Digital content can be submitted directly to Alma by non-staff registered users such as students, research fellows, and faculty using Alma's Deposit module. Submitted content includes metadata and one or more files, which, upon submission and approval, are added to Alma's digital inventory as a metadata record, representation, and files. Use of Alma deposit requires a digital subscription.

Examples of items that patrons may want to deposit include dissertations, podcast episodes, or any locally created content that the patron would like to store in, or make available through, the Alma repository.

Patrons create deposits using a special standalone interface provided by Alma (see Patron Deposits), which they access using their institutional credentials (similar to Primo). With this interface, patrons can create new deposits and see details of past deposits. Communication between Alma and the depositors is customizable and managed from Alma's Letters (see Configuring Alma Letters.)

Before creating a deposit, administrators must configure at least one deposit profile (see Configuring Deposits). Deposit profiles are rules that determine the processing of a deposit, including the metadata schema and fields, target collection, automatic/manual approval, limitations on file size number and format, and user groups.

Deposits go through an approval process (automated or manual) before becoming inventory in the repository (see Approving Deposits). Approvers can accept, decline, or return content to the depositor for modifications. The deposit approval process is determined by the deposit profile.

Library staff can also create deposits on behalf of the patrons (see Staff-Mediated Deposit). These deposits do not require approval.

For an overview of working with digital resources, see Working with Digital Resources - Overview.

For more information, see the following sections:

• Configuring Deposits
• Managing Deposit Profiles
• Approving Deposits
• Patron Deposits
• Staff-Mediated Deposits