Alma
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1692 results found
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Display Loan HOUR in Patron Services and Manage Item Returns
Currently the Patron Services and Manage Item Returns screens display the DATE an item was loaned only. It would be helpful if they also displayed the HOUR. On the Patron Services screen, it takes extra clicks to review the Loan History in the Actions menu. On the Manage Item Returns screen, it is impossible to view the hour -- you must go to the item's history, which isn't accessible directly. The hour is already displayed in the Patron Services Due Date and Manage Item Returns Returned Date fields. I hope it is easy to add the hour to the Loan fields also. We loan many hourly items and so we frequently must review the hour to resolve problems.
Currently the Patron Services and Manage Item Returns screens display the DATE an item was loaned only. It would be helpful if they also displayed the HOUR. On the Patron Services screen, it takes extra clicks to review the Loan History in the Actions menu. On the Manage Item Returns screen, it is impossible to view the hour -- you must go to the item's history, which isn't accessible directly. The hour is already displayed in the Patron Services Due Date and Manage Item Returns Returned Date fields. I hope it is easy to add the hour to the Loan…
22 votes -
Embargoed resources displaying in Primo
Currently records from within an embargo period are discover-able to end-users via Primo.
The user then thinks we have access to the records and selects it only to be presented with No full text available.
Embargoed records are outside of our coverage range and should not display in our discovery interface.39 votes -
Reminders : extend the Add reminder functionality to other roles (only Cataloger now)
Reminders functionality could be more effective if extended to other roles than only cataloger role. At least Electronic and Physical inventory operators should be able to add a reminder on a Bib record in a repository search result.
The managing of reminders from Cataloging menu can be limited to catalogers.82 votes -
Vendor contacts need phone extension added
When adding a new contact to the vendor location, there could be numerous people using the same base number, but with different extensions. Can you add a space to allow entering the extension?
37 votes -
Simple letter formatting and testing
Amending and testing letters and notifications is simply too complicated with many steps in various tables, not identical names, test users receiving all types of letters not just the ones they are working on etc. Some form of WYSIWYG editor with test recipient per letter type would be great.
28 votes -
Preventing Change of Due Date (Recall) when placing Physical Item Request
When placing a physical item request for an item that is checked out, we typically want to recall the item, but there are sometimes exceptions to this. For these exceptions, we would like to have the option, while placing the request, to prevent the recall and simply add the requester to the queue without changing the due date.
47 votes -
Request letter
We would like to be able to send a user a notification about a request immediately after placing the request. The notice would give basic information about the status of the request. Something along the lines of the "interested in" letter. Running a request report once a day is insufficient for our operations.
175 votes -
Limit fine/fee payment to specific library
One of our satellite libraries would like restrict payment of fines/fees for their materials to them -- we have separate accounting and budgets.
65 votes -
check-out from user account
I don't see a direct link on the User/Patron account page to be able to check out an item. It seems that you have to go back to the main menu and select "Manage Patron Services". In Voyager, you can easily get to the Charge window from the Patron window or vice versa.
There is the "Manage Fulfillment Activities" link. I think it would be helpful if you could add the Check-out function on that page.20 votes -
Add Material Type Mapping to Physical Inventory Import Profile
As a Copy-Cataloger I receive batch files of bibliographic records with physical inventory from a variety of vendors and some of these vendors send a variety of formats in the same file. These files contain bibliographic records with a material type of Book, Map, DVD-ROM, Issue, etc. With our current Import Profile that we use, the Library field, Location field, Barcode field, and Item policy field can be mapped with MARC21 local field. But this is not possible for Material type. So when we import this large file with multiple material types they are being imported with the Material type “Book.”
A possible fix for this is to have the third party vendor separate that large batch file based on Material type and then create multiple Import Profiles to match. But this would be time consuming loading multiple files instead of one; and it would begin to clutter the Institution’s Import Profiles Page.
I am suggesting that the Material Type be defined by a MARC21 local field in the same manner as the Library field, Location field, Number of items field, Barcode field, Item policy field, and the Alternative Call number field. This way there still will be one import profile and the proper Material Type will be assigned to each Physical Item upon import. Thank you for your time.
As a Copy-Cataloger I receive batch files of bibliographic records with physical inventory from a variety of vendors and some of these vendors send a variety of formats in the same file. These files contain bibliographic records with a material type of Book, Map, DVD-ROM, Issue, etc. With our current Import Profile that we use, the Library field, Location field, Barcode field, and Item policy field can be mapped with MARC21 local field. But this is not possible for Material type. So when we import this large file with multiple material types they are being imported with the Material type…
78 votes -
DIfferent cancellation letters for ILL requests and hold requests
We want to be able to notify users when cancelling an ILL request but, at the moment, as the cancellation letter is shared by Circulation and Resource Sharing and the majority of cancellations are for holds, the letter is sent from the Circulation email address and has a Customer Services signature.
