Alma
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1827 results found
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Add Data Type category for the Title Report in COUNTER 5 section of analytics
The Master Title Report of COUNTER 5 includes ebook and journal titles. It is difficult to use this master report in analytics without having a data type or section type option to differentiate between which titles are journals and which are ebooks. The master title report is useless in analytics without this option. Please add the data type or section type category from the COUNTER 5 Master Title Report into the Analytics Usage Report.
254 votesDear colleagues,
We are pleased to let you know that we have accepted your request to add the fields:
* data type
* section type
to the Counter master reports data in analytics.
All the best,
Shoshana
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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. $$g Germany, $$d 1919 June 28.
The authority record that this heading links to (via its cross-reference)
130/0 $$a Treaty of Versailles $$d (1919 June 28)
410/2$$a Allied and Associated Powers (1914-1920). $$t Treaties, etc. $$g Germany, $$d 1919 June 28The bib heading in 110 links to the authority via the cross-reference in the 410, but because the preferred term in the authority is in 130 (and not 110), Alma will not flip the heading.
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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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.251 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.
236 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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Add "Description" to the "Change Physical Items" job so that this field can be edited in batch across sets of item records
We would like to be able to edit (and delete) the "Description" field across large numbers of records without having to do it manually for each one. The "Rebuild Physical item description" job does not help here, since the content of the field is not necessarily based on Enumeration and Chronology data.
Several fields have been added since we started with Alma (e.g. Alternative Call Number, Temporary Call Number, Inventory Number, etc.). Therefore, we hope that this field will also be available for this job in the near future. Thank you in advance!235 votes -
Work Orders: package of required enhancements
Work orders are useful but often cumbersome and don't work as required. A package of enhancements/fixes would make them much more useful and useable:
• Adding notes when creating work orders in bulk. This would enable having fewer work order types as explanatory notes could be used instead.
• Makes notes more (immediately) visible when scanning in (pop up message?). Again would enable fewer work order types as items could be easily catergorised according to explanatory note upon receipt at managing department.
• Select recall/not recall at work order placement (like pick from shelf), not baked into type (and in selectable in bulk as well as individually).
• Select/override priority level at work order placement (individual and in bulk)/make it easier to manually advance work orders in queue, AND:
Different priority levels for different work order types.
• Allow managing departments to manage multiple work order types (like circulation desks can) - increased versatility and flexibility.
• Where circulation desks (and hopefully managing departments) manage multiple work order types, make it possible to view all in-process items and have work order type immediately visible.
• Alert on scanning into work order managing department if higher priority work order/request exists.
• Enable cancelling specific work orders/work order types in bulk (can currently only cancel all physical item requests on a set of items in bulk). This would improve versatility and flexibility.Realise this in not a single enhancement, but no single enhancement will make that much difference. The whole work order system needs to be looked at start-to-finish for real-world usability.
Work orders are useful but often cumbersome and don't work as required. A package of enhancements/fixes would make them much more useful and useable:
• Adding notes when creating work orders in bulk. This would enable having fewer work order types as explanatory notes could be used instead.
• Makes notes more (immediately) visible when scanning in (pop up message?). Again would enable fewer work order types as items could be easily catergorised according to explanatory note upon receipt at managing department.
• Select recall/not recall at work order placement (like pick from shelf), not baked into type (and in…231 votes -
Change currency in the order
In the order the currency can not changed when the order is saved already. See attachment too, please.
We need a possibility to change the currency after sending the order. Here are the reasons:
a) During the order creation it was made a mistake.
b) For subscriptions and standing orders the currency changes during the lifecycle. First we used British pound and than we use Euro, for example. The vendor changes the currency and we also have to be able to change that.230 votesDear community,
Thanks for this idea.
I would like to make sure that we fully understand the use case:
1 The need is to allow users to change the currency for PO lines which were packaged and sent.
Can you please specify the statuses in which this is needed?
2 Upon such change, funding should be handled: disencumbrance for the original encumbered amount, and a new encumbrance on the fund with the new amount and currency. Is this correct?
