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.
- or
No existing idea results
- ~ No ideas found ~
1903 results found
-
Vendor/Interface edit - add options to "Save" and "Save and Close" option
When editing the Interface record under Vendor, provide the options to "Save" or "Save and Close" the Interface Record.
1 vote -
Private labels
In acquisitions we have tagged the POL Line Subscriptions, we have put the label with the renewal month on each POL Line (In Recurring Renewal all the POL Line Subscriptions are mixed, Book Subscription, Journal Subscription, Electronic Title Subscription, etc., these labels make it faster to locate the ones we want to renew each month.
We need these labels not to be seen by other Library Services. Is it possible to have private or public labels? We would also like to group the labels into sublabels.6 votes -
Index 532 field
MARC21 field 532 should be indexed in Alma and Primo. This is important for accessibility notes.
4 votes -
Pop-up message for activating / deactivating the patron’s identifier using the slider
To activating or deactivating the patron’s identifier, it can be done by toggling the slider to “blue color” (i.e. ON) or “gray color” (i.e. OFF) under the tab ‘Identifier’ of the patron account in Alma. The attachment shows the screen capture. Once, the slider is toggled, the identifier will be activated or deactivated immediately. The “Cancel” button on top right-hand corner (“red rectangle”) has no effect to turn it back to the old value after toggling the slider.
The patron’s identifier is an essential part of the login credentials for user authentication in Primo. After login, patron can manage the loans, renewals, requested items, bookmarked titles, and search history in his/her library account. In case of any unintentionally or accidentally toggle of the slider will deactivate or activate the patron’s identifier without instant notification, it makes the login credential invalid or valid and so an active patron cannot login or an inactive patron can login Primo. It would be better to have a pop-up message to notify library staff to pay extra attention to either confirm the slider toggle for the change or revoke it. It would be very helpful to avoid the similar login incident occurred in the future.
In this regard, we kindly request considering this suggestion to enhance the security of patron account in Alma and Primo, and let library staff be always aware about the essential effect from the change of patron’s login credential. Thank You!
To activating or deactivating the patron’s identifier, it can be done by toggling the slider to “blue color” (i.e. ON) or “gray color” (i.e. OFF) under the tab ‘Identifier’ of the patron account in Alma. The attachment shows the screen capture. Once, the slider is toggled, the identifier will be activated or deactivated immediately. The “Cancel” button on top right-hand corner (“red rectangle”) has no effect to turn it back to the old value after toggling the slider.
The patron’s identifier is an essential part of the login credentials for user authentication in Primo. After login, patron can manage the…
1 vote -
Change "Permanent Call Number Starts With" search to search the class number only
Currently, searching for "Permanent Call Number Starts With" will search the beginning of the classification number (852$h) AND the beginning of the cutter number (852$i). Ideally, this should search for the beginning of the classification number only. When I search for a Permanent Call Number Starts With K, I expect to see a listing of materials on law, not every film whose title starts with K.
Alternatively, creating a separate index for the classification number (852$h) and cutter number (852$i) would allow users to do separate searches for classification numbers and cutter numbers.
3 votes -
Enhanced Export Physical items CSV, TSB, XLSX
We use the physical items export procedure at regular intervals in the form of a CSV file (comma-separated text file). Official documentation :
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/050Administration/070Managing_Jobs/020Manual_Jobs_on_Defined_Sets
see “Export Physical Item” sectionThe CSV file is inconsistent: fields are sometimes surrounded by quotation marks, sometimes by French quotation marks (guillemets), sometimes by quotation marks and French quotation marks (guillemets), and sometimes by nothing at all. This causes problems for some of the analysis programs we use in post-processing.
We would like to see one improvement:
-A compliant CSV file: quotation marks systematically surrounding each field.
-Can we have the option to export in another format: TSV format (tab separator), or Excel format (XLS or XLSX).We use the physical items export procedure at regular intervals in the form of a CSV file (comma-separated text file). Official documentation :
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/050Administration/070Managing_Jobs/020Manual_Jobs_on_Defined_Sets
see “Export Physical Item” sectionThe CSV file is inconsistent: fields are sometimes surrounded by quotation marks, sometimes by French quotation marks (guillemets), sometimes by quotation marks and French quotation marks (guillemets), and sometimes by nothing at all. This causes problems for some of the analysis programs we use in post-processing.
We would like to see one improvement:
-A compliant CSV file: quotation marks systematically surrounding each field.
-Can we have the option to export in…20 votes -
Webhooks enhancement
We're using webhooks as a proof of concept on our sandbox, for the time being. In particular, we use webhooks on loans.
