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.
50 results found
-
Ship digitally
We find the digitization workflow for Resource sharing tedious, and would like to have a shortcut directly from action menu, like for item and non-returnable.
This would be a new action from the Lending request: Ship digitally.
From there you should get the option to add a file, and ship it digitally to Borrowing library.
Please see attachment for illustration.
420 votesRequested functionality is not available in Alma September release, for more information please see:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes#Ship_Digital_Content -
Delay time between receiving an item and sending email notice to patron
We would like to be able to configure the amount of time between receiving an item and sending an email notice for pickup to a patron. We receive items in batch and then file them onto the hold shelves in batch. Some time is need between these batch processes.
Current workarounds include: including text in emails that students might not read or scanning the items through two separate workflows.
Being able to configure the trigger for the email notice would be much better.
414 votesYou can now add a Delay for hold notification (minutes) on either the Circulation Desk – General Information or Library Details pages. When a hold notification is set to be sent to a patron, Alma waits for the delay to complete, then checks to see if the request is still active and if so, sends the hold notification to the patron. If the value is populated for both the circulation desk and the library, the value in the circulation desk is used.
For more information see Alma November release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
Document Delivery - 10 MB Attachment Limit too small
For document delivery (scanning and delivering book chapters and journal articles) the limit is 10 MB. This equals roughly 20 pages of black and white text only on default, low res scanning setting.
For anything in color or with detailed photos we typically cannot send, requiring us to cancel the request and deliver the scan outside of the Alma workflow.
347 votesFor attachment digitization requests, the file size limit was increased from 10 MB to 25 MB.
-
Show a confirmation/warning about completing a lending request when using scan in items
It would be a good enhancement to get a warning or a confirmation that a request is about to be set to completed, when we scan in an item that is currently in a resource sharing process. Because we use RFID, we have had multiple occurences of scanning in a document that already has the status Shipped Physically again by mistake, only to have the lending request irreversibly set to Request Completed, without the item ever being received by the Borrowing library. This means we have to contact the owning library and ask them to resubmit the request.
When using…
279 votesAs of July release you canset a message to warn the users if they are going to complete a lending process when scanning items. On the Scan In Messages Configuration page, the Complete lending request message, which defaults to none (no message), can be set to Popup message.
for more information please see Alma release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2020/Alma_2020_Release_Notes -
A borrowing library should be notified when a lending request is put on a waiting list
Scenario:
A library receives a resource sharing request (lending request), and the borrowing library asks to be put on waiting list if the wanted item is on loan. When the request is put on waiting list, the borrowing library should be automatically notified. This could for intance be by change of status on the Borrowing request to "In queue".277 votesWhen an internal 'ship digitally/physically' request is placed for a lending request (automatically OR manually), a 'Will Supply' message is automatically sent (and status changed accordingly) to reflect that.
Fo more information please see Alma January RN
-
Hold Shelf policy for RS items
When using Lender Due date for RS items (Fulfillment > General > Other Settings > ignorelenderdue_date = false) the date for Pick up from shelf is the same as the Due date. This is, according to ExLibris, working as intended, but we have a few issues with the workflow.
This makes the workflow more manual and difficult than needed, given that we have to manually check RS items that is not getting picked up by patron within a couple of weeks. Having the RS items on Hold shelf for up to 4-6 weeks is poor use of time…
274 votesAlma now enables users to configure if the Maximum time on hold shelf (Days) for an item to remain on a hold shelf before being returned to the lending library should be based on the request Due Date or the Circulation Desk Hold Shelf Expiration Time.
-
Converting Borrowing requests into patron physical item requests
We need a better way to convert a borrowing request into a patron physical item request, and then delete the borrowing request.
We often receive borrowing requests from patrons on books which are available in our library, other editions etc. . In those cases we may create a patron physical item request on the local title by clicking "view local", then conduct a search, then place a new request on the local material (note: we here have to type in patron and other data which were already included in the borrowing request), and then go back and delete the original…249 votesAlma February release now supports converting borrowing requests to patron physical item requests.
When a borrowing request is created and a local resource matches the request, if the operator chooses to create a request, the borrowing request data automatically populates the relevant fields in the request and gives the operator the option to cancel the borrowing request.
For more information please see the release notes at:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/009_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes?mon=201902BASE -
Ability to sort Resource Sharing borrowing requests and lending requests by Request Date
Currently, the 'Created borrowing requests' list is sorted alphabetically by title. It would be really useful, for when we have a large number of requests, to be able to also sort it by request date.
233 votesYou can now sort the resource sharing task lists, either ascending or descending by title, creation date, update date, or last interest date.
For more information please see Alma November release notes:
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2019/Alma_2019_Release_Notes -
Show partner in lending request list
It would be a nice extension to add a field that shows active partner as in the borrowing request list
This would result in a lot less clicking on the edit button.226 votes -
Improved claiming functionality for resource sharing
There is a need for improving claiming functionality in resource sharing. When items are borrowed by library A from library B, it should be possible for library B to automatically claim library A when lending requests are overdue.
More details in attached file.
224 votesCompleted as part of Alma December release:
It is now possible for a resource sharing lending library that is using NCIP-P2P to send an automatic claim to the borrowing library when the request is overdue. The claim is sent as an email.
For more information please see Alma release notes https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/010_2018/001Alma_2018_Release_Notes?mon=201812BASE -
Ability to Configure Borrowing Requests Status in Primo
The status of borrowing requests is displayed in the user's account (MyLibrary) in Primo. The statuses are not very user-friendly as they are the Alma statuses that are meant for staff. For example, "Locate failed" is quite disturbing for a user to see when checking the status of their resource sharing borrowing request.
