Consortial Analytics
Alma includes a collection of out-of-the-box (OTB) collection development reports that support comparison of book holdings across institutions within the same consortium. These reports are part of an Analytics environment separate from ordinary Library Analytics, designed to allow title-level comparison between institutions for collection management and shared print purposes.
Similar to the Title Subject Area in Library Analytics, the data is updated once per month, and therefore, there might be discrepancies between the data in Alma and what can be seen in the reports.
Consortial Analytics has a few distinct features that separate it from the Library Analytics environment:
- Consortial Analytics reports are viewed within the Alma interface
- Consortial Analytics consumer role is available only for one user per institution
- Consortial Analytics is limited to the out-of-the-box reports created by Clarivate, which cannot be modified. The reports are designed to be informative and customized to the institution's needs, using the built-in features.
Institutions, not just the Central Office, are able to compare their own collections with those of other consortium members. Currently, four out-of-the-box collection development reports, available within the Alma interface, allow institutions to compare their holdings with other consortium members, supporting deselection, retention, and expansion strategies. These new features give consortia powerful tools to collaborate on collection management, identify overlaps and gaps, and strengthen shared strategies.
These reports provide valuable insights into collection composition across consortium institutions, enabling users to:
- Compare book holdings across selected consortium members.
- Identify gaps, overlaps, and opportunities for coordinated collection development.
- Support strategic decisions around deselection, retention, and expansion of collections.
- Customize report scope using institution selection, classification filters, and publication year ranges.
- Enhance collaboration and alignment in collection strategies within the consortium.
This new functionality promotes more informed, efficient, and cooperative collection management among member institutions and all within the Alma interface.
Suppressed bibliographic records and suppressed holdings are not included in the analysis.
Enabling Consortial Analytics
Configuration by the Network
By default, the Consortial Analytics environment is hidden until it is enabled by the Network Office through the Network Zone configurations. To allow members to assign a Consortial Analytics role—granting access to consortial reports—they must first request that the Network Zone activate this functionality. The Network Zone administrator can configure consortial analytics participants by following the steps below:
- Open the Configuration menu.
- Select the Network Zone
- Select Consortial Analytics Participants.
- The Participants in Consortial Analytics page opens.
On the Participants in Consortial Analytics page, all member institutions in the network are listed. Administrators can activate or deactivate institutions for participation in consortial analytics.
The following table contains all available information about the members:
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Member Code | String | Unique code for each institution |
| Member Name | String | Full name of the institution |
| Active | Boolean | Indicates if the member is active (editable toggle) |
| Updated By | String | Username of the last editor |
| Last Updated | DateTime | Timestamp of the last update |
- Only the Active toggle is editable.
- Updated By and Last Updated are maintained automatically by the system.
The following actions are available on the Consortial Analytics Participants page:
- Bulk Actions:
- Select All / Deselect All
- Activate Selected / Deactivate Selected
- Row Actions:
- Toggle Active status for individual institutions
- Page Actions:
- Save - Commits all changes made to participant statuses
- Cancel - Discards all unsaved changes and exits the interface
Data for institutions that have not been activated by the network will not be included in the OTB reports.
Role Assignment by the Member Institution: Consortial Consumer Role
Display of Consortial Analytics is dependent on the Consortial Analytics Consumer role which is only offered to the institutions activated by the Network Zone in the Network Zone configuration.
Once the institutions are activated in the participants' table of the Network configuration, the Institutions may assign the Consortial Analytics Consumer role.
For more information, see Adding Roles Individually.
Only one user for each institution can be assigned the role Consortial Analytics Consumer.
The Consortial Analytics Role is available to the Network Zone without the need for further configuration. However, note that the currently available reports mostly focus (besides the Expansion report) on the institution's physical holdings and a comparison of these holdings with other members in the Network Zone. In most cases, these reports are not of much use to the Network zone, and if the Network is interested in Network analysis of all members, they can run the dedicated report Physical Books Titles Network View in the Network folder available in the Alma Analytics catalog.