Official documentation :
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/090Integrations_with_External_Systems/030Resource_Management/300WebhooksWe're bothered by the ecological/energy waste generated by this webhook. Unlike the notification webhooks, this webhook does not provide any filtering.
If we activate it in production, we estimate that there will be almost 500,000 API calls per year, for which only 1% will result in an action according to our action rules.
Can we have a possibility to filter the webhooks on loans, according to these criteria (and / or):
-item library
-item location
-item temporary location
-item policy.We're using webhooks as a proof of concept on our sandbox, for the time being. In particular, we use webhooks on loans.
Official documentation :
https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Product_Documentation/010Alma_Online_Help_(English)/090Integrations_with_External_Systems/030Resource_Management/300WebhooksWe're bothered by the ecological/energy waste generated by this webhook. Unlike the notification webhooks, this webhook does not provide any filtering.
If we activate it in production, we estimate that there will be almost 500,000 API calls per year, for which only 1% will result in an action according to our action rules.
Can we have a possibility to filter the webhooks on loans, according to these criteria (and / or):
-item library
-item…14 votes -
Additional Exportable Fields
When viewing electronic collection results, after a search, we would like the ability to export several additional fields: Alternative Title, General note (electronic collection), and General note (Service). This would allow our consortium to do some real-time analysis of how multiple collections are setup which would save significant time over having to click into each electronic collection individually.
25 votes -
Add Alternative Title to Alma Analytics
Adding the Alternative Title for an electronic collection would allow us fully use Alma Analytics and not need to maintain separate reports that are created outside of Alma. As a consortium, this would also allow more information sharing with our members and more efficient troubleshooting and maintenance.
27 votes -
Add Vendor Type to Analytics
We would like to pull a report that lists vendors by type in analytics. Ex. Access provider, material supplier. This is not currently in analytics. This is a filter in the vendor module in Alma, but we want to pull more complex reports in analytics, such as all vendors listed as a material supplier only that are missing a financial code.
Thanks!0 votes -
Remove confirmation window when adding titles using Collection Resource Editor
When adding titles to online Collections via Collection Resource Editor, every new title added requires user to "confirm" on a pop-up window. This is cumbersome and the consequences of mistakenly adding a title are minor (easily fixable). It is an extra page that very much slows down the process when adding multiple books and the negative reprocussions of removing it would be negligible.
1 vote -
Make Bib Description editable when editing a POL
It would be helpful to be able to edit the Bib Description section of a POL after having clicked on 'Edit' to edit the POL, rather than needing to save the POL, return to it and then click separately onto 'Bib Description' to update that section. Sometimes it's necessary for the description to be different to the MARC record, e.g. when ordering an annual content update for an encyclopedia, where we would want each annual update to have it's own POL but for them all to be linked to the same bib record.
3 votes -
'Manage purchase request' page report to include fields like ISBN
The ‘course instructor’s name’ and the ‘course name’ fields are not there in the ‘create purchase request’. So, we write the course instructor’s name under the Requestor tab and Librarian's name who has inputted the request on Requester Note. If there were separate fields we could have searched by the name of the Librarian also as we cannot filter by requester note.
After creating a purchase request, when we export the requests to an Excel sheet using the ‘export list’ icon on the Manage purchase request page, we don’t get fields like ISBN, Publisher, publication year, edition, etc., which are needed for sending purchase requests to Vendors. My request is to include the above fields on the exported report.The ‘course instructor’s name’ and the ‘course name’ fields are not there in the ‘create purchase request’. So, we write the course instructor’s name under the Requestor tab and Librarian's name who has inputted the request on Requester Note. If there were separate fields we could have searched by the name of the Librarian also as we cannot filter by requester note.
After creating a purchase request, when we export the requests to an Excel sheet using the ‘export list’ icon on the Manage purchase request page, we don’t get fields like ISBN, Publisher, publication year, edition, etc., which are…1 vote -
Adding a field “Item Inventory Price” to the view customization table, as well as export files in item search results
It would be very useful and is much anticipated by customers to be able add a field containing Item’s Inventory Price to the Item information tile in the item search results in Alma.
The field should be added to the first column of the Manage Column Display/Customize View.
In addition, we would like to have this field added to export files that are created under the command: Export to Excel (current view / all fields).The National Library of Poland cooperates with 141 libraries. During consultations with other institutions most of them raised necessity of such solution.
Item Inventory Price field would enable Alma users to create report tables, summing up values generated directly from Alma. This would be very helpful with making library inventory.It would be very useful and is much anticipated by customers to be able add a field containing Item’s Inventory Price to the Item information tile in the item search results in Alma.
