Locating Items for Resource Sharing

The Borrowing Locate process is configured as part of the Locate Profiles (see Configuring Locate Profiles). Locate profiles are one of the following types:

• Z39.50 – If the locate target is not an Alma institution, its catalog may be searched by Alma using the Z39.50 protocol. The target partner must be running an openly accessible Z39.50 server. A search query searches the request's title, author, ISSN/ISBN and year (publication date). If more than one query field has been specified, they must all be true to return a successful result. A successful search in one or more partner databases is considered a success.
  Alma may define locate targets of this type only if the locate target is part of Alma's searchable external target. If a partner is searchable in this manner but the partner's catalog is not in Alma's list of searchable external targets, contact Ex Libris Data Services to make that catalog a searchable target.
• Alma – If the locate target is an Alma institution, its catalog may be searched using Alma APIs. This supports more precise locate options.
  If your institution is a member of a fulfillment network or a member institution of a Network Zone, the locate process uses Alma internal record IDs rather than the request metadata. Therefore, in this circumstance, there is no need to configure the Locate By Fields. For other institutions, when using an Alma locate profile, if the lender and requester do not share the same Network Zone or Fulfillment Network, the locate process depends on the locate profile configuration:
  • If the Locate by Fields check box is selected on the Locate Profile Details page, the locate process proceeds based on the selected subfields (Title, Author, ISBN/ISSN, Edition, System Control Number, LCCN, Other Standard ID, Barcode, DOI).
  • If Locate only if all fields match is set to “Yes”, locate will find a match only when all selected fields (which exist in the request metadata) match. If set to “No”, locate will find a match if any of the selected identifier fields matches (if no identifier fields exist on the request, locate will only be successful if all other selected fields match). The borrowing locate process succeeds if there is a single matching result and fails if there are no matching results. If there is more than one match, the rs_fail_locate_multiple_results parameter dictates the behavior (see Configuring Other Settings (Fulfillment).
  • If the Locate by Fields check box is not selected on the Locate Profile Details page, or if none of the subfields have been selected, the locate process proceeds based on the following criteria: LCCN, System Control Number, Title, and ISBN/ISSN.

  You can specify whether the locate process will check physical resources and/or electronic and digital resources as follows:

  • When Ignore Physical Resources is not selected and Ignore Electronic and Digital Resources is selected, Alma performs the locate process only for physical resources based on the bibliographic record.
  • When Ignore Physical Resources is selected and Ignore Electronic and Digital Resources is not selected, Alma performs the locate process only for electronic resources similar to how the link resolver works and using and the request's volume/issue information and the lender's coverage data.
  • When Ignore Physical Resources and Ignore Electronic and Digital Resources are both unselected, Alma performs the locate process for physical resources based on the bibliographic record, and for electronic resources similar to how the link resolver works, using the request's volume/issue information and the lenders' coverage data. The electronic locate check is performed first.

The final locate behavior is also affected by the rs_ignore_electronic_for_physical_request parameter and allow other formats field, as seen below. This table describes how the locate process runs with regard to the possible combinations.

		Allow other formats is not selected	Allow other formats is selected
rs_ignore_electronic_for_physical_request = false	Ignore Electronic and Digital Resources is not selected in Locate Profile Details	Allow electronic regardless of format	Allow electronic regardless of format
	locate profile ignore electronic is selected in Locate Profile Details	ignore electronic regardless of format	ignore electronic regardless of format
rs_ignore_electronic_for_physical_request = true	locate profile ignore electronic is not selected in Locate Profile Details	ignore electronic if physical / physical non-returnable	Allow electronic regardless of format
	locate profile ignore electronic is selected in Locate Profile Details	ignore electronic regardless of format	ignore electronic regardless of format

Use the rs_uresolver_locate parameter to indicate that the locate process should consider volume/issue information for electronic resources, similar to how the link resolver would search the rota members' e-inventory. See Configuring Other Settings (Fulfillment).

• BLDSS - A locate may be performed using the British Library Document Supply Service. For more information on the BLDSS locate profile parameters, see Adding Locate Profiles.
• Fulfillment Network - If the lender and requester share the same fulfillment network, there is no locate process, since Alma knows which partner owns the requested title. The locate request is then processed as follows:
  • The request is stored in Alma with the list of fulfillment network members that own the resource.
  • For partners whose institution ID is part of the same fulfillment network as the requester:
    – If the institution ID is linked to the requester, the requested record is considered a locate success.
    – If the institution ID is not linked to the requester, the requested record is considered a locate failure.

