Alma July 2018 Release Notes
This Alma release provides numerous new features and enhancements. Some of these enhancements are a result of Idea Exchange or NERS initiatives.
Download a PDF of the Release Notes – Note that the PDF includes the online help pages that describe the core functionality of the new features.Check it out! The Alma release notes are now available in a great new look and feel that provides enhanced search and filter options.
Make the Most of This Release
| Action Items |
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| Non-Preferred Terms in Repository Search – Would you like to search and find titles according to non-preferred authorities as well as preferred authorities? You can now do so using this new feature. |
| Authority Control Task List Filters and Facets – This great new feature provides additional facets and filters for the Authority Control Task List, enabling you to become more efficient in your workflow by narrowing down the list to display only the updates you need to handle. |
| New Call Number Type – The new No information provided call number type enables you to efficiently manage holdings and items call numbers of an unknown type using the Browse Shelf Listing. |
| Full Text Extraction Supported for Digital Files – By running a job in Alma to extract the full text from an image, you can now provide users with an enhanced delivery experience whereby they can search the text of images using the recently introduced Internet Archive Book Reader. |
| Short Loan Reminders – If you want patrons to receive reminders for short hourly loans, you can now set this up by configuring the new parameters that control how many minutes before and after the due time the courtesy and overdue notice for short loans is sent. |
| New Field in E-Inventory Subject Area – Using the new No. of Electronic Collections (Deleted + In Repository) field in the Electronic Collection dimension of the E-Inventory subject area, you can now build a report that includes the total number of electronic collections in the repository. |
What's New
The following sections present the new and changed features in this release of Alma. For information on Primo VE new release features, see the Primo VE July 2018 Release Notes.
Acquisitions
- Enhancement for Matching New Purchase Requests – You can now match purchase requests to bibliographic records using the matching procedures defined in an import profile instead of using the default ISBN/ISSN match method.
Watch the Configure a Preferred Match Method for Purchase Requests video (1:41 min.).
Idea Exchange: Relink a Purchase Request to Another Bibliographic Record – You can now relink a purchase request to a different bibliographic record.
Watch the Relink a Purchase Request to Another Bibliographic video (1:41 min.).- Add PO Line Information to Vendor Communications – PO line information was added to the Communications tab of the vendor.
- Trial Enhancements – Multiple enhancements were made to trials, including an option for a question to be mandatory, an option for a question to have a comments field, and exporting the trial analysis.
- Add Contact Information Field to a SUSHI Account – The SUSHI Account Details page now includes a Contact Information field. Typically, this will be a URL or email account of the vendor.
- Additional Acquisitions Enhancements
Resource Management
- Idea Exchange: Authority Control Task List Filters and Facets – A new filter and new facets were added to the Review and All tabs on the Authority Control Task List page.
- Idea Exchange: Non-Preferred Terms in Repository Search – Repository searches for Keywords, Creator, Uniform Title, Names, Subject, and Subject (LC) are now able to include matches to non-preferred terms in any associated authority records.
- Idea Exchange: Resource Type Modifications for MARC 21 – The MARC 21 resource type options were updated with many changes to include ceased print and electronic serial publications, plus digital.
- Check for Duplicate Authority Headings – When you save an authority record that you are editing, the system now checks to see if there is an identical headings record in the repository.
- Korean Author Number Generation – In addition to the previous method for generating Korean author numbers, Alma now provides the Lee Jai Chul method.
- Electronic Material Type – In the Electronic Portfolio Editor, a new Electronic material type parameter was created to eliminate some of the portfolio material type inconsistencies that occurred from using the same material type stored with the bibliographic record.
- New Call Number Type – The option is now available to select No information provided for the call number type in Browse Shelf Listings.
- Additional Resource Management Enhancements
Digital Resource Management
- Find Digital Titles with Related Access Rights – Access Right policies now contain a link to all digital titles with the specified access right.
- Full Text Extraction Supported for Digital Files – This feature enables institutions to extract a full text document in plain format from a digital file. The full text can then be searched in the image using the recently introduced Internet Archive Book Reader.
- Display Digital File from MD Editor – The MD editor includes an option of viewing the digital file in a separate tab, facilitating the editing process.
- Add Deposit Waiver to the Bibliographic Record – You can now configure a deposit import profile to save a copy of the waiver agreed to by the patron when submitting material to the bibliographic record.
- Translation Support for Deposit Terms of Use and Public Instructions – Alma now supports terms of use and public instructions for patron deposits in multiple languages.
- Additional Digital Resource Management Enhancements
Fulfillment
- Idea Exchange,
NERS Enhancement (ID #3856): Short Loan Reminders – Alma can now send notifications and block patrons for short term loans. - Additional Fulfillment Enhancements
Resource Sharing
- NERS Enhancement (ID #4856): Display Item Requestability and Loan Availability in the Primo Get It Tab – A real time background check is performed when a patron opens a request form on the Primo Get It tab from a Network Zone search to determine whether any member institution has a requestable copy of the resource.
- Additional Resource Sharing Enhancements
Course Reserves
- Course Reserves Enhancements – Several enhancements were made to the Course Reserves area for the July release.
Collaborative Networks
- Other Details Added to the Network Tab – Network tab search results now include an Other Details tab for each search result.
- Retrieve Users from Fulfillment Networks Based on Defined Searchable Identifiers – The defined user identifiers now restrict the users that are retrieved from other institutions by your library.
- Additional Collaborative Network Enhancements
Analytics
- Analytics Enhancements – Several enhancements were made to Analytics for the July release.
Administration and Infrastructure
- Administration and Infrastructure Enhancements – Several enhancements were made to Administration and Infrastructure for the July release.
Alma-Summon Integration
The following improvements were made to Alma-Summon:
- The Publish Electronic Records to Summon job for Summon over Alma libraries (Resources > Publishing > Publishing Profiles), which was previously scheduled to run twice a week for each Alma global instance, was changed to once daily at 20:00 local time.
APIs
- The Fines and Fees Report, which reports fees that were managed at a circulation desk within a specified period of time (and can be run manually from the Fulfillment > Advanced Tools menu), can now be run and retrieved using an API.
- <date_of_publication> was added to the output of the Get Bib, Get Holdings and Get Item APIs.
Content Operations
Known Issues
The following known issue was detected for the July release:
- Digital resource sharing requests cannot be sent properly in a fulfillment network.
This issue is currently being handled by the Ex Libris Alma development team and will hopefully be resolved in the very near future.
Next Release Sneak Preview
View a list of the features that are planned for the August 2018 release.