Add the ability to select, open, and edit more than one item record at a time.
Currently, Alma only allows one item record to be edited at a time within cataloging. To have the ability to selected multiple items, and then open them all at the same time (either in the same screen, or pop-ups) would be a HUGE time saver. Not only for catalogers, but for binding and material physical processing users as well.
As of July 2020, it is possible to run jobs on selected items from both the physical items search and the items list, according to your roles and permissions. Note that a role at the institution-scope is required to run jobs in Alma, as they may affect items from various libraries. Repository managers, who can manage sets, can also create itemized physical items sets or add the selected items to an existing set from these pages.
For more information see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_m0zP_1JVE
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Arthur Murfitt commented
It does seem to against being user-friendly to not be able to view current screens alongside others. With binding for instant whilst amending the data via Physical Item Editor for the newly merged item, it would be useful to be able to view the previous bound volumes to confirm for example the enumeration data ie do I use vol., volume, v. etc. used for previous bound volumes. Seems pretty fundamental stuff for a user-friendly experience (function + aesthetics = design). With Aleph you can of course do this as shown below (apologies for poor visuals here but it should still illustrate the differences.
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Karen Benko commented
Thanks for responding, Itai.
"1) As a librarian I rarely create items and it will helpful to have an existing record as a base.
Q: Having templates for items will help this use case?"In the work that I am referring to (cataloging DVDs), there is so much variation in how we fill out the item record that it would be a waste of time to try to make a template for every situation. The best "template" is an existing item record that I can refer to. My current kluge is to take a screen shot of the existing item record, or multiple screen shots if the tricky information is in multiple tabs, and refer to that.
A bulk update option will not help my situation, because each item record needs to be correct from its creation, and because, as I said, there is a wide variety of combinations of fields that differ for different DVDs.
Unlike the original idea poster, all I need is to have a second item record visible (and navigable, to see different tabs and to scroll) while I am editing an item record.
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We are planning to provide the ability to do bulk update to items from various screens in a n easy way without the need to create sets.
There are related ideas exchange that we might address with the same items bulk update. Do you feel it will solve most of the use cases raised in this idea?
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Simon Hunt commented
Hello Itai,
1.) Yes, item record templates would be very helpful, as well as the ability to set a default template. That will help tremendously with new item creation during cataloging, but doesn't address the need to edit several existing items at once.
2.) Are you proposing to add options to the "change item information" tab on the "scan in items" page? I think that would also be helpful in some cases.
3.) From your questions, it sounds like you are developing a way to A.) view select elements of item records together, or B.) make an improvement to the change physical item batch job. But, A.) different fields will be needed depending on the nature of the work at hand, and B.) the goal of the above suggestion is to be able to work quickly and fluidly with item records, which would not be served by a process of exporting to Excel and back.
Thanks for investigating our use cases!
Simon Hunt
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I understand there are several use cases:
1) As a librarian I rarely create items and it will helpful to have an existing record as a base.
Q: Having templates for items will help this use case?2) I need to update several items with the same information. The user has simple permission.
Q: Do the items are in front of the user? Can he use the update by item scanning? what are the usually fields you are interested in updating? creating a set and applying the change via job will help?3) A group of items (e.g. jornal) that are similar and you would like to update them as a sequence
Q: how you will distinguish them? how many items you would like to update at once? what are the usually field you want for compare and for update? -
Anonymous commented
Esta muy mal que no tenga esta funcionalidad, es urgente que se implemente
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Karen Benko commented
My use case is that I rarely create item records, and when I do, I'd like to have a similar item record open for reference.
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In the case of comparing several records which fields would you use?
How many fields are needed in order to have good distinguish between them?
If you had an excel with all these fields and then you can update the relevant ones for each record will it help? -
KF commented
Item records for journal issues and bound journal volumes sometimes have errors in the enumeration and chronology fields. Records that appear to be duplicates can be differentiated by fields that don't appear in the "description" on the list of items. Figuring out what the issue is actually describing or whether it is a duplicate may involve printing off the page for each item or writing down details or just lots of clicks to open and close items. Being able to have two or more item records open to compare all chron and enum fields would help correct the records much more quickly.
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Elsa Varela commented
The functionality that is needed is the ability to open multiple item records simultaneously in order to edit them. These item records are attached to various holdings, and are in no particular sequence. This task is performed to add the storage facility tray barcode to each item record, so that it can later be retrieved from storage. Because the same storage tray barcode has to be entered into all of the item records for the books in that tray, it is much easier to have them all open simultaneously and just copy/paste that number repetitively.
In researching the solution that was suggested "Change Physical Items" it seems that the permission that is required is Repository Manager, which is a higher level than the people who will be performing this function. This task is often performed by student workers or temporary staff.
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/040Resource_Management/050Inventory/040Managing_Physical_Resources#Performing_Global_Changes_on_Physical_Item_Records -
Alasdair MacDonald commented
I have given my last vote to this. It would be a great enhancement and very useful indeed.
Alasdair MacDonald.
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Jane Daniels commented
Hi,
I'd like to support this idea - sadly no votes left!
It would be good if we could directly edit all holdings & items for a bib from within the MD. This would be a great improvement but I also agree with Simon's comments.
Thanks.
Jane Daniels
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Simon Hunt commented
It would be great to have support for multiple tabs/windows, and not just for the MD Editor. Opening up an items list in a new tab while keeping the search results list open, for example, or being able to make changes in a configuration menu while testing them without having to click in and out of menus each time.
Cross-posting this comment to a similar Idea here: There's a similar idea here: http://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/16043221-add-the-possibility-to-open-more-than-one-record-i