This means that we can not notify a patron directly when we cancel an ILL request as they might want to reply and the email would go to the wrong department.
This means we have to follow a two-step process where we send a query to the patron informing him of the cancellation and then cancel the ILL request, unticking the Notify user box.
If we could have a separate resource sharing cancellation letter, we could just click on Cancel, type a note explaining the reasons for the cancellation and tick the Notify user box.
We want to be able to notify users when cancelling an ILL request but, at the moment, as the cancellation letter is shared by Circulation and Resource Sharing and the majority of cancellations are for holds, the letter is sent from the Circulation email address and has a Customer Services signature.
This means that we can not notify a patron directly when we cancel an ILL request as they might want to reply and the email would go to the wrong department.
This means we have to follow a two-step process where we send a query to the patron informing…
26 votes -
Improve the resource sharing's audit
We would like to see on the audit of a borrowing request which actions were done.
For example, if we change or add something to a title, we could not see that anywhere.
We would like also to know if the publication date was changed, ...
We are a team of 5 librarians and with 10'000 requests from our users per year it's not possible to remember what everyone makes for each request.In attachment, the audit now and an example of our ancient audit (historique) on the ancient software.
16 votes -
Batch Update Expiry Date for Items in Department (Work Orders)
It would be really helpful if we had the ability to change expiry dates for items in process (in department, with a work order) in a batch. This screen already includes the ability to change status, mark done, and generate barcodes in batch. Adding an option to update the expiry date that way seems like a logical addition.
29 votes -
Manual Deleting of User (Patron) records and need for consistency in maintaining reportable data
At present Alma has an inconsistent method of maintaining reportable patron data when a user record is deleted. The reality is that the policies established by an institution (to keep fully reportable, or keep statistics, or fully remove) do not apply when a patron record is manually deleted - ie. Deleted in: Administration > User Management > Find and Manage Users.
“Users that are manually deleted in Alma are fully removed from the system” regardless of institution policy. The Queensland Health Libraries would like to have this situation changed so that manually deleting a user (patron) record would maintain the reporting needs of the institution as specified in their policy settings. In our situation (16 libraries as one institution) it is often easier to delete a single user manually than to try and add them to a job. We see no logical reason why deleting a patron manually should provide a different policy setting from deleting or purging patrons via a job.
At present Alma has an inconsistent method of maintaining reportable patron data when a user record is deleted. The reality is that the policies established by an institution (to keep fully reportable, or keep statistics, or fully remove) do not apply when a patron record is manually deleted - ie. Deleted in: Administration > User Management > Find and Manage Users.
“Users that are manually deleted in Alma are fully removed from the system” regardless of institution policy. The Queensland Health Libraries would like to have this situation changed so that manually deleting a user (patron) record would maintain the…
47 votes -
Option of standard clock time or military time
The 24 hour standard clock time is more feasible for reserve/loan periods rather than military time, or at the very least incorporate both options for the user. Military time is too confusing for our student workers. We had to use a cheat sheet to convert military time to standard clock time to avoid giving incorrect information to the patrons.
60 votes -
Add a support category for vendor contact information.
Add a technical support option category for contact information (email addresses and phone numbers) in vendor records. Often vendors have different contact information for orders/claims/returns versus support, and right now there is no way in Alma to label a phone number or email address as a technical support line. This leads to confusion on the part of the library's own support staff, and we often end up Googling any contact information listed in Alma. This is a straightforward and necessary enhancement.
12 votes -
Add functionality to Change Item Information
It would be useful to have more options in the Scan in/Change Item Information function - for example, the ability to change Material Type and Inventory Date.
50 votes -
Lending: Edit Request Type in Manage Fulfillment Options
We sometimes need to change the Request Type from Physical to Digital and vice versa, after we have placed the request via Management Fulfillment Options. As there is no edit option, we have to place a new request and then delete the redundant option.
16 votes -
API for Bibliographic record versions
Currently, only the latest version of a Bib record is available from the Bibs API. There should be some way to retrieve older versions of the record.
29 votes -
Change permission authorization set without leaving current record
For example, a student worker is working with a patron. However, the patron record requires action that the student worker is not authorized to do. The student worker calls over a supervisor. Is there a way to keep the patron's record open but change the permission set from the student worker to the supervisor so that necessary actions can be taken? Or does the student have to log out completely and then the supervisor log in and search anew for the problematic patron record?
28 votes
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