Alma
Your feedback matters to us. Help us improve Alma by telling us what you’d like to see using the message areas below. You can also can support something already posted.
We would love to be able to respond to every idea that is submitted, but this is not feasible. We are, however, committed to responding to the most popular ideas—those that have received the most points.
For more information please review our FAQ and guidelines. Thank you.
311 results found
-
Prevent change of due-date when the item is under the recalled status.
Or have an alert message of some kind when the due date is being changed.
Because when the due date is changed, the recalled item reverts back to its initial status making it difficult to determine if there are requests placed on the item.197 votes -
sound alert for pop-up windows
A sound alert to accompany a pop-up window would be very helpful. We find that our student workers often fail to see important pop-up notes when they are checking out or returning materials. A distinct sound would help immeasurably!
174 votes -
Show Pickup location in the tables "Requests" and "Loans" in Patron Services
It would be helpful ig the information “Pickup location” could be added as a column in the tables “Requests” and “Loans” in the “Patron services” in order to see the destination chosen by the Patron. Furthermore, the "Pickup location" should be displayed in Primo in the patron’s account - also in the "Loans" not only in the "Requests".
151 votes -
Control Purchase Request Display in Primo by Material Type
Using display logic rules there is no easy way to show the Purchase Request link based on material type. We want to enable the purchase request link for ebooks, but not ejournals. I did come up with a hackey workaround by creating a GES that only does the identification of the journal and then a display logic rule to hide the purchase request if this GES is present, but there seems like there should be a better way to do this?
150 votes -
Searching/Connecting Barcodes from other Institutions (Consortium)
In a Consortium, it is currently not possible to look up an item from another institution zone with its barcode in Alma. It's also not possible to connect the fee to an item from another institution zone, based on this same architecture issue.
We would like to have the possibility to search for items from other institutions to, among other things, place request on them on behalf of a patron directly in Alma - therefore this Idea goes along with https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/17887696-initiate-consortium-fulfillment-requests-for-items
Thank you!140 votes -
Allow staff to override if an item type is not requestable
We would like some books (like a reference book) to be non-requestable for a student. However, we would like for staff to be able to put in a request on a student's behalf for a reference book, or perform an override when appropriate.
139 votes -
Automate Work Order creation based on item location.
Boston College would like to be able to configure Alma so that work orders are auto-created for materials in a designated location when they are placed on loan.
Here is the desired workflow:
- Item is loaned.
- At the same time, Alma automatically places a work order on the item.
- When the item is returned to the managing circulation desk the work order is triggered and the item is routed to the correct work order department for processing.
The purpose of this request is to improve the management of the laptops that Boston College Libraries loan to patrons, and to facilitate…
131 votes -
Allow staff level renewing of items marked as "lost", or the ability to bulk process from "lost" to "found".
I'd like the ability to either allow staff to renew items listed as "lost" or at least be able to bulk process items marked as "lost" to "found" so we can then renew them.
127 votes -
Check past requests
When a request is cancelled or completed, there is no possibility to retrieve any information about the past request. If something went wrong, it is impossible to trace the patron or destination of the request.
125 votes -
Provide email address information in search results of patron search
When searching for patrons through Fulfilment>Manage Patron Services, it would be useful if the search results included the patron's email address so that library staff had a unique identifier to check against when there a multiple patrons with the same name.
107 votes -
Booking, transit and preview time
We use the booking functionality in Alma for our Audio/Video-equipment. The equipment is administrated by our media production department, and is configured as a library in Alma.
The AV-library is the only place on campus patrons can check out and return AV-items. Apart from that, the AV-library also supports delivery to a library at a different campus (Kjeller).
• The transit time between the AV-library and Kjeller is set to 48 hours.
• The preview time on the equipment booking is set to one hour.Use case:
When scanning an item due for pick-up at Kjeller within the next 48…104 votes -
Limit in house use entry through Scan in Items
Alma records In House use via "Scan in Items" module and whenever item that is not on loan checked in. I would like to see a setting that will allow "In House use" to be registered only by Scan in Items. There are numerous occasions where staff may check in items but it is necessarily "in house use" by patrons.
