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.
86 results found
-
Improvements to request form when article is not available electronic or in print
If an end-user has found an article in Primo, but the library does not have access electronically and the library has the print journal, but not the correct item/issue the end user gets a very slim request form and the request in Alma does not have enough information to fulfill the request.
If the library does not have the print "mother"-item then the user would get the resourche sharing request form. This form is much more user friendly than the other forms.
If the end-user is out of luck the library has the journal in print, but not the correct…
601 votesThe following fields are now available in the Hold Request and Digitization Request forms configuration tables, and can be added to the General Hold/ Request Another Issue and the General Digitization / Digitize Another Issue requests in Primo (for holdings with no items or serial holdings):
Volume
Issue
Part
Chapter
Publication date
Chapter/Article Title
Chapter/Article Author
Start Page
End PageFor more information plaese see Alma November Release Notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
Displaying request notes in the pick from shelf list
Request notes sometimes contain important information, but are well hidden from staff. To read them, they need to print a resource request slip, export a print slip report, check (edit) every single request, or use resource request monitoring, processes that waste paper and time.
Wouldn't it be nice to have comments displayed directly in the Pick From Shelf list? Or at least some sort of warning that yes, there is a note added to this request? And also in the Alma mobile app.
485 votesAs part of Alma June release notes:
On the Pick from Shelf list, if one or more request notes exist, they are now displayed aggregated together with a “|” (pipe symbol) in between each request. Only notes for active requests that are being picked by the current circulation desk are displayed. The notes of the active request are presented in the Pick Up Requested Resources page in no specific order. If you click the link for the request queue, all requests are displayed along with a new column that displays the request notes
For more information please see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
Customize the New Patron Registration form
We would like to customize the New Patron Registration form to hide the fields that we do not use, such as Gender, Job category, and many others.
It would also be nice to have templates so that selecting a user group might display specific fields, the same way that choosing "User has institutional record" causes the password field to disappear and Owning system dropdown to appear.
480 votesIt is now possible to configure the fields that appear in the Patron Registration and the Edit User Info (from the Manage Patron Services page) forms in Alma.
The new option makes it possible to configure a form that is fine-tuned to the library's needs and manages only the information the library wants to manage.
For more information see August Release Notes
-
Provide ability to turn off the Related Record functionality for physical items
Provide ability to turn off Related Record functionality for physical items. I would like to be able to decide for each related field in the MARC record - 773, 774, 777, 786, 800, 810, 811, and 830 whether or not Primo will display the related record information for physical items.
There are cases where displaying related record information to the user is more confusing then helpful. 830 series fields, for example, will display "related" records that may not relate at all to a users search, especially if the series is general like: "Brill's studies in intellectual history." I would like…
451 votesNew configuration options are available for the Get It display, these options provide institutions the control of whether or not to present related holdings for patrons using Primo/PrimoVE. A more granular option provides the institutions with the option to present related records only for serials or only for monograph titles.
For more information see Alma May Release Note at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
Change order of availability in "Get it" tab
We would like the order of availability in the "Get it" tab to be different. Instead of "x copies, x available, x requests" we would prefer "x available, x requests, x copies". The users frequently misunderstand and think that "copies" are available on shelf.
376 votesAs part of the June release it will be possible to: Resequence the existing labels, for example “x available, x requests, x copies”.
Add a descriptive text before, after or between each one of the labels, for example “x available, resources, x requests, x copies”.
Remove labels which are not needed, for example "x available, x copies”
For more information please see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
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 -
Please add Description field to all three tabs in Patron Services page: Loan tab, Return tab, and Request tab
Currently, there is no Description field in Patron Services page. Library staffs are not able to immediately recognize which issue, volume, or number is loaned, returned, or requested by a patron at a glance in three tabs at this page.
When circulation desk staff help patron to check or see their loans in Loan tab, Description field is not visible.
Or, if a patron requests different issues under the same title at a time, when he/she comes to circulation desk and wants to pick up his/her requested items, library staff will need to spend more steps to check the Description…364 votesA new ‘Description’ column can be added to the list of loan items in the Manage Patron Services page. The column shows the value of the physical item’s ‘Description’ field.
for more information please see Alma July release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2021/Alma_2021_Release_Notes -
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 -
last active date
User profile - Last active date
We would like to have a field in the user profile that shows patron’s last active date, i.e. loan, request or return. This field will be useful when deciding which user profiles to purge.
308 votesYou can now view the last activity date for specific activities in the Last Patron Activity Date field of the User Details Page. The field is display only and will be available for analytics in an upcoming release. Due to privacy concerns, data will only be collected from activation of this new feature onward. If the option is disabled, all data collected in this field will be deleted for all users.
For more information please see Alma February release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
"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 -
Placing digitization requests via Primo on holdings without items
Currently, titles with no inventory for their holdings do not appear to provide a title-level Digitization Request option in Primo.
This is a potentially huge defect in the Request functionality as many requests might well specifically be for material in that situation, e.g. older physical journal holdings where there is no item information into Alma but where there is potentially a functional need for the Digitization service. We think that if there is an Physical holding published to Primo, there should always be at least the possibility for the library to offer and configure Patron Digitization requests. This defect has…
272 votesCompleted as part of Alma December release:
Patrons can now place a general digitization request in Primo or Alma for a holdings with no items in the same way that they can place a general hold request. The new option is also available when using the Manage Fulfillment Options for the purpose of fulfilling a resource sharing document delivery request.
For more information please see Alma release notesL
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2018/001Alma_2018_Release_Notes?mon=201812BASE -
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
-
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.
