Alma Roadmap – Completed – 2021 H2 - Ex Libris Knowledge Center

Metadata Management

General Publishing – enhanced related records enrichment

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Alma's General Publishing profiles will be enhanced to take into account related record changes, as well as to include information about the records that are published	Include institution related record information – bibliographic and inventory Include consortia and its members' related record information – bibliographic and inventory Incremental publishing will also be based on updates to the related records or inventory	The institution or consortia catalog will have better exposure

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Alma's General Publishing profiles will be enhanced to take into account related record changes, as well as to include information about the records that are published

Include institution related record information – bibliographic and inventory
Include consortia and its members' related record information – bibliographic and inventory
Incremental publishing will also be based on updates to the related records or inventory

The institution or consortia catalog will have better exposure

Japan - Integration with NACSIS-CAT

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Institutions using Alma in Japan will be able to continue to benefit from NACSIS services.

Staff will be able to perform day to day cataloging workflows in Alma, reducing the need to switch between the two systems.

Catalogers will be able to:

Search and retrieve bibliographic records from the NACSIS catalog
Receive bibliographic record updates from the NACSIS catalog
Contribute records and updates to the NACSIS catalog

Better support for Japanese libraries

Electronic Resource Management

CZ Update Task List Improvements

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Additional details, facets and better navigation between electronic resource management entities and relevant Community Zone updates For more information see Community Zone Update Task List Improvements	The staff user will be able to navigate from the electronic resource editor to the relevant entries in the Community Zone Task list and see the specific electronic collection/portfolio Community Zone changes	Better transparency about Community Zone ongoing updates that might affect the management of electronic resources

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Additional details, facets and better navigation between electronic resource management entities and relevant Community Zone updates

For more information see Community Zone Update Task List Improvements

The staff user will be able to navigate from the electronic resource editor to the relevant entries in the Community Zone Task list and see the specific electronic collection/portfolio Community Zone changes

Better transparency about Community Zone ongoing updates that might affect the management of electronic resources

Limit Electronic Resource Management Actions According to User Role’s Scope

Library
Independence

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Staff users will be permitted to perform electronic resource management actions based on the scope of their roles For more information see Limiting Actions Related to Portfolios and E-collections According to User Role's Scope	Various staff user's actions such as edit, update, delete, activate, deactivate etc., will be enabled/disabled based on the scope definition of the user role (specific library level or institution level (across libraries)).	Better control over staff activity across libraries

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Staff users will be permitted to perform electronic resource management actions based on the scope of their roles

For more information see Limiting Actions Related to Portfolios and E-collections According to User Role's Scope

Various staff user's actions such as edit, update, delete, activate, deactivate etc., will be enabled/disabled based on the scope definition of the user role (specific library level or institution level (across libraries)).

Better control over staff activity across libraries

Digital Resource Management

Controlled Digital Lending - Course Resources

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Manage waitlist for controlled digital lending of course resources For more information see Patron Waitlist Management for Controlled Digital Lending	Patrons register for a digital resource which is limited by the number of concurrent users Notification sent when resource is available via email or SMS	Enhanced patron services for controlled digital lending

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Manage waitlist for controlled digital lending of course resources

For more information see Patron Waitlist Management for Controlled Digital Lending

Patrons register for a digital resource which is limited by the number of concurrent users
Notification sent when resource is available via email or SMS

Enhanced patron services for controlled digital lending

Batch File Download

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Download all files of a set	Support downloading all files of a logical set to a local server	Improved staff access to digital content

Autonomize Copyrights

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Copyrights can be assigned regardless of access rights For more information see Configure Copyright Statements Independently of Access Rights	Copyrights can be assigned to digital resources as an autonomous attribute, removing dependency on access right policies	Simplify copyright assignment

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Copyrights can be assigned regardless of access rights

For more information see Configure Copyright Statements Independently of Access Rights

Copyrights can be assigned to digital resources as an autonomous attribute, removing dependency on access right policies