99 votes -
Sort of holdings with the same location by call number in the GetIt Tab
Currently, the display of holdings in Primo for multi-volume monographs is random.
Alma only allows to configure the order of locations by "their proximity to the patron, according to the library IP address”. However, holdings with the same location but different call numbers are not sorted in any meaningful way.When we catalogue a multi-volume monograph we create a different holding record for each volume, so we cannot use the “item sort routines” to adjust the display in Primo, because they only apply to items within the same holding.
Currently, our patrons see things like this:
http://primo.sns.it/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?tabs=requestTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=39pis_alma2150514590002521We’d like to…
97 votes
Dana Moshkovits
responded
This idea was mistakenly marked as completed and therefore I am setting it back to its original state.
The idea that was completed as part of October release is ‘Sort of holdings by location(A-Z) in Primo Getit’ -
Add a field for Library URL to the Library details that can be used in Letters.
Hello,
Most of libraries have a separate website with all relevant information for patrons. In Patron facing letters in Alma it would be useful to have a link to this library website.
Currently, there is no dedicated field in library details configuration where such link could be stored and then passed to the letters.
Please add a dedicated field for library website in library details configuration and feed this field to the Alma Letters.
Best regards,
Dominik96 votes -
Refreshing linked account expiration dates
As we understand it, there are only two ways for a linked account's expiration date to be refreshed/synchronized with the user's primary account in their home IZ:
Requesting an item from the IZ with that linked account
Staff at the lending institution go to Manage Patron Services, Find user in other institution, enter the user's identifier, and then find user
We think that the Alma experience would be improved by triggering this refresh process by a renewal attempt, by having an ability to run and schedule a job that refreshes these expiration dates on a regular basis, or by some…
96 votes -
Add department to User Details in Alma and to Hold/Resource Sharing pick slip for department delivery
We would like to use office delivery in Alma for our faculty but do not want to deliver items to an address. We want to deliver items to a department and have faculty pick up their items in the Department's office. In order to do this we need Department added to the User Details screen (we currently store department information in Job Description) and we also need department added to the Hold/Resource Sharing Pick Slip.
83 votes -
Allow customization of close_paid_lost_loans parameter
When the closepaidlostloans parameter to false and lost loans are closed (either manually or through the Close Lost Loans job), refunds/credits are not automatically given to patrons if the item is subsequently found and returned. When setting the closepaidlostloans parameter to true and the lost loan is closed (automatically setting the Lost and Paid status), a refund/credit IS applied to the patron’s account if the item is subsequently found and returned, providing the Lost Loan Refund Ratio is greater than 0.
For libraries that wish to take advantage of this new Process Type, but…
82 votes -
Allow user preferred pick up location while retaining other options
Currently in the TOU you can allow pick-up at "Any pick-up location" or at" User affiliated Campus Pick-up locations". If the latter is set, only pick-up locations of the user's campus are available. We need an extension to the former rule, that lets the user's preferred pick-up location (a new parameter in the user profile) be selected as default option, while still allowing the user to select a different location when placing the request.
Obviously, the "User preferred pick-up library" needs to be added to the user profile.77 votes -
Display renewals in Item History
In the Physical Item Editor, under the Fulfillment activities, we are able to see the Loan and Return history. I think it would be great to see Renewal information in this place as well.
So many times, we have patrons disputing fines because the item was late and they renewed it thinking that it's not due on the original due date.
It's true that when the item is checked out to the person you can see this when you click Actions>Loan History. But this does us no good when the item is checked back in and a patron comes to…
71 votes -
No items available for request due to policy- Show policy violated
When a request fails, an error message reads: "No items available for request due to policy." It would be very helpful if the error message included which policy prevents the request. With that information, I can easily tell the patron what prevents the request or fix a policy problem. Right now, I have to hunt the problem down in the fulfillment and/or configuration modules.
65 votes
- Don't see your idea?