Alma
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95 results found
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Show preview of letters before they are sent for testing purposes
I dislike the fact that I have to create situation where a letter is sent before I can actually see what it looks like. It would be nice to see a preview after editing a letter.
14 votesThe letter customization options were enhanced over multiple releases in 2019, including the ability to use existing and local versions of xml to test and preview xsl changes
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Add "Previous User" in Manage Patron Services
It would be great to have feature to see the last previous user that you pulled up in the Manage Patron Services Patron Identification page. We often find ourselves needing to look up information on the patron who we just checked out materials too.
147 votes -
"Skip location" in "Pickup from shelf"
We would like to be able to choose which location to send a request to when skipping a location in the "Pickup from shelf" task list.
277 votesOn the Pick-Up Requested Resources page, if the Skip Location action is available (the request can be fulfilled by at least one other location that the request has not been previously assigned to), a Manual Skip Location action now displays in addition to the Skip Location action
For more information please see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes#Select_Request_Locations -
More flexibility needed for display of locations
Our users complain that it is difficult to find the locations of items and that too many clicks are needed to find out if an item is available.
This is the most problematic in the Locations display for journals (and monographs with the item description field filled in).More specificly, issues are:
- The shelf number is not indicated clearly enough
- Users search for items in the library that are not on shelf because they don’t click through to the single holdings display to check the availability (in the "journal display") or because the availability indication like e.g. (1…262 votesSee comment by Asaf Kline
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Change the “No requesting from available holding” functionality (check item availability)
Circulation desk librarians want to make a distinction between items and holdings that are (not) available for requesting purposes.
Patrons shouldn't be able to request items that are available, but they should be able to request items that are NOT available. In our case our items are created under the same holding, and Alma checks the holding for availability, not the item.
Use case: 1 holding with 3 items (with the same item description): 2 items are loanable, 1 item should stay in the shelves for consulting.
When the 2 loanable items are on loan and the 3rd one being…114 votesHi,
In the July 2017 release the following was done:
The calculation of the fulfillment unit On Shelf Request Policy was changed for serial titles. For each item, if there are available items that have the same description and are requestable, then the request link will be suppressed. If the available items are not requestable then the request link will not be suppressed.
Thank you for this very helpful suggestion !
Moshe
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Opening hours of the library in Alma and renewing in Primo
Circulation desk librarians want to make a distinction between library opening hours in Alma and service hours in Primo so users can still renew items on loan in Primo that day after closing time of the library.
Some libraries close at 5 PM. The due hours of the items loaned in these libraries are thus 5 PM. But in fact the student should be able to renew his items until the end of the day, which is 11:59 PM in Primo.
We have also configured that for students there is a patron limit of max overdue = 0. Which means…93 votesAs part of Alma June release, The Closed Library Due Date Management policy now includes new values to support keeping the original time and change only the date if the due date falls on a closed day.
For more information please see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
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!
169 votesIn the February 2025 release, the new Manage Patron Services UI can be set up to sound an alert when a block happens at the circulation desk.
For more information, see Enabling Sound Alerts for Blocks.
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Place in queue for hold requests is confusing for users
Can the queue numbering begin with 1 rather than zero? The zero is confusing to users when an item request is made. Users interpret this as not available. It's hard to explain the queue is for those waiting not those who placed the first request.
256 votesThe OTB value of the labels was changed from “Place in queue: {0}” to “{0} user(s) before you get served”. The change is not affecting existing customers, only new ones. In case existing customers would like to user the new label, there is a “Restore” row action on the label, this will bring the new label to your Alma.
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On Hold Shelf – new sorting option
We need a new hold shelf sorting option.
Non of the existing sort options currently existing in Alma is working for our needs. They are ether to long and specific for the user or do not work with our privacy policy when we have a “self service” hold shelf.
It should be a combination of date and a generated number. The generated number should be restarted every day. This number should be visible in the manage patron services and idealy have a persistant search option.
The number could be [day of moth]+[generated number]-[18-00001]- the generated number should be for the…368 votesYou can now make use of an additional sequence based number to uniquely identify requests. The system generated additional ID may be added to your pick from shelf and hold shelf slips by configuring the slips’ XSL. You can also add as a visible attribute of the request on the Pick From Shelf and Hold Shelf task lists.
For more information please see Alma April release notes available at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
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.
241 votesHi everyone, thank you for supporting this idea.
I'm happy to announce it has been implemented as part of the February 2026 Alma release.
Refer to the Alma release notes for more information.
Best,
Alma Product
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Add the ability to default booking hours to start of day/end of day
We use bookings primarily for faculty materials that they'll use in class- we have set hours when they can pick things up in the library so the hours and minutes functions are a moot point- they're always at the start and end of business days. It would be nice not to have to enter in the exact time for start/end for every booking, and if they defaulted to opening/closing times we could actually open this up to patron-driven bookings through Primo, which are way too complicated currently given all the time options.
