Alma May 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.Make the Most of This Release
| Action Items |
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| Reply-to in Vendor Communications – Does your institution use a specific dedicated email address for communicating with vendors? if so, you will be pleased to know that it is now possible to configure a library level reply-to address for purchase orders and vendor communications. This email address is used as the From address when sending a PO line. |
| Moving Portfolios – This new feature facilitates collection management, enabling you to ensure that each of your collections contains the correct portfolios. |
| Normalization for Z39.50 and SRU Records – Are you providing an SRU or a Z39.50 service for other systems or integrations? Now you can use Alma’s normalization routines to refine and format the record output in order to better serve external systems and your own record policies. |
| Community Zone Authority Record Copy Cataloging – For institutions that maintain local authorities, this new capability improves the workflow for copy cataloging authorities and facilitates the creation of records when starting with a Community Zone search. |
| MD Import Creation of Holdings Without Items – This new feature provides better support for the creation of holdings using the MD import process. It is especially useful for repository metadata imports where item creation is not required. |
| Holdings Configuration in the Get It Tab – The holdings information that is displayed in the Primo Get It tab is now fully configurable. You can determine which holdings fields are displayed, the order in which they are displayed, and how they are labeled. You can even make use of separate CSS customizations for each field, to further fine-tune the fields' display in the Get It tab. |
| Local Parameter Fields in Reports – You can now report not only on bibliographic local fields but also on holdings record local fields—10 local bibliographic fields and 10 local holdings record fields. In addition to the many other Alma Analytics fields, these new fields enable you to gain in-depth insight into your catalog. |
| Reports for Bibliographic Records with No Inventory and Holdings Records with No Items – This new feature enables you to retrieve and display bibliographic records with no inventory and holdings records with no items in Alma Analytics reports. This is possible in both the Titles and Physical Items subject areas. |
| Select List Size – This feature enables you to control the amount of information to view per page on certain Alma pages. This flexibility will be extended to additional pages in future releases. |
| Search Main Menu Navigation Bar – Using this new search functionality, you can quickly and easily find any action you're looking for in the main Alma menu. |
What's New
The following sections present the new and changed features in this release of Alma.
Acquisitions
- Trial Enhancements – The Alma Trials workflow was enhanced with a number of new features, such as a new link to the survey form, an option for multi-choice and single-choice multiple choice questions, an option to load participants from a set, and more.
- Purchase Request Enhancements – The Alma Purchase Request workflow was enhanced with a number of new features, such as the task list showing only purchase requests that require your attention, new purchase request roles, the ability for patrons to cancel their own requests in Primo, and more.
- Reply-to in Vendor Communications – It is now possible to configure a reply-to address for purchase orders and vendor communications.
- Additional Acquisitions Enhancements
Resource Management
NERS Enhancement (ID #3792) and 
Idea Exchange: Moving Portfolios – Local portfolios and portfolios activated from the Community Zone can be moved from their current electronic collection to another electronic collection one by one or using a set of portfolios.- Idea Exchange: Normalization for Z39.50 and SRU Records – Bibliographic records in Alma that are retrieved using Z39.50 or SRU can be normalized prior to being presented via these protocols.
- Idea Exchange: Physical Item Condition Field – The physical condition of an item can now be specified using the Alma Physical Item Editor.
- CNMARC Record Format Enhancements – This includes several enhancements for working with CNMARC records such as the 193 fixed length field, new resource types, and new supported classification headings.
- ISO 20775 Holdings SRU Schema – Alma's support of ISO 20775 holdings SRU schema continues to be expanded with the ability to calculate the availability of electronic and digital resources and filter by campus with the SRU query.
- Fixed Fields Supported in Extension Packs – In addition to data fields, extension packs can now include fixed fields.
- Community Zone Authority Record Copy Cataloging – New options to specify vocabulary code and originating system are available when you use one of the copy options Copy or Copy to network (in a Network Zone) for an authority record from the Record View page.
- Regional Change: Preserving Local Subfields When Linking to Authority Records by ID – In the BARE environment, when preferred-term correction occurs from utilizing F3 in the MD Editor or when executing the Authorities - Preferred Term Correction job, local subfields will continue to be maintained when the authority controlled field is updated by linking to an authority record and preferred-term correction occurs.
