Electronic Material Type is only configurable at the portfolio level, not the electronic collection level. In many cases, all the portfolios in an Electronic Collection share the same material type. Electronic Material Type should thus be configurable at the Electronic Collection level and inherited by all portfolios in the collection, indexed in Alma searching, included in Alma Analytics, included in the portfolio Extended Export, and modifiable using the Change Electonic Collection Information job.

With the addition of this field, libraries could assign appropriate Electronic Material Types to all our collections (except those that are a mix of material types, which would have to keep using the portfolio level indicator). This would allow libraries to easily analyze and report on all the electronic collections or electronic portfolios of a certain material type. This would make it easier to make ebook-specific reports, journal-specific reports, streaming video-specific reports, etc.