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Please add the feature „Chat between Institution Zones“ to the Metadata Editor

Ex Libris should offer the option of creating a chat for each data record. This feature would facilitate communication between individual libraries regarding incorrect data records.
Currently, communication concerning bibliographic records are sent by email via a mailing list. For a library that has many departments with numerous employees, it is difficult to develop a workflow for jointly processing these emails. In a chat, several people within an institution can communicate with each other without having to coordinate internally beforehand.
But smaller libraries would also benefit from this chat function. When several emails are sent back and forth on a topic, it quickly becomes confusing.
It is also more efficient and clearer if the communication about a data record can be found next to the data record itself.
One way to integrate a chat function into individual records would be to add a “Chat between Institution Zones“ button to each record in the search view and/or in the Metadata Editor (see image Alma Chat 1.1 and Alma Chat 1.2).
An editor should then open (a big window unlike the small window provided by the „Add Note“ option“), in which the written exchange between the libraries concerned can take place. One library sends a request to the other libraries, and the other libraries respond to it. The last library to respond, or the library that makes the final adjustments to the record, should change the status of the chat from “open” to “closed” This requires a drop-down menu within the chat editor (see image Alma Chat 2 + 3).
All chats with the status „open“ in every Institution Zone should be searchable using the advanced search (see image Alma Chat 4). Chats with the status „closed“ could still be searched using the title or ID of the record via the simple search.

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Martina Brinkmann shared this idea  ·   ·  Admin →
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  • Martina Brinkmann commented  · 

    A CERV has also been written on the same topic (AENH-I-36653). It explains in more detail that it should be possible to chat both within an IZ and between different IZs in the NZ. And yes, communication refers to the shared data record sets.

  • Emanuele Tommasi commented  · 

    Thank you for this idea! It would be great to see it implemented.

  • Dirk Lindauer commented  · 

    Great Idea, I am missing this easy kind of communication between libraries with the same holdings. Other systems, like the german ZDB (= Zeitschriftensdatenbank / Journal Database) have a similar possibility to communicate with all holding libraries via Mailboxes connected to the bibliographic record. So you have all the discussed information at a central place. Perfect. Dear ExLibris, please introduce such a system in Alma. Thank you very much in advance.

  • Marina Karch commented  · 

    This is a useful suggestion and I fully support it

  • Dina commented  · 

    Excellent idea!

  • S. Gotthardt commented  · 

    Very good idea, very useful for all of us

  • C.Haddick commented  · 

    I support the idea.
    It would simplify communication.

  • Eva Dönges commented  · 

    A really good idea! It will significantly improve communication.

  • Claudia Adolph commented  · 

    This would be very useful as the current procedure is not optimal.

  • M. Meinen commented  · 

    Great idea! This would make communication and processing much easier!

  • Johanna Munkelt commented  · 

    what an awesome idea to simplify workflows within a network!

  • Mareen Gärtner commented  · 

    Thank you. That would really improve our workflow.

  • Birgit Unkhoff-Giske commented  · 

    Implementing this idea would save a lot of unnecessary and annoying workarounds. It would be very helpful for everyday work.

  • Simone Bertram commented  · 

    We support this idea, because it seems more efficient for our workflows in several respects than the current approach. One aspect would be that we can remain within the main cataloging tool, i.e., Alma, to clarify and, if necessary, correct a question
    about a record.

  • Andrea Möhring commented  · 

    Gute Idee, erleichtert die Bearbeitung der Redaktionsdatensätze. Vielen Dank.

  • Stefan Haas commented  · 

    This idea would be great and help to avoid the use of inefficient workarounds

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