Digitization Processing

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This page describes how to work with digital files including the basic workflow, delivering digitized items to patrons, attaching digitized items to send to a patron, etc. It also describes the managing of digitization using the Actions menu for cancelling requests, changing physical requests to electronic and vice versa, using View it for the Alma Link Resolver, etc. For a full overview of the requests workflow starting from the different ways a request can enter into the Alma system through to scanning and final processing, see Resource Requests Workflow.

For links to all the main fulfillment documentation pages see Fulfillment.

To manage the digitization of an item, you must have the following role:

Work Order Operator

To approve a digitization request, you must have the following role:

Fulfillment Services Manager

A patron or staff member can request the creation of a digital file for any physical or electronic item (see Creating a Request).

Physical items are transferred from their library location to the digitization department (see Configuring Digitization Departments), where they are scanned and digital files are created. Electronic items are digitized by locating them in the repository and saving them in digital format.

The digital file is delivered to one of the following:

Institution – The digital file is owned and managed by the institution as part of the repository. Access to the file is controlled by access rights.
Patron – The patron receives the digital file, or a link to the digital file, in an email.

You can request digitization for the entire item or for a chapter, page range, or article within an item.

For more information, see Digitization Request. (2:13 min)

Digitization Department Workflow for a Physical Item

The following is an illustration of a typical digitization department workflow, after the item was requested for digitization. It starts with the arrival of the item to the digitization department, through the creation of its digital file, to delivery of the digital file.

Digitization Workflow

The following is a detailed description of the steps within this workflow (the numbers correspond to the numbers in the diagram):

The workflow commences when the requested physical item arrives at the digitization department and its barcode is scanned (see Scanning Items). The item acquires the status Digitization. For information on requests to digitize physical items, see Creating a Request.
Upon arrival of the physical item, the digitization request is sent for review to determine whether there are elements that require special attention based on the review rules preconfigured by an administrator (see Configuring Digitization and Copyright Rules). These include:
- Copyright clearance – If required, the library receives a copyright license (for example, from the Copyrights Clearance Center Services) to re-use copyright-protected content.
- Approve – The request is approved and the digitization process continues.
- Reject – The request is rejected. The reason for rejection is specified.
- Approval of a digitization request can take place at any point in the digitization workflow, but must be before the Delivery stage. For details on approving/rejecting a request, see Approving/Rejecting a Request for Digitization.
- Notification to the requester is withheld until the request is approved.
The item is digitized (see Digitizing Items).
The request proceeds to the delivery stage (see Delivery of Digitized Items). Delivery is handled in one of the following ways:
1. By the Add Digital Representation functionality (see Adding a Representation). The digital file can be searched in the Primo application.
2. By the Document Delivery – Attachment – An email is sent to the requesting patron with the digital file as an attachment (see Attaching Digitized Items to Be Sent to a Patron).
3. By the Document Delivery – Link – An email is sent to the requesting patron with a link to download the digital file (see Attaching Digitized Items to Be Sent to a Patron).
The delivery method is defined by preset rules (see Configuring Digitization and Copyright Rules).

For more information, see Digitization Requests Flow.

Approving/Rejecting a Request for Digitization

To approve digitization requests, you must have the following role:

Fulfillment Services Manager

You must approve or reject digitization requests when digitization and copyright rules determine that approval is required (see Configuring Digitization and Copyright Rules) or when a copyright approval task is specifically requested, such as for a citation (see Adding Citations to a Reading List).

Digitization requests can be approved at any point in the digitization workflow, but delivery cannot be completed until approval is granted.

You approve or reject digitization requests on the Approval Requests List page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Approval Requests List). You can also view this page by selecting the task Requests - Digitization - need approval in the Tasks List in the persistent menu ( see Tasks in the Tasks List) or after selecting Save and Manage Approval on the Edit Reading List Citation page (see Managing Citations).

To filter citations by relevance, use the Creation date filter. The default range displayed are requests from the most recent year.

