Alma
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1692 results found
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Allow AFN resource sharing requests filled outside the AFN to be delivered to the user's preferred pickup institution
If a user in an AFN requests that a resource sharing item be delivered to an institution other than their home institution, the request must be filled within the AFN in order for the user's preferred pickup institution choice to be honored. If it is filled by an institution outside the AFN, the preferred pickup institution reverts to the user's home institution, and the user is never notified of this change until the item is placed on hold at their home institution. Instead of placing these items on hold at the user's home institution, we would like Alma to put them in transit to the user's preferred pickup institution once they're received at the home institution.
If a user in an AFN requests that a resource sharing item be delivered to an institution other than their home institution, the request must be filled within the AFN in order for the user's preferred pickup institution choice to be honored. If it is filled by an institution outside the AFN, the preferred pickup institution reverts to the user's home institution, and the user is never notified of this change until the item is placed on hold at their home institution. Instead of placing these items on hold at the user's home institution, we would like Alma to…
41 votes -
New Metadata Editor templates: editing template v. creating new record
Previously, when opening a template in the classic Metadata Editor (MDE), a click on the template name from the list of templates would give a list of options, including creating a new record: there was no doubt as to whether you were creating a new record from the template, or editing the template itself.
However, with the new MDE, clicking on the template name takes you straight into editing the template itself. Creating a new record from the template now requires a right click first to get to the options menu, but this is not at all obvious. It is very easy to think you are creating a new record, when in fact you have just destroyed the template.
Please can we go back to the options menu appearing from a standard click of the mouse on the template name, and not a right-click. This will prevent much heartache in losing templates.
A message on the blue banner at the top of the template to make it clearer when you are editing the template itself would also be helpful.
Previously, when opening a template in the classic Metadata Editor (MDE), a click on the template name from the list of templates would give a list of options, including creating a new record: there was no doubt as to whether you were creating a new record from the template, or editing the template itself.
However, with the new MDE, clicking on the template name takes you straight into editing the template itself. Creating a new record from the template now requires a right click first to get to the options menu, but this is not at all obvious. It is…
66 votes -
Add block action for patron digitization requests in User Block Definitions
The configurable blocked actions for user blocks in Alma are:
01 – loan
02 – loan, renew
03 – loan, renew, holdIt is therefore possible to configure that blocked users are not allowed to place requests at all.
We propose a distinction between the different request types in blocked actions.
Blocked users should be able to place hold requests, as it can be checked at the latest at the time of loaning whether there is a block, and users then have to take care of the unblocking (e.g. by paying fees) in order to be able to loan the item.
Document delivery, on the other hand, would like to prevent blocked users from placing digitization requests, since there is no check for a block before the scans are delivered and therefore the service can be used permanently without staff and users being notified about the block.The configurable blocked actions for user blocks in Alma are:
01 – loan
02 – loan, renew
03 – loan, renew, holdIt is therefore possible to configure that blocked users are not allowed to place requests at all.
We propose a distinction between the different request types in blocked actions.
Blocked users should be able to place hold requests, as it can be checked at the latest at the time of loaning whether there is a block, and users then have to take care of the unblocking (e.g. by paying fees) in order to be able to…
122 votes -
The Lost item process fee (aka Lost item fine) should be automatically removed when an item is found.
The Lost item process fee (aka Lost item fine) should be refunded when an item is found. Currently, only the Lost Item Replacement Fee is refunded. This requires staff intervention, having to manually waive the fine. This is not always caught when books are returned through the drop slot, for example. It causes confusion for both patrons and staff when a fine remains on a patron's account for an item that has been found.
59 votes -
Monitor Requests & Item Process Activity Status Filter
Add Activity Status: Rejected to "Monitor Requests & Item Processes"
It would be extremely helpful to have the Activity Status Rejected on the "Monitor Requests & Item Processes" Activity Status Filters. If it could be added as an option with Active, Completed and All, that would remove a ton of extra time and labor for our fulfillment processes.19 votes -
Show 'chapter/article title' and 'chapter/article author' in completed digitization requests and in Analytics
For copyright reasons, we need to track whether users have requested an article from an issue or a chapter from a book from which they have already received a scan.
Completed digitisation requests in Alma do not show the chapter/article title or chapter/article author, only the overall title requested. The data is not available in Analytics either.
