make "test access" work when direct linking is enabled
The "test access" button in Alma does not work when direct linking is enabled in Primo. When trying to test access for an electronic portfolio, Alma loads a blank page forcing staff to click "display in a new window" in order to proceed. We recommend that this behavior be changed so that test access works the same regardless of whether direct linking is enabled.
Joseph Deodato
shared this idea
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Nadine Thorpe commented
We've just switched to enable direct linking which is a great improvement for our clients, however am very disappointed to find our test functionality breaks as a result. Staff use this extensively to activate and manage electronic resources and this disrupts their workflow just as Christina points out. I don't want to sacrifice direct linking for journals just to be able to test the links. Not sure why this isn't being treated as a defect?
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Christina commented
Thanks, Beth! As an update, a shoutout to Alison Davis from Purdue University who let me know that the if you go to Direct Linking Configuration and check the box for "Disable direct linking for journals", the "View It" will then work in Alma, but the Test Access can still come up as an issue.
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Beth Juhl
commented
Thanks, Christina, for surfacing this issue. We also make frequent use of "test access" but don't want to deny our patrons the functionality of direct linking.
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Now that in November 2022 Ex Libris came out with a Primo VE enhancement: Provide Direct Linking from Full Record- this is rising as an issue that needs to be resolved.
When you turn on the direct linking from full record functionality in Primo VE, it then breaks the Alma "View It" resources. What is frustrating about this is to see all the databases associated with the record, you have to go to discovery and see the "View Online" section. However, you used to be able to see all this data already in Alma before you turned on the functionality. We would like direct linking turned on for our discovery, but have it turned off in Alma to still see all the details of that resource, as Librarians want to see all the details, but Patrons do not need to see all the details. As it stands today, you either get a broken screen in Alma or a ProQuest result, but only that one ProQuest provider link, not all the links available to us. This is disruptive to the resource-sharing workflow that we do solely in Alma where we used to be able to see all the links available to us for a resource. We would like this functionality turned on for our patrons, but not be disruptive to our Alma backend workflow.