Approval Requests List

You can perform the following actions on this page:

Filter the requests - In addition to the Status and Associated With Course filters, you can select Filter by this Record from the row actions list in a request row to view only requests for that record, including all other requests for the same MMS ID, ISBN (ISBN/10 or ISBN/13 are both returned), or ISSN/Volume/Issue. In the latter case, items with no issue but the same ISSN and volume, or no volume and no issue bu the same ISSN, are returned also.
When entering this page after selecting Save and Manage Approval on the Edit Reading List Citation page, Filter by this Record is selected by default.
Update the request's expiration date - Select Update Expiry from the row actions list to open the Update Expiration Date dialog box. Change the request expiration date and select Save. This action is possible only if the request already has an expiration date.
Approve or reject the request - See below.
View relevant digitization and copyright rule - To view the digitization and copyright rule that resulted in this request requiring manual approval (instead of being automatically approved or rejected), select View Rule from the row actions list. A read-only version of the Digitization Workflow Setup page appears, containing information about the rule that triggered manual approval for this request.

For a video on how to find and monitor requests, as well as how to fulfill them, see Digitization Request Management. (4:24 min)

Digitization Workflow Setup Page (Read-Only)

To approve/reject a request for digitization:

On the Approval Requests List page, select View or Work on from the row actions list of the item you want to approve. The Approval Requests List page appears, displaying details of the item.

Approval Requests List Page - Work On

If you selected Work On, you can modify the necessary fields, as described in the following table:

Approval Request Fields
Section	Name	Description
Digitization Request These fields are mandatory if the request requires copyright clearance.	CC number	The Copyright Clearance Center number. The number indicates that the library has a license to use copyright-protected content.
	CC order date	The date the copyright clearance was ordered
	CC approval date	The date the copyright clearance was approved
	Note	User notes
Order Confirmation (not mandatory)		Optionally, the library can attach a copyright confirmation (e.g. CCC confirmation) in the Order Confirmation section.

Note that if you select Cancel after adding an attachment, the attachment remains and can be worked on later. After the attachment is uploaded, you can select Actions in the row of an attachment to:

Edit – Edit the attachment, including uploading a different file
Delete – Delete the attachment
Download – Download the file

Approve or reject the digitization request:
- Select Approve to approve the digitization request. On the Approve the Request page, select a reason from the Reason drop-down list, enter any notes in the Notes field, and select Submit. The list of reasons are:
  - Automatic
  - Covered by License
  - Creative Commons
  - Direct Permission Obtained
  - Legal Exception
  - Open Access
  - Other
  - Out of Print
  - Preprint
  - Primary License
  - Self-Declared
- Select Reject to reject the request. On the Rejection Request page, select a reason from the Reason drop-down list, enter any notes in the Notes field, and select Submit. The approver’s decisions are saved for the digital file. The list of reasons are:
  - Other
  - Rejected by Manager
  - Rejected by CCC
  If the request is rejected, the digital file is not created and the requester is notified that the request was rejected. The rejection email only sends 254 characters in the body of the email, but you can manually enter more.

Digitizing Items

To start the digitization process, ensure that you are at the digitization department that currently holds the item; see Library/Desk Selector in The Persistent Menu.

Digitization is configured on the In Process Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Manage In Process Items). You can also view this page by selecting one of the following tasks the Tasks List in the persistent menu ( see Tasks in the Tasks List):

Items - deposit
Items - digitization
Items - document delivery

In Process Items Page

The In Process Items page can also be accessed on the Scan In Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Scan In Items) by selecting Manage In Process Items. For details on the Scan In Items page, see Scanning Items.

The In Process Items page displays patron and/or staff digitization requests. The type of request appears in the Status column.

To digitize physical items:

From the In Process Items page, locate an item with the Digitization status.
An item has this status after: a) it has a digitization request attached to it and b) it is then scanned in at the digitization department.
Select Next Step from the row actions for the item. The status changes to Digital Inventory or Document Delivery depending on the digitization configuration (see Configuring Digitization and Copyright Rules).

Next Step appears only when the current status is Digitization.

For details on delivery of digitized items, see Delivery of Digitized Items.

It is not necessary to create an item when handling a digitization or digitize another issue request. However, if an item is not created and attached to the request, terms of use such as digitization fees (which are applied according to item) will not apply.

Fees are applied as follows:

If the request is attached to an item, use the item’s terms of use, as is currently done in the digitization task list.
If the request is attached to a holding with items, use the first item that has an is digitizable = true policy. If no items can be digitized, the digitization terms of use are irrelevant, including the fee.
For general digitization requests where no items exist, digitization fees are not added unless the operator creates an item and attaches it to the request.