Simplify copyright assignment

Advanced Digital Delivery

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Strict download control and image watermarks	Fully restrict file download, including browser actions Overlay images with copyright watermarks	Support advanced digital delivery services for copyrighted content

Physical Resource Management

Holdings – Staff Search

Repository search
enhanced UX

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
A new type of search results - for Holdings - will be added to the staff search capabilities	Ability to search holdings based on holding information Ability to search holdings based on title information Ability to search holdings based on item information	Staff users will have direct access to more accurate results for holdings level records

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

A new type of search results - for Holdings - will be added to the staff search capabilities

Ability to search holdings based on holding information
Ability to search holdings based on title information
Ability to search holdings based on item information

Staff users will have direct access to more accurate results for holdings level records

Acquisitions

Interested Users - Enhanced Functionality

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
New options to control the PO line 'Interested Users' functionality allows for more granular control on when a notification will be sent to the interested users once an item arrives or is activated. For more information see Control "Interested User" Options For Automatically Created PO Lines	3 major improvements were introduced as part of this enhanced functionality: Purchase Request editing screen - Staff users are able to decide which notifications will be sent to the users directly from the purchase request screen "Create Order" import profile (EOD) - New mapping allows institutions (creating orders via files received from the vendor) to determine which notifications will be set for PO lines created from the import process (this includes the Patron-Driven Acquisitions import process) A dedicated "Update PO Lines Interested Users" Job enables users to create a set of PO lines and apply the "Interested Users" settings on the members of the set.	Institutions are able to serve their patrons in a better more reliable way when sending notification regarding newly received/activated item availability.

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

New options to control the PO line 'Interested Users' functionality allows for more granular control on when a notification will be sent to the interested users once an item arrives or is activated.

For more information see Control "Interested User" Options For Automatically Created PO Lines

3 major improvements were introduced as part of this enhanced functionality:

Purchase Request editing screen - Staff users are able to decide which notifications will be sent to the users directly from the purchase request screen
"Create Order" import profile (EOD) - New mapping allows institutions (creating orders via files received from the vendor) to determine which notifications will be set for PO lines created from the import process (this includes the Patron-Driven Acquisitions import process)
A dedicated "Update PO Lines Interested Users" Job enables users to create a set of PO lines and apply the "Interested Users" settings on the members of the set.

Institutions are able to serve their patrons in a better more reliable way when sending notification regarding newly received/activated item availability.

SUSHI – Harvesting Period

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
When a user manually requests that a SUSHI account/report be harvested, the user is now given an option to define the exact time period for which they would like to harvest the usage data. For more information see Define a Specific Time Frame While Manually Harvesting R5 SUSHI Data.	The option to select the time frame when using the manual harvest option allows users to: Harvest usage data for greater than 12 months previous for newly configured accounts When troubleshooting data errors, users will be able to harvest a single month at a time	Institutions will no longer have to go to the vendor website in order to retrieve past usage

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

When a user manually requests that a SUSHI account/report be harvested, the user is now given an option to define the exact time period for which they would like to harvest the usage data.

For more information see Define a Specific Time Frame While Manually Harvesting R5 SUSHI Data.

The option to select the time frame when using the manual harvest option allows users to:

Harvest usage data for greater than 12 months previous for newly configured accounts
When troubleshooting data errors, users will be able to harvest a single month at a time

Institutions will no longer have to go to the vendor website in order to retrieve past usage

Fulfillment & Resource Sharing

Support for InnReach APIs – General Availability

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Support of InnReach APIs will be made generally available. For more information, see INN-Reach API Integration	Direct API calls between Alma and InnReach for: Publishing bibliographic and holdings information to InnReach Managing the resource sharing process between Alma and InnReach	Save costs, and benefit from a more robust integration by removing the RSB (formerly DCB) component.

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Support of InnReach APIs will be made generally available.