Defining the Report Scope
There are several parameters available when defining the Report Scope.
Select Network Members
There are two options available for choosing the institutions for comparison:
- Select all network members- automatically chooses all consortial analytics network members selected by the Network office.
- Select members from my network- allows choosing members from an institution in your network zone. At least one member must be chosen.
Select Classifications
In this parameter, the user must define the Classification Type and Classifications for Analysis
There are two options for Classification Type when defining the Report Scope:
- LC Classification
- Dewey Classification
For Classifications for Analysis, the user must enter the values based on the chosen Classification Type.
Define Publication Years
In this parameter, the user must define the range for Earliest Publication Year. There are From and To fields available. The characters must be numeric.
Earliest Publication Year is a normalized version of the publication date to the earliest possible value when the exact date is not known. It is taken from MARC21 008 pos. 07-10 or UNIMARC 100.Date1. This field is normalized with all non-numeric characters converted to 0s.
Display Only Marked for Retention
This parameter is only available for the Books Deselection Analysis report. There is a Display only marked for retention in reference instititutions toggle which can be activated.
Marked for Retention refers to an indication on the item that prevents it from being deleted.
Running a Report
After defining the report scope, select Save Scope and then Run Analysis to run the report. After running the report, the Data Visualization page appears with the results of the analysis.
After running the report, a short delay may occur before the report appears.
The following filters are available at the top of the Data Visualization page for narrowing down your search results:
- Network Member
- LC Classification
- Dewey Classification
- Publisher
- Earliest Publication Date
- My Number of Items
- My Number of Loans Past Years (in house + not in house)
- My Number of Loans Past Years (not in house)
- My Number of Loans Past 5 Years (in house + not in house)
- My Number of Loans Past 5 Years (not in house)
- Number of Institutions
After making changes in the filters section, you must select Apply to apply the changes.
Exporting Consortial Data
To export the list as a file, right-click and select Export.
For more information on how to create a set from a file, see Creating Itemized Sets on the Manage Sets Page.
Available Consortial Analytics Reports
There are four available reports for the Consortia Members in the Consortial Analytics menu (Analytics > Consortial Analytics).
Book Deselection Analysis
This report identifies physical items within your institution for deselection. It targets books that are not committed to retention, are not part of an active course, have not been used in the past five years, and are held in at least one of your reference institutions. The included records are bibliographic records with the Resource Type set to Book - Physical, and each has at least one physical item with an active status. The matching process utilizes an algorithm that takes into account bibliographic metadata from your records in Alma. Records lacking sufficient metadata are excluded from this analysis. You can refine the list according to your strategy using additional filters.
Book Retention Analysis
This report identifies unique books within your institution that are potential candidates for retention. It includes single-copy books that are not committed to retention and are not held in any of your selected reference institutions. The records included are bibliographic records with the Resource Type set to Book - Physical, and each has one and only one physical item with an active status. The matching process utilizes an algorithm that takes into account bibliographic metadata from your records in Alma. Records lacking sufficient metadata are excluded from this analysis. You can refine the list according to your strategy using additional filters.
Book Expansion Analysis
This dashboard showcases books, both print and electronic, that are held by your reference institutions but are not available in your institution. The records included are bibliographic records with Material Type = Book. The matching process is based on the Title and Author combined and normalized. You can refine the list according to your strategy using additional filters.
The filter Number of Institutions counts all institutions sharing the same title, while the table shows only those institutions that match all your selected filter criteria (such as classifications). As a result, you may see fewer institutions displayed in the table than indicated by your institution count filter.
Book Collaborative Retention Analysis
This report identifies books with a single print copy in your institution that are not committed to retention. These books also appear in other reference institutions but are similarly not marked for retention, offering an opportunity for collaboration to decide which institution retains the book. The records included are bibliographic records with the Resource Type set to Book - Physical, and each has one and only one physical item with an active status. The matching process utilizes an algorithm that takes into account bibliographic metadata from your records in Alma. Records lacking sufficient metadata are excluded from this analysis.