Configuring the Request Forms for Alma-Summon
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Alma allows users to fill out various request forms so that they can provide additional information when requesting an item with the Services page. In the following example, the user may place the following types of requests on the book: Request and Digitization.
Request Options for Physical Inventory in Get It
Selecting the Request link and then the Booking request type opens the Booking Request Form, which allows you to check the item's availability for the specified date and time and to send the request, which is handled by the library.
Booking Request Form - Check Availability
The following table lists the mapping tables that allow you to customize the various request forms:
Request Configuration Mapping Tables
Link in Alma |
Request Form |
Digitization Request
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Digitization Optional Parameters (see Configuring a Request Form) – This mapping table defines the optional fields that appear in digitization requests.
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Hold and Booking Request
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Request (Hold and Booking) Optional Parameters (see Configuring a Request Form) – This mapping table defines the optional fields that appear in hold and booking requests.
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Purchase Request
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Purchase Request Optional Parameters (see Configuring a Request Formm) – This mapping table defines the optional fields that appear in purchase requests.
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Resource Sharing Request
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Resource Sharing Form Customization (see Configuring the Resource Sharing Request Form) – This page contains the following sections, which allow you to configure various aspects of the Resource Sharing Request form:
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Resource sharing request fields – This section configures the general fields, which apply to book and article requests. This section allows you to specify the order of fields, show/hide fields, and indicate which fields users must populate.
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Book request – This section configures the fields associated with book requests. This section allows you to specify the order of fields, show/hide fields, and indicate which fields users must populate.
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Article request – This section configures the fields associated with article requests. This section allows you to specify the order of fields, show/hide fields, and indicate which fields users must populate.
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Delivery fields – This section configures the fields associated with the delivery of the book or article. This section allows you to specify the order of fields, show/hide fields, and indicate which fields users must populate. In addition, some of the fields allow you to specify a default, which may be useful when hiding a field.
The Copyrights field enables the Copyrights dialog box that appears after a user submits a resource sharing request. The following mapping codes are associated with the labels in the Copyrights dialog box: AlmaResourceSharing.copyright.title, AlmaResourceSharing.copyright.message, AlmaResourceSharing.cancel, and AlmaResource.agree.
The Resource Sharing Labels code table (see Modifying Labels on Request Forms) allows you to modify the labels that display on the Resource Sharing Request form and the Copyrights dialog box.
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Configuring Non-Resource Sharing Request Forms
For requests other than resource sharing requests, you can decide which fields to display to the end users and provide a default value for each field.
To configure a request form other than the Resource Sharing Request form:
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Open the request form that you want to configure:
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Digitization Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Digitization Request
The following table shows which fields appear for digitization requests:
Digitization Request Field |
Relevant for |
calculateQueueButton |
Digitization |
comment |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
generalUseLabel –
The General Use Label field enables you to add a free-text label to the Digitization Request Form. This label is undefined by default and will not display unless defined. To configure this label, modify the description and translation for the almaDigitization.generalUseLabel code in the Digitization Labels code table (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels).
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Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
manualDescription |
General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
notNeededAfter |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
partial |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
publicationDate |
General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
copyrightDeclaration
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Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue
Example:
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genericCheckBox – See Adding a Generic Field to a Form. |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
formDescription – See Adding a Description to a Form. |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
The following fields appear only after the user selects the Partial check box on the Digitization Request Form: |
chapterArticleAuthor |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
chapterArticleTitle |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
endPage |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
fullChapter |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
issue |
General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
part |
General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
startPage |
Digitization, General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
volume |
General Digitization, Digitize Another Issue |
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Hold and Booking Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Hold and Booking Request
The following table shows which fields appear for hold and booking requests:
Hold Request Field |
Relevant for |
comment |
Hold, General Hold, Another Issue |
materialType |
Hold |
notNeededAfter |
Hold, General Hold, Another Issue |
termsOfUse |
Hold |
checkAvailability |
Hold |
calculateQueueButton |
Hold |
chapterArticleAuthor |
General Hold, Another Issue |
chapterArticleTitle |
General Hold, Another Issue |
startPage |
General Hold, Another Issue |
endPage |
General Hold, Another Issue |
volume |
General Hold, Another Issue |
issue |
General Hold, Another Issue |
part |
General Hold, Another Issue |
publicationDate |
General Hold, Another Issue |
manualDescription |
General Hold, Another Issue |
genericCheckBox – See Adding a Generic Field to a Form. |
General Hold, Another Issue |
formDescription – See Adding a Description to a Form. |
Hold, General Hold, Another Issue |
addressLine1 - addressLine4
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Hold (future use)
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city
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Hold (future use)
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stateProvince
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Hold (future use)
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postalCode
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Hold (future use)
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Purchase Request Form –
Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Purchase Request
The following table shows which fields appear for purchase requests:
Purchase Request Field |
Notes |
author |
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edition |
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isbn |
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issn |
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lccNumber |
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oclcNumber |
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publisher |
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publication_year |
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place_of_publication |
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requesterNotes |
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volume |
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materialType |
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purchaseRequestLibrary |
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genericCheckBox |
For more information, see Adding a Generic Field to a Form. |
formDescription |
For more information, see Adding a Description to a Form. |
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Select Customize to enable the form to be customized. You only need to do this the first time.
