Alma
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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.
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1880 results found
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Increase the visibility of digitization requests in case of multiple requests
When there is more than one digitization request on a same item (same or different requesters), only the first request is displayed in the Task List. When this request is completed, the second request is not listed in the Task List or in the “In Process Items” page, except when the barcode is scanned again.
We think that “In process Item” page should not be empty once the first request is completed. Or least, there should be an alert informing the operator that there is another request on the same item just ready to be fulfilled...
313 votesWe’re looking at adding an indication in the Manage In Process Items next to a request where there are more digitization requests for the same item in the queue. A row action will allow the staff to complete the current active request and activate the next.
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Make configurable pop-up assistance in metadata editor
Currently the po-up assistance in metadata editor for subfields 260$a$b$e$f, 264$a$b, 505$r$t and 561$a is hardcoded and it can not be deactivated. Activation/Deactivation should be configurable. We have many queries from our catalogers about that.
303 votes -
Invalid email address list or failed to be sent notifications
We would like Alma to indicate somewhere (in a report, in the user account or else) if an email was not delivered to a patron or a vendor due to an invalid address. This would help to locate them faster and correct this data.
Otherwise, we would like to have a list by Alma institution of users / vendor accounts with invalid email addresses.Thank you!
301 votes -
Improve 'Electronic Resource Activation Task List' Management
The Electronic Resource Activation Task List does not adequately cover the multiple tasks and steps that operators need to complete during the resource's lifecycle. For example, for most electronic resources, there are usually multiple tasks in progress simultaneously (e.g., entering the EZProxy stanza on the server, ensuring admin access to the publisher's site). But because the Electronic Resource Activation Task List allows only one status to be assigned to a resource, there is no way to manage multiple simultaneous tasks nor easily determine what task has already been completed. This results in double handling and inefficient use of managing our…
296 votesDear Alma Community,
I am writing to inform you of a recent change that affects the status of an enhancement you have created or supported in the Idea Exchange.
As part of our ongoing commitment to align our internal development processes and increase roadmap transparency with our community, some Ideas that were previously marked as “Planned” have been reassigned a status of “Accepted”.
The “Accepted” status signifies that the Alma Product Management team recognizes the value of these Ideas and is committed to their development. However, enhancements are not expected to make it onto The Roadmap in the next year.
We believe that this change will ultimately benefit our user community by providing a more realistic and transparent view of Alma development. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we implement this change.
We understand that this change may lead to disappointment or frustration, and we sincerely apologize for any…
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Make physical item sort routines stick
For those of us working with continuing resources:
When viewing a list of physical items, the sort routine defaults to Library/Location. The items do not appear in any particular order when the results are loaded. Often I change the sort routine to Description or Receiving Date to view the most recent serial items and order them chronologically for viewing.
It would be nice if the sort routine "sticks" so that every time I open a list of items, the sort mechanism will stay on Description (not default back to Library/Location)
This would be especially helpful when managing items in the…
292 votesWe will remember the user preferences for sorting the items list, so it will be "sticky".
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Extend the "interested users" functionality
Acquisition librarians want to extend the current "interested users" functionality in order to serve the end user in a better and faster way. The current "interested users" functionality is not sufficient enough, to become useful and really benefit from this functionality we would like to extend it with:
• The ability to sort the interested user list.
Use case: some users (e.g. academic staff) have priority and should get the issue first!
• Make it possible to create hold requests on these items regardless of the existing fulfillment policy:
Use case: some libraries don't allow requests for available items, but…287 votesDear community, this idea was reviewed and accepted, below you can find the suggested design, please feel free to comment if you have further suggestion:
1. It will be possible to sort the interested users list using arrows. The hold requests will be activated as per the order in the interested users tab.
2. A check mark for ‘Loan to first interested user’ will cause the received item to be automatically loaned to the first interested user when the item is received.
3. It will be possible to print the list of users (in the proper order) when the item is received
Thanks,
Noam Fass | Alma product management team -
Serials: Editing of Description Needed
When opening predicted items, the Description-Field is populated by the data provided in “Next Predicted Item´s information” and displays these data in a certain punctuation-logic. Unfortunately, this logic is not equal to the description- (and punctuation-) logic used in German speaking countries (which is following ZETA-Standard) – and there is no possibility to edit this. Since there has to be a correct description (for sorting etc.), the only way is to open and edit every single item once it is created by prediction pattern. This is causing a lot of unnecessary work to be done manually - we need the…
287 votes -
Short Term Loans - Courtesy and Overdue Notices
The new shortloancourtesyreminder & shortloanoverduereminder cannot be configured for multiple locations. For institutions with several hourly loan locations (for example Boston College maintains 2 and 3 hour loan periods for Course Reserves and a 4 hour loan period for some technology items) this dictates that the reminder notice has to be set based on the location with the shortest loan period. The overdue notice must be timed to make sense for for the longest loan period.
In our test configuration we used the following time parameters:
shortloancourtesyreminder - 105 minutes
short…287 votes -
add security levels to norm rules
Because all norm rules can be edited by all staff with cataloger roles, there is great room for erroneous changes for rules that are applied to batch jobs. For example, the norm rule that is applied to records being brought in from Z39.50 targets can be edited by any staff member. A single error in the rule can break the z39.50 import process for all staff until the source of the error is identified. Likewise, if we have a rule applied to import profiles and a staff member inadvertently changes it and we load 50,000 records, that could cause huge…
284 votesWe are considering incorporating the idea and effect both templates and rules editing permission
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recall
Update Lending and Borrowing Status when Recalls of Resource Sharing items are cancelled
Currently, once an item is recalled in Resource Sharing, it stays in that status even after the recall is cancelled by the patron. If this could have the same functionality as regular Fulfillment (which can be configured to have the item's original return date applied if recall is dropped), that would be ideal.
