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    Ex Libris Knowledge Center

    Managing Collections

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    A collection (unrelated to an electronic collection; see Managing Electronic Collections) is an entity that aggregates bibliographic records that have a relationship of some kind. A collection can be based on topic or subject matter, for example a collection titled “The Beatles” (based on the popular rock music band) which holds records of physical items, including biographies and sheet music, digital audio and video of live performances and studio recording sessions, and any number and type of song and record album holdings. A collection has its own bibliographic record. The collection can include records associated with different resource types (physical, digital, and electronic).
    Structurally, collections can be top-level collections or sub-collections. Sub-collections are children of top-level collections or other sub-collections. A collection like “The Beatles” could have sub-collections based on chronology, geography, biography of individual band members, or any other category that your institution finds useful. “The Beatles” collection itself could be a sub-collection of a larger 60s pop music or Rock ‘n Roll genre collection.
    Collections can be used in searches (as facets and as in searching by collections) and in other areas of the system such as publishing. Resources of all types can be published with their collection details, including parent and child collections.
    Collections whose bibliographic records are suppressed are not displayed in Primo.
    Collections are managed on the Top Level Collections page (Resources > Manage Inventory > Manage Collections). Collections appear in a list table (for more information about list tables, see List Tables). You can also search for collections using Alma's search feature; to manage the results, see Performing Actions on the Repository Search Results Page.
    Top Level Collections Page
    To sort the collections:
    • Select a sort option in the Sort By drop-down pane.
    • Select one or more collections and then select an option in the Reorder drop-down pane to move the selected items before or after your selection.
    • Drag and drop items to adjust the sorting.
    To save the sort, so that it appears the next time you view the page, select Save order in the Sort By pane. This is the order that appears in your discovery system.
    To download collection information:
    To download collection information as an EAD (Encoded Archival Description) file, select Download EAD from the row actions list for a top-level collection, or view the collection (View from the row actions list) and select Download EAD in the General Details area.
    To view a collection:
    For a top-level collection select View from the row actions list for the collection. For a sub-collection, after opening the top-level collection, select View for the collection on the parent's page.
    General information about the collection appears in the General Details area. The collections sub-collections appear in the Sub-collections tab. The collections associated titles appear in the Title List tab.

    Adding a Top Level Collection

    To add a top-level collection to your inventory, see the Working with Collections section for permissions.
    Top-level collections are managed resources that include any number of inventory items grouped together. They provide levels of organization and management to digital collections and other resources.
    To add a top-level collection to your inventory:
    1. On the Top Level Collections page, select Add Top-Level Collection. The Add New Collection page appears.
      Add New Collection
    2. Enter required and optional fields on the form.
      Add New Collection Fields
      Field Description
      Record Format The type of records that will be in this collection.
      This field appears only if your system supports multiple record formats. Contact Ex Libris support to enable this feature.
      Title Corresponds to 245 $a - Title. Required. This title appears in the Alma search results.
      This title does not have to be unique, but it is recommended that is be the same as the Collection Name.
      Name Internal name for the collection (rather than the bibliographic record name). Required. This name appears when published to Primo and in other locations.
      This name must be unique among all top-level collections.
      Description A description of the collection. Limit 1000 characters.
      Library The library where the collection is stored (select from drop-down options). Required.
      Only libraries that are available according to your permissions appear.
      Thumbnail Upload Select a thumbnail image for the collection.
      The image must be in jpg, png, or gif format and have a maximum size of 100K.
      External System When the collection is created automatically by the import job (OAI set), this is the name of the external system
      Place at / before Select to have the collection placed at the top, bottom, or before an existing collection or sub-collection in the list
      External ID When the collection is created automatically by the import job (OAI set), this is the ID of the collection assigned by the remote system. Additionally, users can store IDs in this field to be used later in the published metadata, and Primo can use it during discovery.
      Forms Forms consists of a template of fields to be used when creating digital representations. For more information, see Working with Forms (DC Only).
      Deposit Select a form to be used for patron deposits to this collection.
      Staff Mediated Deposit Select a form to be used for staff-mediated deposits to this collection.
      Add Representation Select a form to be used for adding representations to this collection.
    3. Select Save to save your work and move on to another task, or Save and continue to save the collection and open the Collection Resource Editor page, where you can enter further information for the new collection.
    You can also add collections by importing an encoded archival description (EAD) file using the Collections import profile. For more information, see Managing Import Profiles.