This means that we are reliant on a local spreadsheet to track what users have already requested.
We would like to see the data available on the completed requests and in Analytics.
76 votes -
Order lines - Customize view: please add "Acquisition method"
Our colleagues are missing the field "Acquisition method" in the results list when searching for PO Lines.
Currently the field is only a facets value but this will also not add the field to the Excel export file.
Thank you in advance!48 votes -
Better flexibility / more weekly options when scheduling Fulfillment Job (i.e. Fees/Fines Notification Job)
Hello,
we would like to be more flexible, to have more options to choose from when scheduling the Fees/Fines Notifications Job (or even better: all Fulfillment Jobs).
Currently, we are using the only weekly option available (every Tuesday at 11:00), but since some of our legally relevant Fees/Fines Notification Profiles are set to printed letters, the offered time slot could not be much worse.
When we have signed and sealed the letters, there is no chance at all to get them out by the same day's post.
Please add at least another weekly time slot in the early morning hours, like 6:00, 7:00 or 8:00. We are not to choosy as the weekday is concerned.
Thank you so much for considering and/our supporting our plea.
Eva-Maria Horita, FHB Aachen
Hello,
we would like to be more flexible, to have more options to choose from when scheduling the Fees/Fines Notifications Job (or even better: all Fulfillment Jobs).
Currently, we are using the only weekly option available (every Tuesday at 11:00), but since some of our legally relevant Fees/Fines Notification Profiles are set to printed letters, the offered time slot could not be much worse.
When we have signed and sealed the letters, there is no chance at all to get them out by the same day's post.
Please add at least another weekly time slot in the early morning hours,…
44 votes -
Consultation in Alma FF
There is no easy solution in Alma FF to indicate that an item has been consulted in the library and that it can be reshelved.
When items are placed on the hold shelf and are briefly consulted in the library, there is no easy way to directly reshelve them in Alma FF. The workarounds are far from ideal and are very labour-intensive when facing a large amount of physical requests: cancel the request (but this is not correct and influences our request statistics) and reshelve via the expired hold shelf, update the expiry date to yesterday (but this requires a lot of clicks) or wait until the item automatically appears on the expired hold shelf and reshelve from there. With this last option there is too much time between the moment of consultation and the moment of reshelving, which makes that items are not available on shelf or for request for a too long time period. It also makes that new features like the hold shelf reminder letter cannot be set up (because patrons could receive a reminder when they already consulted the item).
Possible solutions are: for an item that is scanned in via ‘return items’ the underlying request will disappear and the item will be reshelved automatically. A button ‘consulted’ (like there is a button ‘cancel’) which immediately reshelves the book when you handle a request is another – less preferable – option.There is no easy solution in Alma FF to indicate that an item has been consulted in the library and that it can be reshelved.
When items are placed on the hold shelf and are briefly consulted in the library, there is no easy way to directly reshelve them in Alma FF. The workarounds are far from ideal and are very labour-intensive when facing a large amount of physical requests: cancel the request (but this is not correct and influences our request statistics) and reshelve via the expired hold shelf, update the expiry date to yesterday (but this requires…
158 votes -
Additional functionality for new Born Digital POL types
As a Legal Deposit library we process physical and born digital material in the same way through Acquisitions; creating bib records (often pre-publication), POLs and claiming if we don't receive material in the expected timeframe. We need the new Digital POLs to work as close to the Physical workflow as possible.
The new born digital workflow assumes that we have the file in hand and can attach the representation when we create the POL. That is not always the case for us as we create a lot of POLs pre-publication as well as for material where we then need to seek publisher assistance with getting the file.
Also all of the claiming functionality of the physical workflow is not in the new digital workflow. Our understanding is that this is driven by the expected receipt date with is not included in the new POL types.
For Continuous physical POLs we follow the same workflow but include a Subscription Interval to reflect the publication frequency (daily, weekly, monthly etc). With no Interval in the Digital Subscription POL it looks like there is no anticipation of the next issue and no facility to shift the POL into the claims workflow if a rep is not attached within the Interval + Grace period.
We would like to see an expected receipt date, Subscription interval and the ability to 'Order Now' without a rep being attached. Ideally this would feed into the existing claims and communications workflows if the rep is not attached before the expected receipt date.
A step by step of our current physical workflow and our testing of the new Digital POLs is attached.