The field should be added to the first column of the Manage Column Display/Customize View.
In addition, we would like to have this field added to export files that are created under the command: Export to Excel (current view / all fields).The National Library of Poland cooperates with 141 libraries. During consultations with other institutions most of them raised necessity of such solution.
Item Inventory Price…201 votes -
Standing orders - transferring additional information from one PO Line to another by changing the vendor in standing order
Changin vendor for the Print Book Standing Orders closes current PO line and creates a new one instead simply changing a vendor. This action moves all items to new PO line while the additional and very useful information are lost. Keeping all internal notes (PO Line notes, renewal note, invoice note), attachments, invoice lines, history in a new PO line allows us to track standing order and to avoid unexpected problems with our inventory.
We would like to have this option in the work with Print Book Standing Orders.9 votes -
Make Display of Inventory Groups list sortable (alphabetical by one of the columns.)
Display of Inventory Groups list is not predictable or sortable
In the Electronic Service Editor > Group Settings tab, there’s no predictable, consistent order for the display of associated Inventory Groups, and there is no way to sort them.The list of groups in the Inventory ‘Available For’ Management Groups (Configuration Menu > Resources > General > Inventory Network Groups) is also in no order and is not sortable.
As a large consortium with 94 member libraries, CARLI maintains many Inventory Groups in our Network Zone. The display of the Inventory Groups are not consistent from one e-collection service editor to another. When viewing the Inventory Groups of an e-collection or in the ‘Available For’ list, the groups are not in alphabetical order by Group Name nor by Group Members, nor are they in the order in which they were entered, and the columns in this table display do not allow for sorting. This random sorting makes maintaining the list challenging and very time consumingExamples of the variation in ordering of Inventory Groups in attached file
Display of Inventory Groups list is not predictable or sortable
In the Electronic Service Editor > Group Settings tab, there’s no predictable, consistent order for the display of associated Inventory Groups, and there is no way to sort them.The list of groups in the Inventory ‘Available For’ Management Groups (Configuration Menu > Resources > General > Inventory Network Groups) is also in no order and is not sortable.
As a large consortium with 94 member libraries, CARLI maintains many Inventory Groups in our Network Zone. The display of the Inventory Groups are not consistent from one e-collection service editor…11 votes -
Add Normalization Process to perform "Expand from Template"
The "Expand from Template" offers an option to select a template and to expand the currently opened bib record in the Metadata Editor, supporting the options to Override, Add missing and add all.
As a systems librarian, I would love to have an option to perform this action via a normalisation process.
Currently, the only way to implement an expand from template via a normalization process is to translate it into normalization rules, which is rather tedious.
If I could simply use the template in a normalization process, that would save me much time and effort.
1 vote -
Notification on 'Pick from Shelf' link
Can a notification or flag be added to the 'Pick from Shelf' link to alert us to new requests? Something like the notifications on Announcements and View Recommendations. Our requests are often sporadic, and it would stop us from having to keep checking the 'Pick from Shelf' list and help us be more responsive to requests.
15 votes -
Pin POL notes to top of list
Context: when acquisition staff view POLs, there are some notes that are important to see, and other notes that are less important. However the only sorting options for POL notes are by created or updated date.
Proposal: users need the ability to pin one (or more) notes to the top of the list of POL notes, so the important notes are always easily viewable.109 votes -
Add Detail for Payment Method=Accounting Department in Vendor Record/Account
Payment Method=Accounting Department is used to route invoices through our campus check feed/ERP export. However, at the campus financial system level, there are multiple options for how the vendor gets paid, including PaymentPlus, ACH (via Paymode-X), as well as paper check. It would be good to 1) record this information as a detail of Payment Method=Accounting Department, 2) be able to modify specifics via a table as needed for institution variations, as well as 3) have the fields available via Analytics. Ex. Campus has made a change in issuing checks, and we would like to communicate this change to our library vendors (getting Analytics output isolating those only those vendors paid by check first).
Payment Method=Accounting Department is used to route invoices through our campus check feed/ERP export. However, at the campus financial system level, there are multiple options for how the vendor gets paid, including PaymentPlus, ACH (via Paymode-X), as well as paper check. It would be good to 1) record this information as a detail of Payment Method=Accounting Department, 2) be able to modify specifics via a table as needed for institution variations, as well as 3) have the fields available via Analytics. Ex. Campus has made a change in issuing checks, and we would like to communicate this change to our…
13 votes
- Don't see your idea?