-
New letter for hold shelf slips
When a document is placed on hold shelf, a letter is sent to the user, but no letter is printed. Instead, we are supposed to re-use the FulReasourceRequestSlipLetter as a hold shelf slip, but that solution is not very elegant. This generate a lot of extra “action+print slip” manual labor. In the case of self service hold shelves, the hold shelf slip is aimed at the user and should contain very different information than the information needed by library staff to locate the document. Also, to protect users' privacy, we are not allowed to include any information that can identify…
247 votesCompleted as part of Alma December release:
New Letter for Hold Shelf Slips
When enabled, the new Ful Hold Shelf Request Slip Letter (letter code: FulHoldShelfRequestSlipLetter) is printed to the circulation desk printer when the item is placed on the hold shelf, regardless of whether a pick slip was already printed. If printing fails, the item is still placed on the hold shelf but the user receives a warning message that printing failed. This way, it is possible to configure a slip for use for on hold shelf items, that is different than the slip that is used to pick up the item from the shelf.
By default, the letter has the same attributes as the Pickup Print Slip Report Letter, but it can be configured as needed.
The letter is invoked when scanning in an item and placing it on the hold shelf and when selecting the Activate next… -
Requestable by Campus Affiliated Patrons Only
We have an idea to reduce Transit Time: We whish to be able to limit physical items to be requested by campus affiliated patrons only.
This means that e.g. books in a specific collection in a specific library, is only requestable by the patrons affiliated with that specific library.
Explanation:
Our most requested physical items is in the Compulsary Readings Collection. This collection consists of identical titles, and every campus library has this collection. The items are requested a lot, and by patrons on all campuses.
Result: These items fly back and forth between campuses, and spend lot of time…242 votesRequest, loan and booking fulfillment unit rules now have the option to define a rule that applies only to patrons of a given campus to enable limiting resources to students of the same campus only. The Patron Affiliated Campus rule appears in the input parameters of the Fulfillment Unit Rules Editor.
For more information please see November Release Notes at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes?mon=201911BASE -
Calendar Management - update Calendars by uploading Excel spreadsheet
It is very time-consuming updating calendar exceptions each year in the Alma interface. Using Tools, It is possible to export calendars to Excel so please could you make it possible to import them as well because it would be so much quicker and easier to make the changes in Excel. In most cases, I just need to adjust the dates slightly rather than adding a new record.
Like other University libraries, our opening hours pattern is quite complex: 4 campuses with different hours, night opening for part of of the year at 2 campuses, early closing during the summer rotated…
221 votesAn import action is now available on the Calendar Management page to allow you to bulk update calendars using an Excel spreadsheet.
for more information please see Alma April release notes at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
Patron Loans - Temporary Embargo
Boston College Libraries lend a variety of technology items to members of our community - iPads, laptops, laptop chargers, calculators, etc. These items typically circulate for 4 days or 4 hours and we have a no renewals policy. However once an item is returned we have no easy way to ensure that the same patron does not return to the desk within 5 minutes and borrow the same item or like item again. What we would like to be able to do is configure Alma so that patron x cannot borrow the same or like item within x period of…
216 votesThe May 2018 Release includes:
You can now configure a re-loan limit, preventing patrons from re-loaning items that they have just returned.For more details see: https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2018/08_May_2018/Alma_May_2018_Release_Notes/04Fulfillment_-_May_2018_Enhancements#New_Re-loan_Limit
-
Status for returned items changed to Awaiting shelving then changed to item in place after specified period
When an item is returned at the Library Desk Alma instantly changes the status to "Item in place", leading a user looking at that status in Primo to believe that the item is on the shelf. However when an item is returned at the Library Desk it is not instantly returned to the shelf - often it is placed on a returns trolley and reshelved later in the day or the next day.
What would be more useful would be for Alma to automatically assign a status of 'awaiting shelving' to an item when it is returned, and then after…
208 votesTime to reshelve (hours) is now available on the Organization Unit Details (when configuring a library), Circulation Desk, and Reshelve Without Transit Rules Editor pages. When configured, items that are marked as reshelf or reshelf without transit, will be displayed as Awaiting Shelving, instead of Item in Place, for the period of time configured. The item is considered as available, but appears as being reshelved in Alma and Primo so students and librarians know not to search for it on the shelf. Alma removes the ‘Awaiting Reshelving’ indication when the configured time since the item return has passed.
You can configure Time to reshelve once for the entire library, or override for a specific circulation desk.
For more information please see August Release Notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes?mon=201908BASE#reshelving_items -
Add a policy copy column in the list of items
When we are searching for all titles we cannot find in the list of items the related item policy so if we have to check the policy of a copy we have to select action and select view to view the related policy. Adding a column with the related policy in the list of items would be quick and useful.
201 votesMaterial type, item policy, and/or copy ID were added to the following areas:
Item List page
Physical Item Editor
Physical items repository search results
List of Items accessed by clicking the No. of Items link in the Holdings tab of the “Held By” Details page (for a member search in the Network tab)
data exported (the copy ID) to a CSV file when exporting physical items
the item list presented when selecting Bind Items from the List of Items page
the Manage deleted repository page -
Fulfillment Network - Institutional drop down menu for patron/item
Fulfillment Network - find patron/item from another institution: Currently in Alma, when selecting either an item or patron from another institution, the drop down menu is in a random order. There should be a way to change the sorting of that list (alphabetically for example). This menu can be found in the Manage Patron Services, Return Items, and Scan in Items.
This carries over to Primo for users placing requests. Both the institution and fulfillment network scopes. The pickup institutions should be listed alphabetically.189 votes
- Don't see your idea?