As a Legal Deposit library we process physical and born digital material in the same way through Acquisitions; creating bib records (often pre-publication), POLs and claiming if we don't receive material in the expected timeframe. We need the new Digital POLs to work as close to the Physical workflow as possible.
The new born digital workflow assumes that we have the file in hand and can attach the representation when we create the POL. That is not always the case for us as we create a lot of POLs pre-publication as well as for material where we then need to…
82 votes -
Show Interested User name directly in the PO Line list when receiving new material
Currently, for PO Lines with interested user(s), we can only see a green "V" in the PO Lines list when receiving new material in the Acquisition Department.
Since we increasingly use Purchase Requests to order new material, we almost always have IUs in the PO Lines. These IUs can either be patrons or staff members.We'd like to be able to see straightaway the IU's name(s) when receiving, either directly or when flying over this green "V".
It would save us a few clicks to be able to see quickly the Interested User's name. And it is important for us: in rush perdiod, we try to make documents requested by patrons available more quickly than others.Currently, for PO Lines with interested user(s), we can only see a green "V" in the PO Lines list when receiving new material in the Acquisition Department.
Since we increasingly use Purchase Requests to order new material, we almost always have IUs in the PO Lines. These IUs can either be patrons or staff members.We'd like to be able to see straightaway the IU's name(s) when receiving, either directly or when flying over this green "V".
It would save us a few clicks to be able to see quickly the Interested User's name. And it is important for…90 votes -
Enhanced “In Transit” flow/functionality
We encounter a lack of important functionality to efficiently follow-up on In transit requests (physical item requests to another pick-up location). We would like the functionality to be extended with the following additional features:
1. A patron facing letter when the requested item is placed “in transit” by the owning library, so that the patron is better informed of the status of his request.
We want to create a situation that once a requested item is being transported, there is in fact no way back and a fee needs to paid.
2. To make it impossible for patrons to cancel their request in Primo once the requested item is already in transit or on the hold shelf in the pick-up location.
We need a granular setup config to define the end user cancellation option in Primo based upon the status of the request.
3. A letter to the owning library when a patron is cancelling his request in Primo, so that the owning library might avoid sending items that have already been cancelled.
Context: multiple different libraries within 1 institution, and some of these libraries handle dozens of request per day based upon the request slip. This means:
o It’s too time consuming to check the expired hold shelf for all items which are possibly cancelled…
o A cc or bcc added to the cancellation letter is not an option, because this is an institutional letter and cancellation request letters will come in from multiple libraries… The ‘alert’ / letter needs to be owning library specific!We encounter a lack of important functionality to efficiently follow-up on In transit requests (physical item requests to another pick-up location). We would like the functionality to be extended with the following additional features:
1. A patron facing letter when the requested item is placed “in transit” by the owning library, so that the patron is better informed of the status of his request.
We want to create a situation that once a requested item is being transported, there is in fact no way back and a fee needs to paid.
2. To make…122 votes -
Correct article level target links for records without assigned volume or issue numbers
For example, we see erroneous records (without working linking/availability) that are published ahead of print and which do not have specific volume/issue numbers. Until the publisher updates this information Primo links are directed to an error page.
21 votes -
Adding a facet to filter search in CZ
When searching CZ for a portfolio, can we have a facet to filter to only show those collections we have activated.
82 votes -
The text font ,font size and color of Metadata Editor
1.When using Metadata Editor, the font size and color of the editing area are not friendly to the editor.
2.The text in the editing area needs to be enlarged by 150% in the browser to make it convenient for users to work for a long time
3.The text color or font in the editing area causes the black text to look like gray, which makes it inconvenient to check the bibliography
4.Can workers modify the Metadata Editor environment to make them comfortable working environment, such as the font size, font type, and font color in the editing area?
This can help the cataloging librarian to work for a long time without causing the eyes to be worn out too quickly
1.When using Metadata Editor, the font size and color of the editing area are not friendly to the editor.
2.The text in the editing area needs to be enlarged by 150% in the browser to make it convenient for users to work for a long time
3.The text color or font in the editing area causes the black text to look like gray, which makes it inconvenient to check the bibliography
4.Can workers modify the Metadata Editor environment to make them comfortable working environment, such as the font size, font type, and font color in the editing area?
This can…
65 votes -
Expired Hold Shelf to Alma mobile
It would be practical to get the Expired Hold Shelf lists to Alma mobile so we didn't have to print them on paper.
