Performing Actions Directly from the Search Results

For users with appropriate roles and privileges, many workflows that previously required navigating away from the search are now accessible directly within it. For example:

• Suppressing or unsuppressing a bibliographic record from the General Information section.
• Performing actions on inventory directly from the sections and drawers, including:
  • Placing a work order or toggling the missing status in the physical items section.
  • Relinking or pushing holdings records to Metadata Editor in the physical holdings section or drawer.
  • Activating/deactivating portfolios or testing access in the portfolios section or drawer.

Navigation Links 

Alma displays navigation links on the right side of the screen in search results list view, or in the Badges and Icons column of the table view. These links provide quick access to information related to the record, such as it's inventory and related entities.

The navigation links can include both standard hyperlinks and smart links. Standard hyperlinks navigate to a single resource (for example, the Collections section, or a list of related entitied such as orders, requests, courses, licenses, or reminders in a sliding panel). The display of the links can be customized from the gear icon () and selecting Records Customization. In Badges and Icons (Third Column), select the links to hide or display. These links also appear in the Table view ().

Smart links provide access to multiple resources for a specific entity (for example, its section in the details pane, the full list in a sliding panel, or link to conduct a new search). Smart links work in one of two ways:

• Selecting the link takes you to your favorite resource (such as a section in the right pane or a full list in a sliding panel). You can customize what the single-click action is for each smart link.

• Selecting the arrow icon next to the smart link opens a navigation window, which offers all actions available for that smart link. From this window, you can select a link to perform the action or star an action to set it as the favorite (single-click) action for this smart link.

The following image shows the arrow icon and the resulting navigation window that appears when you select it.

The Sliding Panel

Another way the new UX keeps users in context and minimizes the need to navigate away is the sliding panel. This allows users to perform more complex operations that previously required navigating away and losing search context, as a "side quest" - seamlessly returning to the list of resources to continue their main work once they are done.

Itemized Sets in Search Results 

Itemized sets are fixed lists - each time you check their content or use them, the content is the same. You can use selected search results to create a new itemized set, or add to an existing set's content.

For consortia members, itemized set actions are only available when searching in the institution scope (not in network or combined scopes).

Run a Job on Selected Search Results 

If you have the permissions, you can run a manual job on selected results - this will not create a set, and only run the process.

For consortia members, running a job is only available when searching in the institution scope (not in network or combined scopes).

Select the records you want to run the job on by checking the checkbox next to the record - a counter shows the number of selected records.

From the bulk action button, select Run a Job to open a sliding panel with the list of jobs you are allowed to run on the type of records in your search type.

Select the job and enter the parameters to run the process on your selected records.

Display Configuration

In the new title searches, the display of search results can be configured at both the user and institution levels. For more information on user level customizations, see Customizing the Display in Alma.

Administrators can establish institutional defaults, eliminating the need for individual users to configure their display with data relevant to the entire institution. Users, in turn, have the flexibility to adjust these preferences according to their specific needs, enhancing efficiency and usability.

The available configurations include:

• Sections: Reorder or hide sections in the right pane to prioritize the most relevant information.
• Actions: Reorder or hide actions for quick access to primary actions with a single click, and easy access to other commonly used actions.
• Records: Customize which fields from the results list are displayed and their positioning, ensuring easy access to essential information for your tasks.
  The fields in the first column are always displayed, fields in the second column are hidden if the list view is narrow
• Facets: Reorder or hide facets to ensure relevant tools for your work are readily accessible.
• Table: Customize which of the available metadata fields are displayed as table columns in the table view, to make working with the table more efficient.

Expanding Tabs

The inventory tabs were enhanced for better usability: 

• Tabs are now color-coded by inventory type to help operators easily scan the search results.
• Users with the relevant roles and privileges can perform actions directly from the tabs
• If Expand-all is used, the tabs are loaded gradually and appear when the information is ready, so as not to delay the search results from returning.

Summary Section

Includes the record's title, creator, imprint and MMS ID information, along with links to related records, courses, and licenses (if applicable).

If the record is a linked community record, or a network record in consortia members, a link to the record's community/network view is also provided here.

General Information Section

Includes essential metadata that librarians may need to access easily. For librarians with the appropriate roles and privileges, it also allows for suppressing a record when necessary.

Bibliographic Record Section

Displays the complete bibliographic record, enabling librarians to review it directly from the search results. With convenient up/down arrow navigation between records, librarians can easily compare search results and identify the correct record to work on.

Enhanced Navigation and Linked Open Data Sections

The Linked Open Data and navigation features in the new search experience aim to help librarians easily access related information in external resources or their own catalog - such as linked authority records, information on contributors, other titles on the same subjects, etc.

Names Section

The title search uses the creator and Names' bibliographic headings to clearly display information for the librarian, including:

• An info card containing linked data from external resources, when available.
• A link to a contributor page with detailed information from both external resources and the local catalog, when available.
• Information on linked authority records, if they exist – clicking on the binoculars icon opens the linked authority record in a sliding panel.
• Easy navigation to search the catalog for similar resources:
  • Search Heading - triggers a search in the “Heading Information” search index:
    • If the bibliographic heading is linked to an authority record, the search will find bibliographic records with headings linked to the same authority record.
    • If the bibliographic heading is not linked to an authority record, the search will find bibliographic records with headings of the same type and vocabulary, containing the same text.
  • Search Name - triggers a Names equals search on the normalized value of the bibliographic heading, in the "Names" index.

