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.
For more information please review our FAQ and guidelines. Thank you.
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Persistent search box to display recent searches for all search types eg. PO line
Currently the persistent search box only allows re-running a recent repository search in the recent history drop down. It doesn't remember recent searches for other types eg. Order line, Users, Vendors etc. It would be very useful to remember these searches as many people work in different areas that don't use repository searches that often, but perform other searches.
188 votes -
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.
190 votes -
Add ability to reorder Description Template Setup Rules using drag and drop
The Description Template Setup Rules list must continually be reordered, since the first (sequentially) rule for which the enum/chron combination meets all criteria is used for the description, even if the enum/chron would more exactly meet a later rule. Regardless, is is also helpful to order the list so that similar rules are grouped together, so reordering would desirable as rules are added or removed.
Currently, the only way to reorder the list is to move a selected rule up or down in the list, ONE PLACE AT A TIME. This is time consuming and inefficient.
Please add the ability…
185 votesWe are considering to provide the ability to use a new drag and drop capability both with mouse and keyboard.
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Allow Linking PO Lines to Electronic Inventory Regardless of Order Record Type
We keep running into road blocks with not being able to hotlink POLines into the POLine fields of either Electronic Collection Records or Portfolio records.
Is there a way that Alma can allow us to add POLines to Electronic inventory no matter what the order type is? This would save us so much time and allow us to use existing order lines for renewals. Right now we are doing a work around to connect order lines with electronic inventory by entering order information in the Portfolio Internal Description field.
187 votes -
Change physical items job -- adding notes
The Change physical items job allows you to add Internal notes 1-3 or Statistical notes 1-3 by REPLACING any notes that already exist in that field, but not by adding the note IN ADDITION TO already existing text. This option needs to be added. Also, the current job allows you to skip records that already contain notes in your selected field but a "successful" run does not report out which records were SKIPPED as a result.
181 votes -
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…
181 votes -
Add 'due date' to items list
When student put a book on hold it would be useful to see when the on loan books are due to be returned in the item list rather than having to go into each individual onloan item to see when it is to be returned. Often we have 20 items out at a time and it would be good to have a quick overview of the return date.
180 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!
178 votes -
Suggestions for Normalization Rules (NR) functions
Hello,
Please see the attached file.
We would appreciate it if the suggested Normalization Rules functions would be developed in Alma.Thanks
175 votes -
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.172 votes -
Enable desk operators to select from a predetermined list of loan periods.
We would like desk operators to have the option of selecting from a list of predetermined check out periods for items in certain collections.
Boston College Libraries currently provide approximately 80 laptops to community members, which can be borrowed for a fixed loan period. For many patrons this static loan period is either too short or too long, adding some loan period choices would enable us to easily meet the needs of more patrons.
Currently in Alma, offering a variety of loan periods would require the creation of additional locations and terms of use. Doing so would enable us to…170 votes -
Increase customisation options for the resource sharing request form
User experience testing that we conducted showed that most users prefer to place resource sharing requests via the resource sharing request form in Primo. Users also expressed frustration with some aspects of the form including the format of the fields. They also expected that the Library could add notices relevant to the resource sharing service to this page.
The current options for configuring this form do not allow us to meet the expectations of our users. We would like to have more options for customising the page the form is on and the form itself. Specifically we would like : …
169 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…
169 votes -
May release : deletion of empty holdings.
Dear all
the May release introduced a change concerning the deletion of empty holdings:The 'Delete Holdings' link in the 'List of Holdings' page, which was formerly visible to users with the 'Physical Inventory Operator' role, is now visible only to users who have the 'Physical Inventory Operator Extended' role.
This change is a problem because not all the operators can have the physical Inventory Operator Extended role: this role allows operators to delete copies and it is quite dangerous.
It would be better for us that operators with the physical inventory role keep the permission to move copies from…169 votes -
No Auto-Send of Activity Report Letter
The Activity Report letter automatically tries to send when “Renew Selected” and “Renew All” are selected in Alma Patron Services. This is problematic for a few reasons:
The letter is triggered even when the letter is disabled in Letter Activity configuration. It generates a ‘fail’ message for staff.
The letter slows down processes dramatically depending on how many loans are attached to the account.
A workaround is to use the letter opt-out functionality, but we'd have to continually update all of our users with the opt-out in order for this to work well for us.
I would like to see…
168 votes -
Have the option to send emails to the user’s preferred address or send it to all of the user’s addresses on their account instead.
Sometimes the “preferred addresses” imported from SIS is not the address users frequently uses, they could potentially miss important notifications and cause disputes.
165 votes -
Include authority cross-references in Browse Bib Headings
The very useful Browse Bib Headings tool includes only information from bib records. It would be extremely useful if it also included authority cross-references for controlled headings, similar to how the Primo browse works. This way, if a user tries to use the Browse Bib Headings and enters the non-preferred term, the cross-reference will let them know that they need to search on the preferred term.
164 votes -
SIP2 over https
SIP2 further development: To provide ability to develop more versatile and agile self-service concepts and processes for the staff, it would be useful to take into use ‘SIP2 over HTTPS’ in Alma. The basic message between library automation and Alma would still be in accordance with the standard 3M/NISO, but message pairs would be encapsulated in XML.
162 votes -
Change item information RESTORE change type should allow clearing temporary item information.
When using the Restore change type under Change item information, the only change made is toggling the "item is in temporary location" back to NO. Any values filled in for temporary library, temporary location, temporary item policy, temporary call number, etc. remain. Restore should clear those fields, or allow operators to keep those fields by unchecking a box that would be checked by default.
If the item has been scanned to have an item policy for special circ rules, that information remains in the record when it is restored, even though that information is not applied. If the item is…
161 votes -
Alma task lists: "Assign to me" and bulk actions
In Alma task lists ...
- Electronic resources - activation - unassigned (Electronic Resource Activation Task List)
- Order Lines - review - unassigned (Purchase Order Lines in Review)
- Invoices - review - unassigned (In Review Invoices)
... there is only a row action ("..." button) to start the "Assign to" dialog which opens a pop-up window where you can select a user. Our colleagues are not satisfied with this cumbersome assignment functionality.
The missing functionalities are:
(1) a one-click "Assign to me" button
(2) a bulk functionality for "Assign to" and "Assign to me" (it is already possible to mark several…160 votes
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