For more information, see INN-Reach API Integration

Direct API calls between Alma and InnReach for:
- Publishing bibliographic and holdings information to InnReach
- Managing the resource sharing process between Alma and InnReach

Save costs, and benefit from a more robust integration by removing the RSB (formerly DCB) component.

Link Resolver Get It - Define Location Sort Order (NERS)

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
The institution will be able to define the sort order of library locations. For more information, see GetIt Libraries - Customized Display Order	Multiple holdings will be listed in the order that has been defined by the institution when displaying the list of locations in the GetIt tab.	Easily select the relevant resource from a list with multiple locations

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

The institution will be able to define the sort order of library locations.

For more information, see GetIt Libraries - Customized Display Order

Multiple holdings will be listed in the order that has been defined by the institution when displaying the list of locations in the GetIt tab.

Easily select the relevant resource from a list with multiple locations

Japan - Integration with NACSIS ILL

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Institutions using Alma in Japan will be able to continue to benefit from NACSIS ILL services.	Staff users managing resource sharing requests will be able to integrate with the NACSIS ILL broker system	Better support for Japanese libraries.

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Institutions using Alma in Japan will be able to continue to benefit from NACSIS ILL services.

Staff users managing resource sharing requests will be able to integrate with the NACSIS ILL broker system

Better support for Japanese libraries.

Alma Analytics

Local Authorities

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
New subject area – Local Authorities	There will be a new subject area for Local Authorities. The institution will be able to see how many local authority records have been, for example, created, edited, and deleted by vocabulary within specific times frames.	Gain insights into how local authority records are being used.

DARA Recommendations

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
New subject area - DARA recommendations	There will be a new subject area for DARA recommendations. The institution will be able to see the recommendations that were generated, implemented and dismissed by category.	Easily understand how automated recommendations are affecting the workflows of the institution.

Consortia

Assign/Reassign Bibliographic/Authority Records in Network Shared Catalog

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Consortia members will be able to share & manage cataloging activity across the Network by assigning records for cataloging to any user in the Network For more information see Re-assign MMS Records in Network Shared Catalog	Today a cataloger can only assign records for cataloging to catalogers that are in their institution. With this new functionality a cataloger will be able to assign a record for cataloging to any cataloger in the Network	Simplify the ability to share and manage cataloging activity and expertise across the Network.

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Consortia members will be able to share & manage cataloging activity across the Network by assigning records for cataloging to any user in the Network

For more information see Re-assign MMS Records in Network Shared Catalog

Today a cataloger can only assign records for cataloging to catalogers that are in their institution. With this new functionality a cataloger will be able to assign a record for cataloging to any cataloger in the Network

Simplify the ability to share and manage cataloging activity and expertise across the Network.

Inventory Transfer between Institutions
Early Access

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
There will be a workflow that will allow consortia members to acquire physical resources by one member and to transfer these resources for the use of another member. For more information see: Joint Inventory Workflow - Purchasing Items for Another Institution in the Consortia	The purchasing and receiving of a physical resource will be done by the purchasing institution The item will be sent to the host institution The host institution will receive the item and adds/change any necessary item information	Simplify the ability to share physical resources across the Network

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

There will be a workflow that will allow consortia members to acquire physical resources by one member and to transfer these resources for the use of another member.

For more information see: Joint Inventory Workflow - Purchasing Items for Another Institution in the Consortia

The purchasing and receiving of a physical resource will be done by the purchasing institution

The item will be sent to the host institution

The host institution will receive the item and adds/change any necessary item information

Simplify the ability to share physical resources across the Network

Automatically delete Bibliographic records that are not used across the Network

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Automatically delete Bibliographic records that are not used across the Network For more information see: Automatic Deletion of Network Zone Bibliographic Record not Held by Other Institutions	When the last item in the Network is deleted by a consortia member, the shared bibliographic record in the Network Zone will automatically be deleted as it in not held by any consortia members	Added efficiency in managing bibliographic records across the network

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Automatically delete Bibliographic records that are not used across the Network

For more information see:
Automatic Deletion of Network Zone Bibliographic Record not Held by Other Institutions

