Alma
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567 results found
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Ex Libris should provide the option to place a call and/or online chat with their support team
We are disappointed with the technical support service provided by Ex Libris. We strongly believe that Ex Libris should provide customers with more effective, prompt and interactive service.
There should be an option to call or chat online in real time with a support person who has a sound understanding of the product in question. This would be in line with all system vendors we have previously dealt with.
We appreciate that there will be some issues that are designated as bugs or enhancements and will require more in depth investigation. However, a direct call/chat option with a properly trained…
780 votesStaff users who have been assigned chat permissions can now chat with our Support team regarding the following types of Alma and Leganto issues directly from within the Alma management interface:
Simple how-to questions and configurations
Behavior and general inquiries
Known issuesFor more information see Alma March release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2021/Alma_2021_Release_Notes -
Patron physical item request – automatic cancellation of requests when ‘Date Needed By’ has passed:
I suggest that if the "not needed by " date is reached then the patron request is cancelled.
The only function of “date not needed by” for patron physical item requests is to prevent items from being put into transit from other locations if the transit cannot be completed by the required date.
However this is not clear to patrons and users ask us why we send Hold available notices when they already indicated a date when they would no longer need the item.
Staff also waste time locating items that Patrons have indicated are no longer needed, only to…
601 votesThe “Date needed by” field (also known as “Not Needed After”), which can be populated by the patron, was taken into account only in the “pick from shelf” workflow step, cancelling the request when the date was in the past without sending a cancel notification (since the patrons indicated that they are no longer interested).
Following this development, this behavior will be applied in other workflow steps in the request lifecycle:
Queued requests that are not yet active but are past their date needed by will now be canceled by the “Request – handle last expiration date” (to avoid recalling items to fulfill requests that are no longer relevant).
When an item is scanned in, if the “date needed by” of the request had passed, the request will be canceled.
When an item is placed on the hold shelf, if the date needed by is earlier than the regular hold… -
Improvements to request form when article is not available electronic or in print
If an end-user has found an article in Primo, but the library does not have access electronically and the library has the print journal, but not the correct item/issue the end user gets a very slim request form and the request in Alma does not have enough information to fulfill the request.
If the library does not have the print "mother"-item then the user would get the resourche sharing request form. This form is much more user friendly than the other forms.
If the end-user is out of luck the library has the journal in print, but not the correct…
601 votesThe following fields are now available in the Hold Request and Digitization Request forms configuration tables, and can be added to the General Hold/ Request Another Issue and the General Digitization / Digitize Another Issue requests in Primo (for holdings with no items or serial holdings):
Volume
Issue
Part
Chapter
Publication date
Chapter/Article Title
Chapter/Article Author
Start Page
End PageFor more information plaese see Alma November Release Notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
In Advanced Search, allow filtering OUT specific locations. For example, allow use of the filer: Physical Location "IS NOT" X.
Many searches do not allow for an "IS NOT" operator, and in some cases it is greatly missed. For example, when trying to assemble large sets of records where you want to exclude just a few locations, or filter out a single library. Please allow for an "IS NOT" operator when doing an advanced search and filtering by location or library. I'm sure there are other search filters also missing the "IS NOT" operator. Please feel free to add more suggestions via a comment! :)
596 votesA "Not Equals" operator is available in the Alma advanced search.
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Enable Alma collections items linked to logical sets to be updated as the set changes
Currently it seems that Alma Collections can only be updated by manually adding individual items or adding items from sets. If the set is a logical set, as new items that fulfill the set search criteria are added, could they also automatically update the Alma Collection. This would save having to manually maintain Alma Collections to some degree.
568 votesIt is now possible to define a logical collection based on a logical set of titles. The collection will be updated daily based on the changes in the set. Ad-hoc updates to the collection are also possible if required.
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Find and Manage Users by User Group
Add the ability to find and manage users and create user-based sets based on User Group.
499 votesAs part of the Alma July 2020 release “Advanced Search for Users” feature, new search options have been added for searching user records. The option to run advanced searches has also been added. One of the many new search indexes is the User Group.
Search results may be saved as a users set.