You can configure an Alma locate profile to test for requestability and availability by selecting the Check item availability and Check item requestability check boxes on the Locate Profile Details page (see Configuring Locate Profiles). When selecting Check item availability, the locate process succeeds only if the record is found at the partner and at least one item is available (Status In Place). When selecting Check item requestability, the locate process succeeds only if the item is requestable (the Is Requestable for Resource Sharing policy = True).

Attach the relevant locate profile to a resource sharing partner (see Resource Sharing Partners).

You can activate the Borrowing Locate process automatically by selecting the relevant settings when configuring a locate profile, as described in the following procedure.

1. On the Organization Unit Details page (see Configuring Parameters of a Resource Sharing Library), select the Cancel request on locate failure check box for Alma to automatically cancel a request for which the locate process did not find any potential partner.
2. Select the Automatically activate locate profile check box for the borrowing locate process to be automatically triggered when a borrowing request is created from any interface – Alma, Primo or API.
   
   Organization Unit Details Page

To manually activate the Borrowing Locate process, do one of the following:

• On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Request page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests, select Edit for a request), select the Locate button.
  
  Resource Sharing Borrowing Request Page – Locate Button
• On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests), select the Locate Resource action. This link displays only if the request has an assigned partner or rota.
  
  Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests Page – Locate Resource Link

The Lending Locate process can be activated automatically or manually after creating a lending request.

• To automatically activate the Lending Locate process, on the Organization Unit Details page (see To automatically activate the borrowing locate process above), select the Automatically locate resource check box. When a lending request is created, the resource is automatically searched for.
• To manually activate the Lending Locate process, on the Resource Sharing Lending Requests Task List page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Lending Requests), select Locate from the row actions list.

The Lending Locate process succeeds if there is a single matching result and fails if there are no matching results or if there are multiple matches found. If a title has more than one item, the availability and "requestability" are not checked in the locate process, and the request must be handled manually. In either failure case, the search query is displayed on the Repository Search page, and the operator can either manually attach the lending request to the local repository or select the Change Query link to change the search query.

A resource-sharing library may be configured to automatically reject an incoming request if the requested title has no available items. This can be done by selecting the Reject request when no available item, the Reject request when no requestable items and the Automatically Locate Resource switches in the Lending Setup of the Resource Sharing Library. If the switches are not turned on, the operator on the lender side will be able to manually decide whether to reject the request if the requested item is not available.

The Lending Locate process is handled based on the metadata available for the request:

• If the request has been received with a record ID, the lending request is automatically linked to the identified record. A request can be received with a record ID by ISO ILL if the requester and borrower are part of the same fulfillment network and the request has been placed using the Network Zone record or a Primo deduplicated record. If the two records are deduplicated in Primo and the request is placed from Primo, the locate process will consider all inventory as candidates for fulfilling the request, and will access any inventory that is requestable for resource sharing. If the request is placed from Alma, the deduplication is not relevant, and the record that was chosen for the request is the one that will be used.
• If the request has been received without a record ID, the record is located based on the selected Locate by Fields values on the Organization Unit Details page (Configuration Menu > General > Libraries > Add a Library or Edit Library Information select the Libraries tab and edit the resource sharing library). If Locate only if all fields match is set to “Yes”, locate will find a match only when all selected fields (which exist in the request metadata) match. If set to “No”, locate will find a match if any of the selected identifier fields matches (if no identifier fields exist on the request, locate will only be successful if all other selected fields match).
• If the Locate by Fields check box is not selected, or if none of the subfields have been selected, the locate process proceeds based on the following criteria (in the indicated order): LCCN, System Control Number, Title, and ISBN/ISSN.
• If the Remote Record ID was specified on the request, the locate process will be performed solely on the Remote Record ID.

When Alma processes lending requests for digital copies of journal articles and book chapters, it checks for existing bibliographic records that match the lending request. For book chapters, it also checks for physical copies of the book that can be digitized for this purpose. For articles, it does not check for physical copies of the journal that can be digitized.

The Self Ownership check determines whether a requested resource is locally owned at the requester's institution. When creating a new borrowing request in Alma, a warning message (The institutional inventory has services for the requested title) displays if the requested resource is owned by the local institution.

The Self Ownership check is handled as follows:

• The record is located based on the selected Locate by Fields values on the Organization Unit Details page (Configuration Menu > Fulfillment > Library > Opening Hours, select the Summary tab). See To automatically activate the borrowing locate process above.
• If the Locate by Fields check box is not selected, or if none of the subfields have been selected, the locate process proceeds based on the following criteria (in the indicated order): LCCN, System Control Number, Title, and ISBN/ISSN.

When performed on the Primo Get It tab, self-ownership is determined by resolving the incoming OpenURL to an existing resource, and is therefore based on the resolver's matching mechanism rather than the above mentioned configurations.