Q&A
Alma
There are several electronic resources which are now free. How can I activate them for a limited time and then remove them when the limited time is over?
Please see How to activate an electronic collection for a limited time period
These resources can be activated using the "Active Until" field in the electronic resource service together with a public note. These fields can then later be used to retrieve the resource and delete it.
How can we make all of the items in two of our libraries be due on June 30, 2020? We no longer want to have loans for specific periods of time, but want to use a hard coded date.
See: How to make the due date be a fixed date
We wish to extend the expiration date of our patrons. How can we bulk update the expiry date? After we update the expiry date we are afraid that our feed to Alma from SIS will override this expiry again.
The following can be done:
- Create a set of users for whom you want to update the expiry date. The set can be made via a search in Alma or from an Alma Analytics report.
- If you make it via an Analytics report you can for example display the Primary ID and filter by expiration date. Change column header from "Primary ID" to "USERNAME" so it can be used to create a set in Alma
- Create a user set in Alma as explained at Creating sets in Alma from Alma Analytics Reports
- Run the job "Update/Notify Users" to update the expiry date of all users on the set
There is not an option to "block" the expiration date from getting updated in an integration profile of type 'User" is run. You would need to either
- Tell the supplier of the integration file to also extend the expiration date
- Again run the job "Update/Notify Users" after the integration profile of type 'User" is run.
How can I create an analytics report of all loans with due dates within a certain date range? I want to make an analytics report which will correspond to the “From Due Date” and “To Due Date” which I will enter in the job “Bulk Change Due Dates”.
See: How to create a report of all loans with due dates within a certain date range
We are all working from home and classes are online. If we turn off patron notices until we are back on campus what happens when we turn them back on for notice jobs activated through fulfillment (courtesy, loan renewals, overdue)? Will notices be retrospective or from the day we turn them back on going forward?
If we turn off patron notices until we are back on campus what happens when we turn them back on for overdue/lost loan profiles we have set-up. Will notices be sent retrospectively?
If we turn off patron notices until we are back on campus what happens when we turn them back on for overdue/lost loan profiles we have set-up.
How do I create a set for the job "Cancel Physical Item Requests"?
In some cases, a set can be built using a query whereby the Process Type equals Hold Shelf (using physical items advanced search).
In other cases it might be made by Library name equals or does not equal {the specific library} (using physical items advanced search).
Still further, both of the above criteria can be combined into one search and set.
An additional section regarding the building of the set has been added to the How to delete physical item requests in batch .
We had to change the opening dates of our library and now there are loans due when the library is closed. How can I change the due dates to be when the library will reopen and also notify users of the due date change?
How to cancel physical hold requests in bulk for most patrons, but keep ILL requests active?
See How to delete physical item requests in batch.
It has a dedicated section on how to not delete the hold requests which are resource sharing requests (ILL).
You merely need to remove items in the resource sharing library from the set on which you will run the job “Cancel physical items requests”.
What's the best way for temporarily deactivating certain pickup locations in Alma/Primo?
See How to temporarily deactivate certain pickup locations for hold requests.
You merely need to uncheck “has hold shelf” in the circulation desks of the library which you want to remove from the pickup locations.
What are the available options for updating loan due dates when libraries are closed and patrons are unable to return items?
See How to globally change lending loan due dates to a future dates.
It can be done by running the job “Bulk Change Due Dates”.
My staff went through all of the fulfillment units and on the tab "Fulfillment Unit Details" we checked the button "No Requesting". But some items are still requestable. What else do we need to do?
The options on the tab "Fulfillment Unit Details" are fore the "On Shelf Request Policy". This is for available (not loaned) items. It does not apply for loaned items. If you want to "turn off" requests for the institution then it needs to be done in the Terms of Use (TOU) of the fulfilment unit rules for requests. See How to temporarily change all items of a library or institution to be not for loan and not requestable.
Where in Alma do I need to define that users in Primo cannot request items? I want staff in Alma to continue to be able to make requests, but we do not want users in Primo to make requests.
You can leave all of the configuration as it is for the requests and request rules, and remove the 'Request" link for the users in Primo. See How to temporarily remove the request link from Primo even for requestable items.
If I am working from home how can I access Alma remotely to update our library users records?
You can enter Alma from anywhere, there is no need to install any software or clients. That is the advantage of cloud based software.
Your URL will be
https://{instance}.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/institution/{institution code}
For example if you are on na02 and your institution code is 01YILIS_INST then your URL will be:
https://na02.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/institution/01YILIS_INST
You will also need to make sure with your administrator or systems librarians that there are no ip limitations at “Configuration > General > Security > Login Restriction Configuration”.
If there are limitations either:
- The limitations can be removed
- In your user record check the box “Disable all login restrictions”.
How can I send a customized letter to students?
We are at the implementation phase of Alma. How can we test some of Alma's workflows and integrations if we are working remotely?
Please see a list of alternative options in this excel Testing Alma Remotely.
Primo
How can I access the Primo Back Office while working remotely ?
The Primo Back Office interface is IP restricted for security measures and closed to the world. We recommend using the university VPN or remote desktop solutions in order to gain campus IP when working remotely in order to access the Primo BO. If you cannot access and require help with a specific task (such as disabling a pipe), please contact support via a case and we will see how we can assist you in your task.
How can I add a message to patrons within Primo regarding the situation?
Primo allows creating notifications and messages in multiple places, see below a few suggestions of messages and notifications you may consider adding to your discovery:
- Use a static HTML tile in the Primo homepage
- This can be done using the customization package, see details in
How to edit a static tile to the Primo home page - Using Primo VE or How to edit a static tile to the Primo home page - Using BO
- Use the Sign-in bar alert
- You can easily configure the labels of the sign-in bar to include you message, see details in
How to add a message using the sign-in alert bar in Primo and Primo VE
- Use the page footer to display a message across all Primo pages
- This can be done using the customization package, see details in
How to add a footer to Primo - Using Primo VE or How to add a footer to Primo - Using BO
You may choose to utilize one or more of these ideas.
How can I point patrons to relevant pages & resources (eg. databases, university and library information pages) if they search for coronavirus related materials in Primo?
See more information and how to set this up in How to recommend relevant resources for patron searches in Primo VE or How to recommend relevant resources for patron searches in Primo BO.
This can be easily done by setting up the Primo Resource Recommender, to point patrons to relevant webpages and resources based on keywords which you define. If patrons search for COVID-19 or coronavirus you can suggest a link to the university page on the current situation or the updated library hours page, which they will see above their search results.
We have complied a list of the most popular coronavirus-related search terms, based on our central indexes search logs, you may use these as input keywords for the resource recommender. The list can be downloaded as an excel in a syntax ready to be uploaded into the resource recommender, the keywords can be seen in the "tags" column.
How do I direct my patrons to search electronic materials by default in Primo VE?
See How to add a search profile for only electronic materials - Using Primo VE.
Follow the steps to easily create a custom search scope that will include only records with electronic inventory and Central Index materials. This does not require reloading or re-indexing any data and can be set up and seen immediately.
How do I direct my patrons to search electronic materials by default in Primo?
See How to add a search scope for only electronic materials - Using Primo BO.
Follow the steps to create a search scope that will include only electronic or digital materials. This change will require re-normalizing and re-indexing the data.
How can I create a "canned search" or "research starter" for COVID-19 related materials in Primo?
See more information and ideas in How to offer your patrons canned searches on covid-19 .
Exploring useful ideas on creating and using links to canned searches based on:
- Keywords in the central index articles
- Keywords in newspaper search articles
- Materials tagged by staff or users