For more information, see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes_Included_Material/2020_RN_07_Main#Advanced_Search_for_Users
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Displaying request notes in the pick from shelf list
Request notes sometimes contain important information, but are well hidden from staff. To read them, they need to print a resource request slip, export a print slip report, check (edit) every single request, or use resource request monitoring, processes that waste paper and time.
Wouldn't it be nice to have comments displayed directly in the Pick From Shelf list? Or at least some sort of warning that yes, there is a note added to this request? And also in the Alma mobile app.
485 votesAs part of Alma June release notes:
On the Pick from Shelf list, if one or more request notes exist, they are now displayed aggregated together with a “|” (pipe symbol) in between each request. Only notes for active requests that are being picked by the current circulation desk are displayed. The notes of the active request are presented in the Pick Up Requested Resources page in no specific order. If you click the link for the request queue, all requests are displayed along with a new column that displays the request notes
For more information please see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
Customize the New Patron Registration form
We would like to customize the New Patron Registration form to hide the fields that we do not use, such as Gender, Job category, and many others.
It would also be nice to have templates so that selecting a user group might display specific fields, the same way that choosing "User has institutional record" causes the password field to disappear and Owning system dropdown to appear.
480 votesIt is now possible to configure the fields that appear in the Patron Registration and the Edit User Info (from the Manage Patron Services page) forms in Alma.
The new option makes it possible to configure a form that is fine-tuned to the library's needs and manages only the information the library wants to manage.
For more information see August Release Notes
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Provide ability to turn off the Related Record functionality for physical items
Provide ability to turn off Related Record functionality for physical items. I would like to be able to decide for each related field in the MARC record - 773, 774, 777, 786, 800, 810, 811, and 830 whether or not Primo will display the related record information for physical items.
There are cases where displaying related record information to the user is more confusing then helpful. 830 series fields, for example, will display "related" records that may not relate at all to a users search, especially if the series is general like: "Brill's studies in intellectual history." I would like…
451 votesNew configuration options are available for the Get It display, these options provide institutions the control of whether or not to present related holdings for patrons using Primo/PrimoVE. A more granular option provides the institutions with the option to present related records only for serials or only for monograph titles.
For more information see Alma May Release Note at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
Pop-up message when scanning in an item with a request note
We refer to the Alma March release notes: Pop-up Messages in the Scan In Interface. Various pop-up messages can be configured in Alma configuration – Fulfillment – Physical fulfillment - Scan In Messages Configuration. It would also be very useful to be able to configure a pop-up when the borrower has filled in the comment field on a request in Primo/Oria, e.g. that they want the book sent to another library. This is otherwise easily overlooked.
The request comment enters Alma as a Request note, and is visible in the Pickup from shelf list. But we would also like a…
435 votesA new ‘Requester Note’ message has been added to the Scan In Messages Configuration screen. By default, this message is enabled and will appear as a ‘Pop-Up’. The message will be displayed when an item that is scanned in has a ‘Requester Note’ associated to it.
For More information please see Alma May Release Notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2021/Alma_2021_Release_Notes?mon=202105BASE -
Ship digitally
We find the digitization workflow for Resource sharing tedious, and would like to have a shortcut directly from action menu, like for item and non-returnable.
This would be a new action from the Lending request: Ship digitally.
From there you should get the option to add a file, and ship it digitally to Borrowing library.
Please see attachment for illustration.
420 votesRequested functionality is not available in Alma September release, for more information please see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes#Ship_Digital_Content -
Fines in Grace Period should let users decide to calculate or not.
According to the policy that our institution laid down, Fines in Grace Period shouldn't be calculated.
If overdue fines count $5 a day and grace period value is 3, then patron returned an item in 4th day after due date, the patron should pay only $5.
But in Alma, we cannot set grace period that won't calculate fines. Hope to add this function to let users decide grace period fines calculate or not and make alma more flexible.
418 votesAs of July release the grace period can be set to not be included in the fine period at all.
For more information please see Alma release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
Delay time between receiving an item and sending email notice to patron
We would like to be able to configure the amount of time between receiving an item and sending an email notice for pickup to a patron. We receive items in batch and then file them onto the hold shelves in batch. Some time is need between these batch processes.
Current workarounds include: including text in emails that students might not read or scanning the items through two separate workflows.
Being able to configure the trigger for the email notice would be much better.