When the last item in the Network is deleted by a consortia member, the shared bibliographic record in the Network Zone will automatically be deleted as it in not held by any consortia members

Added efficiency in managing bibliographic records across the network

Open Platform & Administration

Language Support - Additional Languages

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Search, Sort & Browse will be enhanced to support the special handling of diacritics for additional languages	Alma's handling of language specific searching and sorting needs will be enhanced to include the following languages: Lithuanian Icelandic In addition, the handling of Swedish and Norwegian special diacritics will be improved	Better support for Alma in specific languages

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Search, Sort & Browse will be enhanced to support the special handling of diacritics for additional languages

Alma's handling of language specific searching and sorting needs will be enhanced to include the following languages:
- Lithuanian
- Icelandic
In addition, the handling of Swedish and Norwegian special diacritics will be improved

Better support for Alma in specific languages

Online Printout Improvements

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Improvements to the online printout queue workflow	A visual indication will show how many pending printouts are waiting in the online printout queue	Improved efficiencies for handling pending printouts in the online printout queue

Email and letter configuration sharing

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
Libraries will be able to contribute, copy and share xsl customizations for letters and printouts	A new option to contribute an xsl customization will be added to the letter and printout list As with other areas of contribution, the xsl customization will be available for other institutions to copy and reuse This will be achieved by adding new options to browse contributed xsl customizations, preview their format, and then copy the relevant customizations to the institution's list of letter and printout definitions	Institutions can take advantage of the work of the community rather than building letter configurations from scratch

What’s New

Highlights

Impact

Libraries will be able to contribute, copy and share xsl customizations for letters and printouts

A new option to contribute an xsl customization will be added to the letter and printout list
As with other areas of contribution, the xsl customization will be available for other institutions to copy and reuse
This will be achieved by adding new options to browse contributed xsl customizations, preview their format, and then copy the relevant customizations to the institution's list of letter and printout definitions

Institutions can take advantage of the work of the community rather than building letter configurations from scratch

User Experience & Accessibility

Safari Certification

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
The user will be able to use the Safari Browser (MDE Excluded)	Ability to use a Safari browser on MacOS Ability to user a Safari browser on iOS, using an iPad in landscape orientation	Users will be able to use a larger variety of major browsers according to their preference

Accessibility - WCAG 2.1 level AA

What’s New	Highlights	Impact
All elements of Alma will comply with WCGA 2.1 level AA	Colors and contrasts standards Keyboard usage instead of mouse Support for screen readers Zoom and responsiveness	Users with disabilities will be able to better interact with Alma

Metadata Management

General Publishing – enhanced related records enrichment

Japan - Integration with NACSIS-CAT

Electronic Resource Management

CZ Update Task List Improvements​

Limit Electronic Resource Management Actions According to User Role’s Scope​

Digital Resource Management

Controlled Digital Lending - Course Resources

Batch File Download

Autonomize Copyrights

Advanced Digital Delivery

Physical Resource Management

Holdings – Staff Search

Acquisitions

Interested Users - Enhanced Functionality

SUSHI – Harvesting Period

Fulfillment & Resource Sharing

Support for InnReach APIs – General Availability

Link Resolver Get It - Define Location Sort Order (NERS)

Japan - Integration with NACSIS ILL

Alma Analytics

Local Authorities

DARA Recommendations

Consortia

Assign/Reassign Bibliographic/Authority Records in Network Shared Catalog​

Inventory Transfer between Institutions​ Early Access

Automatically delete Bibliographic records that are not used across the Network

Open Platform & Administration

Language Support - Additional Languages

Online Printout Improvements

Email and letter configuration sharing

User Experience & Accessibility

Safari Certification

Accessibility - WCAG 2.1 level AA

CZ Update Task List Improvements

Limit Electronic Resource Management Actions According to User Role’s Scope

Assign/Reassign Bibliographic/Authority Records in Network Shared Catalog

Inventory Transfer between Institutions
Early Access