    Working with Collections

    The following roles can work with collections:
    • Collection Inventory Operator – Create and edit sub-collections and move sub-collections between parent collections.
    • Collection Inventory Operator Extended together with Collection Inventory Operator – Create, edit, and delete top level collections and promote a sub-collection to be a top-level collection. Create, edit, and delete sub-collection and move sub-collections between parent collections.
    • Digital Inventory Operator – Add/remove titles to/from a collection and move a title between collections.
    Because collections allow you to group records of different types (physical, digital, and electronic) and from different sources (internal, external, remote), digital asset management systems often use them to aggregate the many types of resources into organized hierarchical units. As part of this job, institutions may:
    • Create, edit, or delete sub-collections
    • Add thumbnails to collections
    • Add items, sets, and remote digital objects to collections
    • Integrate collection assignment with import profiles
    Alma collections can reference local and remote objects. Remote objects remain in their remote locations. The Alma collection stores object metadata only.
    To edit a collection:
    1. If the collection is a top-level collection, select Edit from the row actions list for the collection on the Top Level Collections page. The Collection Resource Editor page appears.
      Collection Resource Editor, Sub-Collections
      For a sub-collection, after opening the top-level collection for editing, select Edit from the row actions list for the collection on the parent's page. You can edit a collection's information in the General Information section. To delete the current thumbnail, select the Use default thumbnail check box. To upload a new thumbnail, select the relevant thumbnail image in the Thumbnail upload field. For additional information on the fields of this page, see Adding a Top Level Collection.
      The following Forms section appears at the bottom of the page:
      collection_forms.png
      Forms Section
      Select a form for Deposits, Staff Mediated Deposits, or Add Representations. The fields of the form appear when adding a representation to a bibliographic record in the collection. Select Apply to all sub-collections to have the form appear when adding a representation to a bibliographic record in a subcollection. For more information about forms, see Working with Forms (DC Only) .
    2. When you are done, select:
      • Save to save your work and return to the list of collections or
      • Save and Continue to save your work and remain on the Collection Resource Editor page.
    To add a sub-collection to a collection:
    1. Edit a collection (see above) and on the Sub-collections tab select Add Sub-collection. The Add New Collection page appears.
      add_new_top_level_collection_new_UI.png
      Add Sub-Collection
    2. Enter the required fields and select Save or Save and Continue. For more information, see Adding a Top Level Collection.
    To move one or more sub-collections to become children of a different collection:
    1. Edit a collection (see above) and on the Sub-collections tabs select Move from the row actions list for the sub-collection. Alternately, select the check boxes next to one or more sub-collections and select Move Selected. The repository search (for collections only) appears.
    2. Search for the target collection, select it, and select Select. The sub-collection is moved to the selected collection.
    If the target parent collection already has a sub-collection with the same name as the one you are moving, the collection you are moving is given a dummy, unique name. After moving the collection, edit the collection to change the name.
    To make a sub-collection into a top-level collection:
    Only a user with the Collection Inventory Operator Extended role can perform this action.
    Edit a collection (see above) and on the Sub-collections tab select Make Top-level from the row actions list for the sub-collection. The sub-collection becomes a top-level collection.
    If there is already a top-level collection with the same name as the sub-collection you are promoting, the collection you are promoting is given a dummy, unique name. After promoting the collection, edit the collection to change the name.
    To delete a collection:
    You cannot delete a collection if it has any associated titles. To delete the collection, first remove any associated titles.
    Select Delete from the row actions list and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
    To delete multiple sub-collections at once, on the Sub-collections tab select the check boxes next to one or more collections, select Delete Selected, and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box. If you select any collections that cannot be deleted, a warning appears in the confirmation dialog box. Confirming deletes only the permitted collections; the other collections remain untouched.
    To manage titles in the collection:
    Titles are managed on the Title List tab.
    • To add individual titles:
      1. Select Add Title. The repository search (for all titles only) appears.
      2. Search for titles and select the desired titles.
      3. Select Add Titles and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box. The titles are added to the collection.
    • To add titles by set (if you already have a set containing titles; see Managing Search Queries and Sets):
      1. select Add Titles from Set. The Manage Sets page appears.
      2. Select the set to add.
      3. Select Add Titles, and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
    • To remove individual titles, select the check boxes beside the titles to remove and select Remove Selected. Alternately, select Remove from the row actions list beside a title.
      Select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
      You can remove a title from a collection only if it does not contain digital inventory or if it is assigned to more than one collection. This is to ensure that all digital inventory is managed by a collection.
    • To remove all items, select Remove All and select Confirm in the confirmation dialog box.
    • To move titles to another collection:
      1. Select the check boxes beside the titles to move and select Move Selected. Alternately, select Move from the row actions list beside a title. The repository search (for collections only) appears.
      2. Search for the target collection and select it.
      3. Select Select. The titles are added to the target collection.
    • You can also edit or view a title using the row actions list.
    To view a history of actions performed on a collection, select the History tab.
    History Tab
    • Adding titles to collections are not included in the History tab.
    • For collections in the repository at the time of the release (September 2017), an additional change is needed in order to display the change in the history tab.