3 The POL should be removed from the original PO, and re-packed. Is this correct?
4 Should the order be sent to the vendor again?
Thanks,
Tamar Fuches
Alma product
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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.230 votes -
Provide birthdate information in search results of patron search
When searching for patrons through Fulfilment>Manage Patron Services, it would be useful if the search results included the patron's birthdate so that library staff had a unique identifier to check against when there a multiple patrons with the same name.
226 votes -
Allow configuration of quick cataloguing form required fields
We currently only use the quick cataloguing form at circulation desks to create quick records to loan items found on the shelves but not found on Alma. The items are loaned and then the work order routes them to the cataloguing team on return. All these items already have call numbers so we'd like the call number field to be a required field in the quick cataloguing form. Sometimes returned items are incorrectly returned to the shelves and if the quick catalogue record does not include the call number they are often impossible to track down.
226 votesDear all, we are currently looking into the possibility of a re-design of the quick cataloging functionality - we will take this request into consideration as part of this future change.
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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.
224 votes -
Include "Quantity for Pricing" in EDI for ebook POLs
It is currently not possible to send the correct quantity to the vendor via EDI. When EDI is sent for POLs of type "Electronic book - one time", the quantity field in the EDI is always 1, even if the Alma POL has a different Quantity for Pricing value. We often need to order multiple "copies" (i.e. sets of access credits or user licences) for an ebook, but only want 1 portfolio on Alma.
Please consider using the "quantity for pricing" in EDI for electronic - one time POLs.225 votesDear Community,
This is to update you that we are developing the option to send the exact "Quantity for pricing" to the vendor via EDI, for electronic PO lines.
Additionally, we will add the "Access mode" field as an optional field to select for the "EDI Vendor Note Fields".
Please follow up on Alma Release Notes to see when this development is released.
Kind regards,
Zohar Shemesh
Alma Product Team
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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 given another temporary change that doesn't require a special item policy the previous item policy will be applied when it is moved to a temporary location. See attached file for an example, and desired option to clear all temporary info.
This was also suggested in 2017 NERS as Idea 5111: Remove Temporary Item Information during "Restore" Currently, temporary item information is not wiped out when a temporarily moved item is "restored" either via a staff process or expiration of the temporary move date. The info is confusing and can cause issues with Analytics, Manage Sets, and future temporary moves on the item.
See also the idea relating to removing temporary item information: https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma/suggestions/11012787-remove-temporary-location-not-just-change-indicat
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…
224 votesA check box will be available when selecting the 'restore' option to enable clearing out the temporary information fields.
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Add preferred pronoun field that displays in Fulfillment Manage Patron Services display
We will be asked to provide a place to store preferred pronoun for our users (e.g. he/his/him) at some point in not too distant future.
We cannot use Note field for this information because we have been told by Ex Libris that if we import notes the entire note section in a user record is overwritten.
We need a configurable field (i.e. we can add the categories of preferred pronoun) that displays in the patron info section of the Fulfillment Manage Patron Services display
222 votesThe core user record will have a field for selecting a preferred pronoun. The options will be from a configurable drop down such as:
- he, him, his
- she,her,hers
The field will be updatable from:
- Alma form
- SIS
- API
- Primo (VE)
The preferred pronoun will in the Manage Fulfillment Options screen.
It will be possible to locally override this field without overriding from the SIS, like other fields allow (such as user group).
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Expand 'Bulk Change Due Dates' to disregard expired patrons and include recalled items
Configuring Alma to deliver an exclusively off-campus service in response to the Coronavirus pandemic included the extension of due dates for us. We were thankful for the 'Bulk Change Due Dates' functionality, which we were able to use to push back the due dates of a majority of items on loan (until 1 June in the first instance for us). We encountered problems though when it came to any items borrowed by patrons whose records were due to expire before that date. The items wouldn't go beyond the patrons' expiry dates, which under normal circumstances would be exactly how we would have Alma work, but in this situation was inconvenient and required us to do a manual workaround. Likewise, the due dates of any items on loan that had been recalled due to policy (e.g. having reached the end of the maximum renewal period) or requests were not extended, so again we had to deal with those separately.
Recognising that the way Bulk Change Due Dates works currently is suitable for Alma users probably a majority of the time, could tick-box options such as 'Disregard patron record expiry dates' and 'Include recalled items' be added to that screen please?