We have been told that these values are in a hidden table in Alma and cannot be translated. We would like to be able to configure this table, or be able to map these statuses in a better way.
220 votes -
Improve usability of 'Automatically Print Slip' in Resource Sharing
When receiving Resource Sharing Borrowing items, the 'Automatically Print Slip' option is only remembered for the current session, which leaves this vital function open to error.
This could be improved in one of the following ways (in order of preference):
Option 1: Provide a configuration option in one of the code tables to set the default (this would also be desireable for all similar functions elsewhere, such as in RS Lending).
Option 2: Make the last selected option persist across sessions so our staff can set it once and not have to remember to set it every time.
Option 3:…
216 votesThe Automatically Print Slip option in the resource sharing receiving interface was enhanced. This option is used when printing the Resource Sharing Receive Slip Letter when receiving a physical item. It now retains the last value you selected for this option.
For more information please see https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2021/Alma_2021_Release_Notes -
RS Borrowing Requests – changing format before sending request
We would like the ability to change the format of a request before sending it to a Partner – e.g. from book/book chapter to journal/journal article or vice versa.
As our patrons don’t always know, or pay attention, to the actual source format, they often submit their requests with the wrong format, which our staff would like to fix before sending to Partners.
197 votesThe ‘Change RS Requests Type’ cloud app does just that – supports changing the request type for resource sharing requests from ‘book request’ to ‘article request’ and vice versa
See https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/appcenter/change-rs-requests-type/
-
Show completed requests in RS without having to enter search term
At the moment, completed requests are hidden from records and have to be searched by entering matching search terms. Our ILL staffs are finding facets appearing left to active requests records very helpful, as they reportedly spare staff members' effort and time to enter search terms and go through all the unwanted information. This applies to completed requests as well, as the staffs have to revisit them every now and then. It would be greatly appreciated if completed request records could be seen, limited, searched and browsed just like active requests, without having to enter search terms.
120 votesCompleted Resource Sharing requests are not displayed without needing to search them explicitly.
-
Alternative process for resource sharing borrowing requests rejected by last partner on rota
This idea is copied from ners request 4995 proposed solution which didn't make the cut-off in the second round of voting.
When a resource sharing borrowing request is rejected by the last partner on the rota the request is automatically cancelled. The proposed solution would mean the request isn't cancelled and then staff can add new partners to the rota or decide to cancel the request if there are no other options for fulfilling the request.
Proposed solution:
A workflow profile option will enable determining whether a rejected request (on the borrower side) will be considered automatically cancelled. Currently, the…107 votes -
Allow resource sharing request labels to be deleted
When you're adding a request label to a resource sharing request in the new Alma resource sharing reqeust list interface, you see a list of all the labels you have previously added to requests. Unfortunately, it's not possible to remove labels from this list, so you always see every label you've ever created, including labels with typos and labels that were created by mistake. We would like to be able to remove specific labels from this label list.
87 votes -
Add library code to Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter
With Rapido, our smaller libraries are receiving more courier requests from all over the country, and they don't have all of these library codes memorized. The library codes are not available on the Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter, but are used by our courier service provider as an identifier for shipping to correctly route the documents. Currently, the code must be looked up by hand if you do not know it. Therefore, we would like to print the library codes on the Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter. However, this field is not included in the letter data (XML/XSL). We ask…
81 votesThe partner code and name are found on both the shipping and the return letter, see also May 20203 release note - https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2023/Alma_2023_Release_Notes?mon=202305BASE
-
[Alma] - ILL Resource Sharing - allow pickup location other than RS Library for Physical non-returnable requests
Right now Borrowing Request type "Physical non-returnable", which is the one used for document delivery (tipycally a printed copy of an article), allows to choose only the Resource Sharing Library as Pickup Location.
This is a problem, since a user is instead willing to choose the library where the printed copy should be delivered. This is particularly useful when libraries are geographically sparse.
Using a temporary item does not help, since in this case we don't have an item that must be returned (and shipped back to the lender, as it is in the ILL of a book). The user…
81 votesNew Customer Parameter “Primo_VE_photocopy_other_pickup” handles locking the Pickup location field when selecting Photocopy on ILL Primo VE form. Enabling the Customer Parameter will allow choosing location, while disabling it will preserve the current behavior of locking the file to Resource Sharing Library.
-
Reprint the slip for physically received copies
In "Fulfilment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests > Physically received by library" the option to reprint the slip for physically received copies (e.g. because the printout did not work) is missing. In the submenu there is no option to reprint the slip. In "Fulfilment > Resource Sharing > Lending Requests > Shipped physically", however, there is an analogous option for reprinting the slip. This is exactly what we would like to see in Borrowing Requests.
71 votesThe Print Slip bulk action now enables the library staff to reprint received or returned slips in bulk.
-
Display of the RS Request Number in the patron's requests tab in Alma and Primo is missing
We have problems with our communication to our patrons when resource sharing borrowing requests are affected.
In the requests tab in the patron's account in Alma there is no possibility to display directly the request number (External ID) which is outstanding in the SNLP workflow. The staff at the circulation desk has to click 3 times (place in queue, barcode, resource sharing request) to see the related number to identify the correct borrowing request. After that you have to copy the number to put it in the search box of the borrowing requests after you have chosen the desired search…67 votes
- Don't see your idea?