12 votesA new booking policy in the Terms of Use, Booking Resolution, allows you to define the allowed resolution of your booking request
Available only for Primo customers
For more information please see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
Restrict borrowers from loaning multiple copies of an item they already have on loan
We would like to be able to restrict borrowers from loaning multiple copies of the same item.
For example, we would not want a borrower to be able to loan an additional copy of an item if they already have that item on loan, as this is unfair on others who would also like that item.
Although we have recalls in place, we would still like to restrict borrowers from loaning a second copy (or more) of something they already have on loan.
Kind regards,
Andrew101 votes -
Automatic removal of lost item from patron loan list once replacement fee is paid AND recorded in item history.
Currently, when an item becomes "lost" and a patron is charged the item's replacement fee, when the patron pays the replacement fee, the item remains on the patron's list of loans. So, one either must individually delete" lost loans that are paid for or run a close lost loans job. Neither action is recorded in the item's history. the item is paid for. Ideally, once an item is paid for, the item should be automatically removed from the patron's list of items and have a process type of "missing" or "lost and paid for" or something along those lines. And,…
333 votesCompleted as part of January release:
When an on loan item’s status is changed to Lost and the last lost or replacement fee is closed, the loan status can now be changed to Lost and paid and the loan is closed
Please see Alma January release notes for more details:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/009_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes?mon=201901BASE -
Fulfillment unit rules
When having to edit a Fulfillment Unit rule, it'd be great if there was an Edit button instead of a Delete button for each parameter - currently, if I want to add a User Group to an existing rule, I have to delete the batch of UGs & re-add the parameter (or, if the order affects it, delete everything and re-create the whole rule).
187 votesAs of August 2018 release the fulfillment unit parameters can now be edited.
For more information see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/030Fulfillment/080Configuring_Fulfillment/050Physical_Fulfillment#Editing_a_Fulfillment_Unit -
Increase number of loans, requests etc. shown in Alma
We want to increase the number of records to show in all of the lists in the system to 50. Current maximum is 20.
Loan limits for patrons are 50 items and it would be helpful to see all 50 items in the loan screen at once, without having to consult the other pages.
8 votesAs of November release you can now select the number of results appearing on any list of results (previously, only a few lists had this feature). For some lists, the range is between 10 and 50 results. For other lists, it is between 20 and 100 results.
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Block expired patrons from placing resource sharing requests in Primo
There should be an easy way to block patrons with expired Alma accounts from placing resource sharing requests in Primo. We shouldn't have to run a script as a work-around.
Currently, there is no way to tell Alma that expired patrons cannot place resource sharing requests in Primo. Expired patrons in Alma can place resource sharing requests, even though they are unable to checkout the material. This makes for very unhappy patrons.
101 votesThe February 2017 Release includes this idea. For more details please see here:
http://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/0099_2017/110_February_2017/Alma_February_2017_Release_Notes/04Fulfillment_-_February_2017_Enhancements#Additional_Fulfillment_Enhancements
where the new check_for_expired_account, parameter is described -
View cancelled requests
it would be useful for Fulfillment staff to have a way to track when users cancel requests, eg to explain why an item is coming off the holdshelf early, or to prove to a user that the reason why their hold has never been satisfied is because they cancelled the request. Perhaps a record should go into the Requests tab on the user's Fulfillment activities and into the item's History tab?
99 votes -
In Repository Search, display "Due Time" field for checked-out items
The "Due Date" field already displays for checked-out items in a "Physical items" search but "Due Time" doesn't even though many institutions check out hourly items for which the "Due Date" field isn't really useful.
45 votes -
Allow more flexibility in Display Logic rules
We would like to be able to construct Display Logic rules that hide a service based on the absence of a service. Currently (7/8/2016), the structure of rules only allow hiding a service based on the presence of a service.
Case in point:
We provide unmediated Get It Now for a handful of publishers. Obviously, we do not want to offer Get It Now if a full text service exists. However, because Alma considers Get It Now to be a full text service (which is a discussion for another day), we cannot use a "hide Get It Now if full…109 votesCompleted as part of Alma January Release The display logic user interface was enhanced, offering more flexibility in defining display logic rules.
for more information please see Alma January Release Notes at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/009_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes?mon=201901BASE -
Fulfillment: Send duplicate Lost Item Refund notice to the library staff
Program Alma to send a duplicate "lost item refund" notice to the library staff email/printer when a lost item is returned. This would be similiar to how Alma sends a copy of the cash receipt for fines paid to both the user and to the library staff.
When a lost item is returned to my library we need to know which patron returned the item so that we can remove the academic hold in our campus SIS system. Currently Alma only displays a message on the screen that indicates the ret'd item was lost--but messages on the screen are often…
3 votes
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