Delivering Digitized Items to the Patron

After digitizing items (see Digitizing Items), you send the digital file to the requester or add it to the inventory of the institution. Before performing digitization delivery, ensure that you are at a digitization department; see Library/Desk Selector in The Persistent Menu.

If you are not delivering the file through Alma, but instead you are delivering the file externally, you can remove the request from the task list by cancelling the request. In this case, clear the Notify User check box.

Delivery of digitized items is configured on the In Process Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Manage In Process Items).

The In Process Items page can also be accessed on the Scan In Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Scan In Items) by selecting Go To Manage Department Items. For details on the Scan In Items page, see Scanning Items.

There are two ways to deliver digitized items to the patron as described below. Note that the second way using the Document Delivery page is an alternative streamlined flow.

Delivering Digitized Items Using the Task List

Delivery of digitized items is configured on the In Process Items page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Manage In Process Items).

For items with a status of Digital Inventory, select Add digital inventory from the row actions list to open the Representation Details page (see Adding a Representation).

Items with a Document Delivery status may be sent as email attachments or as links, depending on how the Digitization and Copyright Rules have been configured.

For items waiting for an attachment-based document delivery, select Attach documents from the row actions list to open the Attachments page and attach digitized items to be sent as attachments to the requesting patron (see Attaching Digitized Items To Be Sent To a Patron).
For items waiting for a link-based document delivery, select Upload documents from the row actions list to upload digitized items to be sent as links to the requesting patron (see Attaching Digitized Items To Be Sent To a Patron).

For more information on links in Alma document delivery, see the More Information About Digitization Requests - Document Delivery Using Links video (12:23 mins).

Attach documents to be sent to the requesting patron on the Attachments page. The Attachments page is visible when you select Attach Documents from the row actions for an item on the In Process Items page.

To add an attachment, select Browse in the File name field and select a file. Add a URL and/or note, if required, and select Add Attachment. The attachment appears in the list of attachments in the Attachments tab.
To edit an attachment, select Edit from the row actions list for the attachment that you want to update, modify the File name, URL, and Notes fields as required, and select Save Attachment.
To delete an attachment, select Delete from the row actions list for the attachment that you want to delete and select Confirm in the Confirmation Message pop-up window.
To download a file, select Download from the row actions list for the file that you want to download, specify the folder to which you want to save the file, and select OK.
Click Refresh to see the upload status of your file.
Click Done to complete the digitization process.

If the digitization request required approval then the notification emails described below are sent only once request has been approved.

If the delivery method is Attach Documents - Attachment, the patron receives the digital file as an email attachment. An example of the Ful Digitization Notification Item letter follows.

Notification Item Letter for Digital File
If the delivery method is Attach Documents - Link, the patron receives a link to download the file in an email. Using this method will decrease the size of the email, and easily enable managing more digital resources in a single request. An example of the Document Delivery Notification Letter follows.

Notification Letter - Document Link

The library administrator must configure the email to include only the relevant login option for your institution (local/LDAP, SAML or CAS).

When selecting in the relevant select here link, the patron will first be required to log in using the standard Alma/Primo credentials. After a successful login, the patron will gain access to the digitized files that are stored in the document storage folder. Note that access will be limited to the number of times configured in the digitization and copyright rule, and the files will be automatically removed from the storage after the configured number of days. This value is defined in the document_delivery_cleanup_days parameter. See Configuring Other Settings.
If the delivery method is Digital Inventory (representation), the digital file is made available in the repository under the same title as the physical item, and can then be requested by a patron.

For both link digitization requests and attachment digitization requests, the file size limit is 25 MB. A message appears if the limit of the total digital file size has been reached. Additional email related constraints may be relevant if the digitized material is sent as an email attachment.

Delivering Digitized Items Using the Document Delivery Page

An alternative, streamlined flow allows you upload and deliver from anywhere. This process can be accessed by users with the following roles:

Fulfillment services operator
Fulfillment services manager
Requests operator
Circulation desk manager
Circulation desk operator
Circulation desk operator – limited
Work order operator

All digital documents can be delivered on the Document Delivery page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Deliver Digital Documents) without needing to work through the complete Pick from Shelf workflow. This process does not apply to adding representations. After entering the request ID, you can view the item's information (in the summary tab), and add as many files as necessary and up to one URL. Once the files are added and you select Done, Alma verifies the sending parameters based on the digitization rules in Digitization and Copyright Rules, and sends an email to the patron. If there is an attachment and you have selected a file over 25MB, a warning is displayed. If the files are supplied to the patron using a link, there is not a file size limit. Temporary system files cannot be added as attachments.
If Shipping Terms of Use were configured for the library, then you can select the relevant option from the Shipping Terms of Use drop down list (see Configuring Shipping Terms of Use). The terms of use will be included in the Shipped message if ISO based peer to peer communication is used, or in the email if the partner type is Email.