158 votes -
Changing Holdings or Relinking Item is Possible Only in User Role Scope for SOURCE library
At present staff can move items from a library they don’t have a user role for, to a library they do have a user role for. For example, staff could move an item from the Rare Book Collection holding in one library to a Withdrawn holding in another library if they have the user role for the latter.
In the May 2021 release changing holdings for an item or relinking an item to a bibliographic record required the TARGET library to be within the scope of the user role. This prevents moving item or changing holdings for an item if a new holding is not in user scope.
The same functionality is required for the SOURCE library i.e. staff can only change items where the source and target are within the scope of the user role.
At present staff can move items from a library they don’t have a user role for, to a library they do have a user role for. For example, staff could move an item from the Rare Book Collection holding in one library to a Withdrawn holding in another library if they have the user role for the latter.
In the May 2021 release changing holdings for an item or relinking an item to a bibliographic record required the TARGET library to be within the scope of the user role. This prevents moving item or changing holdings for an item if…
62 votes -
Hide ‘edit’ option from My Library Card > Personal Details for specific user groups only
In Alma you can choose to hide the "Edit" option from the 'Personal Details' under 'My Library Card' for ALL your users by changing the parameter key 'primopatroninfo_updatable' to N
This works fine if all your users are set up as external users who automatically gets their contact information updated from a system outside Alma. But if you set up your students as external users and public users as internal users you will have to choose between letting the students update contact information that will be wiped out next time data is loaded in to Alma or not enabling public users to update their contact details anywhere.
I therefore suggest that it should be possible to choose which user groups you want to hide the 'edit' option from.
In Alma you can choose to hide the "Edit" option from the 'Personal Details' under 'My Library Card' for ALL your users by changing the parameter key 'primopatroninfo_updatable' to N
This works fine if all your users are set up as external users who automatically gets their contact information updated from a system outside Alma. But if you set up your students as external users and public users as internal users you will have to choose between letting the students update contact information that will be wiped out next time data is loaded in to Alma or not…
65 votes -
More humanity in the letters: add the name of librarians who take care of the requests
Automatic processes in Alma make library staff save time and efforts, but also significantly reduce human interactions with patrons (very few emails are personally sent by librarians to patrons). Lots of Alma letters sent to patrons are nameless and only signed by generic service names like "Acquisitions Department", "Circulation Desk", "Library ABC" etc. (see @@department@@ in the Labels). Some staff members suffer from this dehumanization in the processes.
We want to give a name and a face to a request when patrons get notified and would like to enrich some Alma letters with the name of the librarian who took care of the requests and add a line like for example "You have been served by: Jane Smith". Behind the librarian's name in the letter, the customer could create a link to the librarian's webpage, LibGuides profile pages, the University directory, etc. with the XSL template.
For at least the last staff member who worked on the requests (item hold at the circ desk, digital material sent, item received/activated...), please add the following staff User information:
- First name
- Middle name
- Last name
- Preferred middle name
- Preferred first name
- Preferred last name
- Primary identifier
- Job category
- Job description
- Website URL
in the XML of the following Alma letters:
- Document Delivery Notification Letter
- Ful Cancel Request Letter
- Ful Digitization Notification Item Letter
- Ful Personal Delivery Letter
- Interested In Letter
- On Hold Shelf Letter
- Purchase Request Status LetterAutomatic processes in Alma make library staff save time and efforts, but also significantly reduce human interactions with patrons (very few emails are personally sent by librarians to patrons). Lots of Alma letters sent to patrons are nameless and only signed by generic service names like "Acquisitions Department", "Circulation Desk", "Library ABC" etc. (see @@department@@ in the Labels). Some staff members suffer from this dehumanization in the processes.
We want to give a name and a face to a request when patrons get notified and would like to enrich some Alma letters with the name of the librarian who took…
118 votes -
Alma should remove any whitespace before/after identifiers, barcodes, call numbers etc.
Alma should automatically remove any leading or trailing whitespace in user identifiers, barcodes, call numbers etc. - any kind of identifiers entered manually or via copy&paste. Barcodes that are not working, users that are not matched at login are examples of real-life malfunctions that cost us time to analyze, all caused by a simple trailing blank entered in a form. It could be easily trimmed by Alma itself with neglectible implementation effort.
36 votes
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