414 votesYou can now add a Delay for hold notification (minutes) on either the Circulation Desk – General Information or Library Details pages. When a hold notification is set to be sent to a patron, Alma waits for the delay to complete, then checks to see if the request is still active and if so, sends the hold notification to the patron. If the value is populated for both the circulation desk and the library, the value in the circulation desk is used.
For more information see Alma November release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
Change physical items job -- adding notes
The Change physical items job allows you to add Internal notes 1-3 or Statistical notes 1-3 by REPLACING any notes that already exist in that field, but not by adding the note IN ADDITION TO already existing text. This option needs to be added. Also, the current job allows you to skip records that already contain notes in your selected field but a "successful" run does not report out which records were SKIPPED as a result.
402 votes -
Allow suppression of items from Discovery in Primo
I would like a check-box in the item record that would allow staff to suppress individual items from discovery in Primo. This could be used for libraries that want to use only a single discoverable "dummy" item for placing requests on physical journals in Primo as well as libraries that prefer not to have items discoverable by patrons until they are done with processing and are available on the shelves. In an ideal world, if a holdings record only had suppressed items, the holding record would also not display. Moreover, if all items on all holdings attached to a bibliographic…
390 votesLibrary staff now have better control over process types: placing and removing institution-level work order types using the Change Physical items information job, searching by work order type and excluding a specific work order type from discovery. The work order types were enhanced to streamline workflows, allowing handling in bulk and without scanning items in.
his is especially useful when the library needs to mark a large set of items as unavailable in a way that's reflected in discovery
For more information please see Alma May Release Notes
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Change order of availability in "Get it" tab
We would like the order of availability in the "Get it" tab to be different. Instead of "x copies, x available, x requests" we would prefer "x available, x requests, x copies". The users frequently misunderstand and think that "copies" are available on shelf.
376 votesAs part of the June release it will be possible to: Resequence the existing labels, for example “x available, x requests, x copies”.
Add a descriptive text before, after or between each one of the labels, for example “x available, resources, x requests, x copies”.
Remove labels which are not needed, for example "x available, x copies”
For more information please see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
On Hold Shelf – new sorting option
We need a new hold shelf sorting option.
Non of the existing sort options currently existing in Alma is working for our needs. They are ether to long and specific for the user or do not work with our privacy policy when we have a “self service” hold shelf.
It should be a combination of date and a generated number. The generated number should be restarted every day. This number should be visible in the manage patron services and idealy have a persistant search option.
The number could be [day of moth]+[generated number]-[18-00001]- the generated number should be for the…368 votesYou can now make use of an additional sequence based number to uniquely identify requests. The system generated additional ID may be added to your pick from shelf and hold shelf slips by configuring the slips’ XSL. You can also add as a visible attribute of the request on the Pick From Shelf and Hold Shelf task lists.
For more information please see Alma April release notes available at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
Please add Description field to all three tabs in Patron Services page: Loan tab, Return tab, and Request tab
Currently, there is no Description field in Patron Services page. Library staffs are not able to immediately recognize which issue, volume, or number is loaned, returned, or requested by a patron at a glance in three tabs at this page.
When circulation desk staff help patron to check or see their loans in Loan tab, Description field is not visible.
Or, if a patron requests different issues under the same title at a time, when he/she comes to circulation desk and wants to pick up his/her requested items, library staff will need to spend more steps to check the Description…364 votesA new ‘Description’ column can be added to the list of loan items in the Manage Patron Services page. The column shows the value of the physical item’s ‘Description’ field.
for more information please see Alma July release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2021/Alma_2021_Release_Notes -
Add generic physical material types to the current table
My libraries circulate various pieces of equipment from microphones, to musical instruments, to 3D printers, to lockers, and the current physical material type table does not suffice without adding a slew of item policies or location codes, which is messy and makes the resulting analytics more painful than it should be.
Ex Libris support states that "The [physical material type] codes cannot be changed, because Development needs them for statistics across libraries." However individual libraries will have items that they need to distinguish between either for fulfillment rule purposes or our own statistics.
I would like there to be about…
355 votes -
Ability to edit "subscription from date", "subscription to date", and "additional information" fields on closed invoices
For some institutions, this data did not migrate, and for others, there are invoice operator errors that need to be fixed. This is vital to subscription management. We need this.
352 votes
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