Fulfillment and Resource Sharing

Option to use the statistical categories assigned to patrons as input to various fulfillment-related rules.

It will be possible to use the statistical categories of patrons as input to:

• Fulfillment-unit rules

• Loan-limit rules

• Automatic loan-renewal rules

Increased flexibility of fulfillment configuration, when both statistical categories and user groups can be used as rule criteria 

Option to make the core user-information accessible only to designated library operators

It will be possible restrict searching for user information to specific libraries. Users of a library will be retrieved in searches only for staff operators of that library.

Increased privacy by having the ability to separate the libraries' patron list sfrom one another

Institutions that are using the Library Independence configuration will be able to use patrons' statistical categories at the library level.

• Where Library Independence is implemented, user statistical categories will also be managed at the library level.

• Library-level management will be possible from the UI, APIs and SIS.

Increased privacy by having the ability to manage statistical categories separately at the library level

Improvements in using a proxy patron account in Manage Patron Services

It will possible to easily identify a proxy patron at the circulation desk, and choose the sponsor on whose behalf an item is checked out. 

Improved efficiency of proxy-patron management at the circulation desk

New integration points with RapidILL

It will be possible to configure lending off-times in Alma and have them automatically registered as off-times in RapidILL, eliminating the need for configuring both separately. 

Fully seamless workflow and configuration with RapidILL

A new Patron Services screen

• UX group members will have initial access to elements of the new Patron Services screen.
• The screen will be redesigned to leverage new layout capabilities and provide a fresh and improved user experience.

The new Patron Services screen enables quicker and more effective work at the circulation desk, using a cleaner and better personalized Patron Services screen.

UX group members will be able to provide initial feedback in order to enhance and fine tune the screen features before general availability.

A new Patron Services screen

The screen will be redesigned to leverage new layout capabilities and provide a fresh and improved user experience.

Quicker and more effective work at the circulation desk, using a cleaner and improved personalized Patron Services screen.

Ability to submit resource-sharing requests from third party discovery interfaces

Patrons will be able to use pre-populated forms, based on search results from a third- party discovery source, for submitting resource-sharing requests.

Patrons will be able to create resource-sharing requests from many different discovery sources.

Automatic handling of patrons' responses to resource-sharing request related queries.

Patrons will be able to answer queries sent to them by resource-sharing staff directly in Alma.

Faster feedback from patrons on library queries and faster library processing of the requests

Option to set expiration dates for proxy users

When creating a proxy patron, it will be possible to set a date after which the proxy user will no longer be able to receive fulfillment services on behalf of the sponsor.

No need to manually manage the expiry of proxy users that are set up on a yearly basis

Libraries will be able to automatically launch a purchase process based on a resource-sharing request.

Rules will enable the launching of a purchase request based on a resource-sharing request’s attributes, such as:​

• A copyright-related block ​

• Publication date​

• Price 

Library staff will enjoy more efficiency in managing purchasing processes based on patron requests and library defined criteria.

The system will maintain an ongoing link between the role profile and the user record.

Any further changes to templates will automatically affect the roles of the linked user.

Easier and more efficient update of role templates.