Configuring Alma to deliver an exclusively off-campus service in response to the Coronavirus pandemic included the extension of due dates for us. We were thankful for the 'Bulk Change Due Dates' functionality, which we were able to use to push back the due dates of a majority of items on loan (until 1 June in the first instance for us). We encountered problems though when it came to any items borrowed by patrons whose records were due to expire before that date. The items wouldn't go beyond the patrons' expiry dates, which under normal circumstances would be exactly how we…
221 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
221 votesDear all, since this idea combines various very different enhancement requests for Alma's normalization rules infrastructure, we are unable to add these to our roadmap at this time. This may change as we get more information on prioritization and needs. In the meantime, we suggest opening dedicated ideas for specific enhancements you would like to promote.
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Overriding and/or deleting a continuous POL at the item level
As a cataloger at a large research library, we frequently receive gap-fill purchases of periodical issues from third-party vendors or as gifts from donors—including for subscriptions that are still open.
We know that we can associate a POL at the holding level, but this is undesirable for these situations where we need to trace the POL/method-of-acquisition to an individual item. Also, if you change a continuous POL at the item level, Alma changes the POL for every item attached to that same holding.
Often we have many items purchased with different (or no) POLs—subscription, firm order, gift—together on one holding, and these items need to be on the same holding to clearly reflect what we hold, sequentially, to our users.
It would be highly useful if Alma allowed catalogers and acquisitions staff to override a hyperlinked (continuous) POL at the item level to accommodate these very common occurrences of gifts (with no POL) and gap-fills (with differing POLs).
With thanks for your consideration! :’)
As a cataloger at a large research library, we frequently receive gap-fill purchases of periodical issues from third-party vendors or as gifts from donors—including for subscriptions that are still open.
We know that we can associate a POL at the holding level, but this is undesirable for these situations where we need to trace the POL/method-of-acquisition to an individual item. Also, if you change a continuous POL at the item level, Alma changes the POL for every item attached to that same holding.
Often we have many items purchased with different (or no) POLs—subscription, firm order, gift—together on one holding,…
219 votes -
Significant Improvements to the 'Browse Shelf List' Function Needed
The 'Browse Shelf List" function is essential for catalogers in our library and is extremely clunky and time-consuming to use. Proposing any (hopefully all) of the following changes:
Ability to view more results surrounding the exact search request.
Said in a different way, the ability to view the result in the middle of the results page, so as to be able to see a few of the results both before and after. This makes call number adjustment significantly easier, instead of always needing to click a back button and remember what the call number were on the page before.Ability to view shelf-list in Primo with one click.
Ability to actually be able to see the entire call number in the call number field (see screen shot with blue arrow).
If I need to type the call number by hand, or edit it at all, it is very difficult to see the entire thing or use this field if it cuts itself off.
Removal of the need to click into the call number field to search the shelf listing.
Ability to search the shelf list by call number that ignores sub-field labels.
It appears to me that “Browse Shelf Listing” is done only against the 050 field in a bib record and only against the subfield “a” in that 050 field. This greatly limits the usefulness of this tool.
Not to mention, call numbers can be found in 099 and 090 fields, requiring copy paste.
Thus, the only way to search the shelf list accurately is to copy and paste the call number into that tiny, tiny box, then edit out the $$a, $$b, $$h and so on. This is a painful experience on 20+ books a day.
The 'Browse Shelf List" function is essential for catalogers in our library and is extremely clunky and time-consuming to use. Proposing any (hopefully all) of the following changes:
Ability to view more results surrounding the exact search request.
Said in a different way, the ability to view the result in the middle of the results page, so as to be able to see a few of the results both before and after. This makes call number adjustment significantly easier, instead of always needing to click a back button and remember what the call number were on the page before.Ability…
220 votesWe have added it to our plan. We will share more details as part of the design phase
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Add notifications to Alma reminders
I appreciate the addition of the Reminders in Alma, but I think it would be even more useful if reminders could trigger email notifications when the reminder date has arrived.
219 votesA new task will be added to the tasks widget, alerting catalogers when reminders' date arrives.
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Please add the "suppress bibliographic record" to the log of the "view versions" in the MD editor
Hello,
We would like to have the ability to know when and by whom a bibliographic record was suppressed, when checking the "view versions" in the MD editor.
Thanks.
Dafna219 votes
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