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In the Display to Public column, select Yes (viewable to users) or No (not viewable to users) for each field.
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In the Default column, specify a default value for the field if necessary. An empty field indicates that there is no default value for the field. For checkbox fields, enter true to select that field by default.
For example, if you want the Partial checkbox selected by default on the Digitization Request Form, set Default to true for the partial field in the table.
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In the Mandatory column, select this checkbox if the user must enter this field on the form.
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Select Save to save your changes to the mapping table.
Configuring Resource Sharing Request Forms
For resource sharing requests, you can decide which fields to display to the end users, indicate whether a field is required, and also provide a default value for some fields.
To configure the Resource Sharing Request form:
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On the Resource Sharing Request Form page (Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Resource Sharing Request), select Customize to allow the form to be customized. You only need to do this the first time.
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In the Resource sharing request fields section, select the following fields for each of the general request fields:
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In the Book request section, select the following fields for each of the book-related fields:
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In the Article request section, select the following fields for each of the article-related fields:
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In the Delivery fields section, select the following fields for each of the delivery-related fields:
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Mandatory – Select this check box if the user must specify this field on the request form.
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Visible – Select this check box if you want this field to appear on the form.
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Default – Specify a default value for the field if necessary. An empty field indicates that there is no default value for the field. Note that this field is not applicable to all fields.
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Select Save to save your changes to the mapping table.
Book Chapter Requests
Out of the box, book chapter and specific page range requests require users to select the digital fulfillment option to let the library staff know that this is not a request for the entire book from the lending library. If the Specific Chapter or Pages field is enabled and users select the I only need a specific chapter or pages check box, the Digital option is automatically selected in the Format field, and the Chapter and Pages fields are visible to allow users to specify the pages or chapter needed for digitization.
Specify Chapter Information
Adding a Description to a Form
Each of the request forms enable you to add a message to the top of the form, which may include HTML formatting. If you add HTML formatting, you must let the system know by prefixing the text in the code's description with {include_HTML}. For example:
{include_HTML}<p class="descText">This is demo content.</p>
Example Digitization Request Form with a Formatted Description
Currently, the inline style attribute is not supported. We recommended adding CSS to your view's customization package.
To add a message to the top of the form:
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Depending on the type of request form, open its associated code table and customize its description.
Code Table |
Code |
Default Description |
Purchase Request Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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almaPurchaseRequest.formDescription
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Form Description
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Request Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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Request:
almaRequest.formDescription
Booking:
almaBookingRequest.formDescription
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Form Description
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Digitization Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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almaDigitization.formDescription
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Form Description
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Resource Sharing Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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almaResourceSharing.formDescription
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Form Description
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Open the configuration page of the request form that you want to modify:
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Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Hold and Booking Request
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Digitization Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Digitization Request
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Purchase Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Purchase Request
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Resource Sharing Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Resource Sharing Request
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Make the Form Description field visible to users and indicate whether it is mandatory.
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Save the changes to the form.
Adding a Generic Field to a Form
To each request form, you can add a generic checkbox that enables you to gather additional information from the user to pass to the library.
Generic Checkbox (Default Text)
This information is returned in Alma's Comment field using the following format:
<generic checkbox label>: <true or false>
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If Alma's Comment field already contains text, this field's information is appended to it.
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For the Purchase Request Form, this information is returned in Alma's Requester Note field.
To add a generic checkbox to a form:
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Depending on the type of request form, open its associated code table and customize the description of the genericCheckBox code.
Code Table |
Code |
Default Description |
Purchase Request Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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almaPurchaseRequest.genericCheckBox
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Generic Field
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Request Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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almaRequest.genericCheckBox
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Generic Field
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Digitization Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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almaDigitization.genericCheckBox
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Generic Field
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Resource Sharing Labels (Configuration Menu > Discovery > Display Configuration > Labels)
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almaResourceSharing.genericCheckBox
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Generic Field
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Open the configuration page of the request form that you want to modify:
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Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Hold and Booking Request
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Digitization Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Digitization Request
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Purchase Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Purchase Request
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Resource Sharing Request Form – Configuration Menu > Discovery > GetIt Configuration > Resource Sharing Request
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Make the genericCheckBox field visible to users.
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Save the changes to the form.