Names Section

Linked Data Info Card The Linked Data Info Card provides more information on a person. It combines data from the Library of Congress Name Authority and Wikidata. If an info card is available (determined by the linked authority record), the contributor’s name includes an additional oval and card icon (). Users can click on the name to view a popup window with the information attained from LC Name Authority and Wikidata. Otherwise, plain text is displayed. Info Card - popup Info cards and Contributors pages are only shown if the record is linked to an authority for which Alma has relevant information to display. Currently, ­the Linked Data Info Card only appears for headings linked to the LCNAMES authority vocabulary. ­In future releases this will be expanded to other vocabularies. The Linked Data Info Card can appear in two places: The Summary section: The summary section includes information on the creator of the resource, which will show an info-card if available. For instance, for MARC21 records this is the Main Entry 100 field. Info Card - Summary Section The Names section: The Contributors section includes information on the creator and contributors of the resource, which will show info-cards if available. For instance, for MARC21 records this is the Main Entry 100 field and the added Entry 700 field(s). Info Card - Contributors Section - Info cards displayed for heading in the 100 and 700 fields The link to the Linked Data Info Card works the same from the Summary section and the Contributors section.  When selecting the card  icon a popup window appears displaying information pertaining to the heading, taken from Wikidata and LCNAMES. Users are presented with a link to Wikidata within the Linked Data Info Card. Upon selecting the Wikidata link, a new tab in the browser opens with the relevant Wikidata entry. Linked Data Info Card displayed  Wikidata page displayed in new browser tab The Search Heading link can be accessed from: The Names section The Linked Data Info Card which opens after clicking the name of the heading The Contributor Page InfoCard - Names Section - Generate New Search View Contributor Page When available, the Contributors Page displays detailed information from both external resources and the local catalog. The page appears in a sliding panel. The View contributor page link is displayed in the following scenarios: When a bibliographic record is linked to an LC Names authority for a personal name. When a bibliographic record is linked to a Name authority that exists in VIAF and can be linked to an LC Name authority for a personal name. When information on the person exists in LC Names and Wikidata, with at least 2 fields with information beyond the name of the person. When Wikidata includes good identifiers that enable Ex Libris to definitely identify the person. Wikidata cache is updated in Alma on a weekly basis. The Contributor Page link can be accessed from the Names section. Accessing the Contributors Page From the Contributors Page, users can: Use links to external resources to open them in a new browser tab. View resources by the same person in their catalog. View resources about the person in their catalog, if exist. Select the Generate New Search link that executes an All Titles search based on the Authority ID.  Contributors Page

Inventory Sections

The inventory sections display the record's inventory, enabling librarians to review and perform actions directly from the search. These sections include:

• A list of inventory by type (holdings, items, electronic portfolios, electronic collections, representations), showing the count of entities of each type associated with the record.
• The first 5 entities of each type, with pagination to navigate the rest if applicable.
• Search and navigation capabilities.
• Export to Excel functionality.
• The ability to perform row actions on inventory directly from the title search.

Export, Generate Search and Actions capabilities - Electronic Portfolios Section

 

Internal Searching, Pagination and Actions Capabilities - Items Section

New Sort Related Holdings Capabilities (applied to both the holdings section and the holdings tab in the list of results) - Holdings Section

Collections Section

Shows any collections that the title belongs to, if exist.

Collections Section

Facets

The Facets panel is enhanced to help you filter the search results to only see results that meet selected conditions. The new facets allow you to:

• Save Facets - users who commonly filter their search results in a specific way can now save this, so it will automatically apply to future searches of the same type.
• Select multiple values
• Exclude a value
• Search in the Facets - users can easily and quickly find the value they want to facet on

For more information, see Facets.

Advanced Search 

The new advanced search supports a more powerful, refined search, including multiple search criteria and criteria groups that allows the operator to determine the "AND"/"OR" boolean condition for each group. For more information, see, Physical Holdings search.

Local Search  Labels

In the new Search UX institutions can add local labels relevant for their local records. These labels can be used for searching, faceting, and when viewing search results.

To maintain control over the number of labels added, only users with Manager or Administrator roles can add labels to records. However, all users can view and search using these labels. Labels can be added and removed for a single record, or as a bulk action on selected records.

Export

Exporting all or specific fields to Excel is updated in the new user interface. All the data available for export in the classic UX is still included in the new UX export, but there may be changes in column names, column order, formatting, and other aspects.

Thumbnails

If your region supports thumbnail display, it is suggested to configure the thumbnail behavior to "Show for all objects" in the Configuration Menu > Search Configuration > Repository Search when transitioning to the new unified titles search experience. In the new UX, each user has the option to disable thumbnails in their own view, meaning enabling thumbnails institution-wide allows users to individually select whether to view them or not. For more information, see Customizing the Thumbnail Display.