Add Alma support for microlanguages and language codes recognised by Library of Congress, including Austlang
Alma’s support for Language for search indexing, facet, and display is hardcoded for 041 to the 3 digit MARC Code List for Languages.
This excludes languages recognised by Library of Congress, such as Austlang languages which were recognised more than 6 years ago in 2018.
This issue has been addressed in Primo in 2021 and 2022 with customer advocacy efforts, but remains a glaring omission within Alma.
See details: https://igelu.org/primo-support-for-austlang-and-iso-639-3/
The only option currently within Alma for searching this data is to use the keyword field to search by information such as C15, and then use the Language filter to limit to Australian languages (by MARC code aus).
Even then, the Austlang language is not shown in the displayed metadata.
Attempting to use the simple search Language field to query 041 metadata in Alma records when not on the MARC Code List is unexpectedly zero results.
And for the advanced search Language field, Alma offers only a hardcoded dropdown menu of languages on the MARC Code List.
Successful delivery of this idea would be:
• Alma’s simple search by the Language field also returns results for all languages entered in the 041
• Alma’s advanced search by the Language field also allows for text to be entered, and also returns results for all languages entered in the 041
• Alma’s search results also displays in the Language field all languages entered in the 041
• Alma’s Language facet also includes all languages entered in the 041 from results returned
This is fundamental to reconciliation efforts to correctly recognise and represent First Nations peoples languages in the work of libraries worldwide, as well as hindering practical efforts by library staff to address past practices and report effectively on successful progress towards this in library systems.
Note: This submission is related but not fully covered by https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/46338445-add-iso-639-3-microlanguage-names-to-alma-title-se
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Diana Brooking commented
I am not sure that this idea is fully clear about which codes/standards should be supported in the 041 field. I would like to see support for iso639-3 in the 041 field, in addition to MARC. Because this is the standard that is starting to be used by the PCC. This would not only benefit First Nations languages, but many languages throughout the world that aren't represented well in MARC. For instance, Norwegian (bokmål vs. nynorsk)!
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Nina Goldie commented
Thank you for posting this idea. This would be extremely useful for our library.
I would love to be able to search the 041 field by keyword/text, including with truncation. So for example, to be able to search for Y* if I am looking for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language materials relating to the Cape York and North Queensland region. (AustLang language codes consist of a letter for the region, followed by a number for the specific language.) For this to work properly I would like to be able to specify a vocabulary from 041 subfield $$2 (in this case austlang) within the search.
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Patricia Farnan commented
I'm currently out of votes but definitely support this!