Document Delivery

An Alma borrower that receives the Shipped message with a communicated terms of use will notice a note about the terms of use attached to the borrower request. The digital content, even if shared via Rapid ILL or via as a link Alma, will not be automatically forwarded to the patron. Rather, staff mediation will be required to make the file accessible to the patron.

To configure the digital shipping terms of use see Configuring Digital Shipping Terms of Use. For receiving of digitally sent requests in peer to peer resource sharing see Receiving Digitally Sent Requests.

Managing the Digitization Requests for Actions

You can also choose from the following options on the Actions menu:

Edit – The In Process Items: Request Management page appears.

In Process Items: Request Management Page
- Optionally, in the Status field, select a status from the drop-down list. You can also view or add a note.
- To add a note, select Add Note and type your note. The note is displayed in the list of notes on the page.
- To edit a note, select Edit from the row actions list for the note that you want to update, modify the note on the Edit Note page, and select Save.
- To delete a note, select Delete from the row actions list for the note that you want to delete and select Confirm in the Confirmation Message pop-up window.
- To locate a note in the list of notes, enter the text for which you want to search in the Find box and select the field — Created by, Updated by, or Note — in which you want to search for this text.
Cancel request – The Confirm Request Cancellation page appears.

Confirm Request Cancellation Page
1. In the Cancellation reason field, select a reason for cancellation from the drop-down list. To customize cancellation reasons, contact Ex Libris Support.
2. In the Cancellation note field, add a note on the cancellation as needed.
3. Select the Notify User check box to have a notification of the cancellation sent to the user.
4. Select Confirm.
Change to Electronic Digitization – Change the digitization of a physical item to digitization of an electronic item. Can be changed only when there is an electronic item in the inventory that can fulfill the request.
Change to Physical Digitization – Change the digitization of an electronic item to digitization of a physical item. Can be changed only when there is a physical item in the inventory that can fulfill the request.
View it – The UResolver Screen (Alma Link Resolver) page appears, displaying resources for the item. This option appears only if the item is configured for electronic digitization.

Attaching Digitized Items to Be Sent to a Patron

Attach documents to be sent to the requesting patron on the Attachments page. The Attachments page is visible when you select Attach Documents from the row actions for an item on the In Process Items page.

To add an attachment, select Browse in the File name field and select a file. Add a URL and/or note, if required, and select Add Attachment. The attachment appears in the list of attachments in the Attachments tab.
To edit an attachment, select Edit from the row actions list for the attachment that you want to update, modify the File name, URL, and Notes fields as required, and select Save Attachment.
To delete an attachment, select Delete from the row actions list for the attachment that you want to delete and select Confirm in the Confirmation Message pop-up window.
To download a file, select Download from the row actions list for the file that you want to download, specify the folder to which you want to save the file, and select OK.
Click Refresh to see the upload status of your file.
Click Done to complete the digitization process.

If the digitization request required approval then the notification emails described below are sent only once request has been approved.

If the delivery method is Attach Documents - Attachment, the patron receives the digital file as an email attachment. An example of the Ful Digitization Notification Item letter follows.

Notification Item Letter for Digital File
If the delivery method is Attach Documents - Link, the patron receives a link to download the file in an email. Using this method will decrease the size of the email, and easily enable managing more digital resources in a single request. An example of the Document Delivery Notification Letter follows.

Notification Letter - Document Link

The library administrator must configure the email to include only the relevant login option for your institution (local/LDAP, SAML or CAS).

When selecting in the relevant select here link, the patron will first be required to log in using the standard Alma/Primo credentials. After a successful login, the patron will gain access to the digitized files that are stored in the document storage folder. Note that access will be limited to the number of times configured in the digitization and copyright rule, and the files will be automatically removed from the storage after the configured number of days. This value is defined in the document_delivery_cleanup_days parameter. See Configuring Other Settings.
If the delivery method is Digital Inventory (representation), the digital file is made available in the repository under the same title as the physical item, and can then be requested by a patron.