281 votes -
Batch deleting PO's
There is currently no system job to delete PO's. These have to be done manually using the Acquisitions>Purchase Order>Delete PO function individually in ALMA.
We have 1000's of old orders migrated from our legacy system that are no longer required. We also now only keep 7 years worth of orders in line with current financial practice and so would like to be able to set a job to batch delete at rollover into the new fiscal period.
274 votes -
Ability to run user purge on a set
The current purge job does not allow for granularity beyond the user group and the number of options and filters for the Purge User Records job is very limited.
It would be helpful to be able to run patron purge on a set of user records, or alternatively for Alma to add a user delete job (under Manage Jobs and Sets > Run a Job) that runs on a set.
(see also NERS Request ID 5304)273 votesHi,
Of course ! We will add a job that will be able to run on a set of user records and purge them, using standard validations (such as no existing loans, fees).
Thanks !
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Reminder when opening hours are expiring
When you add standard opening hourse into the Library / Institution calendar it defaults to setting the expiry for the hours 3 years ahead. This is good but it would be useful to get a reminder to move them on when it's getting close to the expiry date.
271 votes -
Fulfillment Borrowing history: allow users to choose to opt in
Currently the library can turn borrowing history on or off, but the choice applies to all users. For privacy reasons, and in order to avoid subpoena situations, we have it off, but some users do want borrowing history on as a convenience, and are not concerned about privacy risk themsleves. Why not allow those users to opt in to borrowing history, and allow the default otherwise to being off?
By the way, this "opt in" approach is how most public libraries in Eastern Massachusetts are set up, so our users expect this level of service from us also.
It is…
263 votesFrom the Circulation Desk user update form, it will be possible to turn on a ‘keep my loan history’ check mark.
Patrons that have this check on will not have their loans anonymized when the anonymization process runs.
It will be possible to get this indication also from API, and from Primo.
The option to turn ‘keep my loan history’ on should be a library decision
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Initiate consortium fulfillment requests for items in another institution from Alma
In our consortium, we would like to be able to place requests for items in other institutions on behalf of our patrons in Alma.
Scenario: a patron (dean, faculty member, etc) calls the circulation desk asking if an item is owned by the library. Circ operator searches Alma and finds the item in a consortium library. Circ operator SHOULD be able to request item in Alma from the patron's record. Right now, circ operator has to tell the patron to search Primo and request on his or her own.
262 votes -
Add expiry date for "proxy for" users
In an academic institution, many "proxy for" users will be arranged on a semester or yearly basis, it would be good to have an expiry date so that this permission stops and does not extend into perpetuity.
262 votesThe proxy relation between two users will have an expiration date. After the expiration date, the proxy relation will be considered inactive, and be ignored by the system.
The date of expiry will be updateable in the Proxies tab of the user form.
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Alma - automatic warning for users about to expire with dedicated alma xml letter
It would be useful to activate an automatic warning for users about to expire with dedicated alma xml letter.
The customer could simply set up the amount of days before expiration and if the letter should be sent to all users or to specific user groups. A scheduled job could be activated, so that the letter is sent every day at a specific time.259 votes -
Re-sequence MARC fields by each tag when running a normalization rule
Currently, after running a normalization rule on a set of bib records, the bib records display the 5XX fields out of order, e.g. 500, 546, 506 etc. This occurs even after running the CnmarcBibReSequenceTask as fields between 500 and 899 are not sorted, or sorted only by hundreds (this was the information given to us by a member of staff when we reported the issue on the ExLibris Customer Portal).
Having all fields in the correct order would ease any future cataloguing needed on these records, or when staff members view the record for work purposes.
I've attached an example…
260 votesChanging the existing re-sequencing task would impact all libraries, whether interested in this change or not - but we will look into adding a new re-sequencing task that will handle all fields, so libraries will have a choice on which re-sequencing behavior they want to apply.
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Preferred term correction should flip headings that change tag number
Alma authority control does not handle cases where the bib heading is linked to an authority via a cross-reference, but the preferred and non-preferred terms are in different fields, e.g. preferred term is in authority field 130 and cross-reference in authority is in 410.
Alma should be able to handle this scenario. Currently when the bib heading matches the authority cross-reference, Alma won't correct these and instead puts them on this report: Preferred Term Correction - Bib Heading found no authorized term.
Example bib heading that Alma won't correct:
110/2_ $$a Allied and Associated Powers (1914-1920). $$t Treaties, etc. $$g…
249 votesWe will add this improvement to our roadmap
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Improve the e-book purchase request workflow
The purchase request workflow needs to be improved for acqusition of electronic resources.
Currently, you can either approve or reject a purchase request. An approval automatically creates a POL and a standalone portfolio based in the Purchase Request BIB record. Both outcomes are unfortunate when working with e-books. An e-book will usually be ordered on the vendor site (e.g., the ProQuest portal) rather than through an Alma POL. It should be possible to select whether a POL is created. More importantly, we'd like the option, upon approval, to select and activeate a title from among CZ collections instead of having…250 votes
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