Question

Is there a checklist when configuring Tipasa, WorldShare ILL (and severl other Resource Sharing Partners) in Alma? Here is our experience in Support, based on skimming through the documentation and customer feedback.

Answer

Here is a high-level outline of the steps: 

1. Roles - to see "Borrowing Requests" and "Lending Requests" in Alma,  one of the following user roles must be added and scoped to the Resource Sharing Library for your institution:
   
   Fulfillment Services Operator (in the scope of a Resource Sharing library)
   Fulfillment Services Manager (in the scope of a Resource Sharing library)

   • Some Institutions found it helpful to have the Scope of the Institution for any of the above.

   • To configure the "Partners", have the Role of  "Resource Sharing Partners Manager". Sign out and back in if you do not see these menus in Alma > Fulfillment.

2. Add a "Partner" in Alma, from: Alma > Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Partners. Call it, e.g.: Tipasa (or any correct name).

   Code: 2.00  (Might not be needed any more)
   Profile Type: NCIP

   You will need to enrich it from the configuration as follows below.

   • We did find that it was needed to add another Partner, type ISO, dummy.  (To be reviewed).

3. For Tipasa, per OCLC recommendations, you may need the API key, Server, and Requesting Agency ID.

• Here is more configuration that will help:

  1) Alma > Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Rota Template. Click to “Add Template”, with any code, any name (e.g. Tipasa), non ordered, and in the “Members” tab, add Tipasa. 

  2) Configuration > Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Locate Profiles, add one with your Partner code (Tipasa), and for the moment have Type = No Locate.

  3) Configuration > Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Rota Assignment Rules > Add a Rule, no need for conditions for now (only Tipasa2 is used).

  4) Configuration > Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Sending Borrowing Request Rules > Add a Rule for the Partner, which is “true”.

  5)  Configuration > Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Workflow Profiles - add one for Borrowing, and one for Lending. One customer has these selected for Borrowing:

  • Automatic renew,Cancelled by partner,Cancelled By Patron,Cancelled by staff,Declared lost by partner,Lender check in,Manual renew,Renew requested,Request accepted,Waiting for cancel response,Waiting for receive digitally

4. Go back to the Partner configuration in step 2 and add Locate Profile, and, Workflow Profiles.

As helpful, also review:

1. "General Electronic Services", from: Configuration > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic. For example: Hide Resource Sharing Request with Availability by the institution = true
2. "Resource Sharing Request" in: Configuration > Discovery > Getit Configuration.
3. "Temporay Item Creation Rules" on the Library level (your RS library), of: Configuration > Fulfillment > Library Management.
4. In Primo, the item will show up with status “On ILL process until. This can be configured in: Configuration > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels. Find the table “ViewIt Labels” > Customize the Code which currently has Description of “On ILL process until”. The code is: c.uresolver.getit2.item_list.status.ILL.with_expected_date. Change it as preferred, just keep the place holder, {0}. For example, change to: "On Interlibrary Loan until".
5. Inspect as well - Patron Limits, Overdue and Lost Loan Profiles.
6. Here is advice shared by one of the libraries:

Tipasa requires the operator to enter the book’s barcode.  When I checked out a book to another library through Tipasa, with the systems linked, for the first item, a message popped up when I was saving the checkout, and it said that I will need to enter the item’s barcode to link the checkout in Tipasa to my circulation system. 

Tipasa requires the item’s barcode to link the two systems. Tipasa has a blank field to enter the barcode.  That is an extra step, but it is easy to do when using the barcode scanner.  Once that is done and we save the record, it is checked out in Alma, too, saving us that extra step. 

Additional Information

Click here for more about NCIP, and Broker Based Resource Sharing.

More blogs can be found in the Developers Network.

See for example this blog: https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/blog/alma-and-tipasa-integration/

• Article last edited: 22-June-2025