopefully can be more technically feasible and still provide a large chunk of the missing functionality.

    Similar to the analytics "Local Param" concept, it would be very helpful if institutions were able to define 5-10 "Local Search Indexes", based on each institution's needs. These indexes should be able to include any MARC field or subfield, whether local or standard (and preferably also field combinations).

    Use case: In our institution,…

    64 votes
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    1 comment  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  18. Adding the publisher location to the "Keywords" index in Alma

    Currently, the publisher location is not indexed in the general "Keywords" index in Alma. If someone wants to search for a certain publisher location, one must use the specific index because a "Keywords" search won't bring any results.
    This is particularly unpractical when searching for series or periodicals, as they often have similar names but different publishers or publisher locations, or later editions of a certain work which can be identified by the different publisher resp. publisher location.
    What confuses staff users is also that if one wants to search for a book, using the title and/or the author as…

    129 votes
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    2 comments  ·  Resource Management - General  ·  Admin →

  19. Include games and models as Resource Types

    In accordance with the MARC21 Format for Bibliographic Data, when LDR pos. 06 = r (for "three-dimensional artifact"), we're supposed to follow the "Visual materials" definition of 008, described at https://www.loc.gov/marc/bibliographic/bd008v.html.

    Currently, the Rules Used to Create the Resource Type Field (https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/010Getting_Started/050Alma_User_Interface_%E2%80%93_General_Information/Searching_in_Alma#Rules_Used_to_Create_the_Resource_Type_Field_MARC_21_KORMARC_and_UNIMARC) do not include games or models.

    These would be indicated in the bibliographic record as:
    LDR pos. 06 = r AND 008 pos. 33 = g (for "game")
    LDR pos. 06 = r AND 008 pos. 33 = q (for "model")

    Could these specifications be added to this Rules list? They are currently listed as…

    14 votes
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    Planned  ·  6 comments  ·  Metadata Management  ·  Admin →

  20. Display related holdings for monographs only for the 773 $w relation and not for the 8xx $w relation

    When filtering to a certain location via facets, you often get results from other locations too, which is unexpected from patrons perspective in many cases. This is caused by the current related records setting which is also taking locations with related records into account. The display is correct for analytical records without inventory (book chapters and articles), but not for the other monographical resources.

    What we wish to achieve is the following:

    When the record of a book chapter, journal issue or journal article (i.e. a record containing a 773 field with $w) is viewed in Primo, the holding of…

    665 votes
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    Planned  ·  26 comments  ·  Metadata Management  ·  Admin →
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