- Shortcut Keys for Alternate Graphic Representations – Shortcut keys are now available for alternate graphic representation options in the MD Editor.
- Multilingual Handling of Multiple Preferred Terms with the Same Language – When you are doing preferred-term correction from the MD Editor using F3 in an authority controlled field of a bibliographic record and you select a non-preferred term, the system checks for a preferred term to which to link. If it finds multiple preferred terms with the same language, the system prompts you to select which preferred term to use.
- General Publishing Profile Enhancements – This includes several enhancements for working with general publishing profiles such as a dynamic file naming convention for the FTP protocol option, configurable Created by and Updated by fields, a new Suppress from publishing field/subfield for holdings, and so forth.
- General Electronic Service Enhanced for Newspaper Collections – The general electronic service's linking capability was enhanced with availability rules for displaying newspaper electronic collections (with no portfolios) through the Alma link resolver.
- Specific Items Display for Related Records – For related records that are cataloged using the 773 field with specific item information in $g, the system now displays in repository search results only the specific items identified.
- Additional Resource Management Enhancements
Digital Resource Management
- Migrate Remote Representations to Alma – You can now migrate representations from a remote digital management system to Alma using the new Remote Representation Migration job.
- HANDLE Persistent Identifier Generation – HANDLE persistent identifiers can be generated in Alma for deposited content.
- Login Request Added to Alma Viewer and Alma Link Resolver Services Page – The ability to log in to Alma was added to the Alma Viewer and the Alma Link Resolver Services page.
- Relink Digital Representations – Digital representations can be re-linked to a different bibliographic record.
- Add Thumbnail from Representation Editor – Thumbnails can be added to digital files directly from the Digital Representation Resource Editor.
- Additional Digital Resource Management Enhancements
Fulfillment
- NERS Enhancement (Request ID #4629) and
Idea Exchange: New Re-loan Limit – You can now configure a re-loan limit, preventing patrons from re-loaning items that they have just returned. - Holdings Configuration in the Get It Tab – Alma now offers expanded holdings information and customization options in the Primo Get It tab, such as enabling you to configure which of the holdings records' fields and subfields appear.
- Additional Fulfillment Enhancements
Resource Sharing
- NERS Enhancement (Request ID #3672): Populate Additional Information for Articles from the DOI or PMID Fields – When a resource sharing request form for an article is submitted with the PMID or DOI included, additional metadata will now automatically augment the request.
- Additional Resource Sharing Enhancements
Course Reserves
- Course Reserves Enhancements – Several enhancements were made to the Course Reserves area for the May release.
Analytics
- Create a Set in Alma from an Alma Analytics Report – You can now create an itemized set directly from an Analytics report.
- Idea Exchange: Reports for Bibliographic Records with No Inventory and Holdings Records with No Items – Changes were made to the Titles and Physical Items subject areas to allow you to create Analytics reports for bibliographic records that do not have inventory and holdings records that do not have item records.
- Additional Analytics Enhancements
Administration and Infrastructure
- Search Main Menu Navigation Bar – You can now search all options in the Main Menu Navigation Bar in the persistent menu.
- Idea Exchange: Select List Size – On certain pages, you can now select the list size displayed in Alma: 20, 50, or 100. This will be extended to additional lists in future releases.
- Limiting Access to User Information – You can limit operators with certain user roles from accessing other users' information by blocking the operators' ability to search for patron information.
- Validating the ILS Migration Form – You can validate whether your migration form is missing or contains incomplete information within Alma.
- Additional Administration and Infrastructure Enhancements
Alma-Summon Integration
The following improvements were made to Alma-Summon:
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When no URL is defined for the logo, the system now redirects users to the view's logout URL.
APIs
- The following APIs were added for handling reminders: add, edit, delete, retrieval of a list of reminders for a specific bibliographic record, and retrieval of reminder details. For detailed information on these APIs, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/apis/bibs.
- PUT and POST APIs were added for standalone portfolios. For detailed information, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com...pis/electronic.
- The Request options APIs now include the following:
- For general electronic services: service code, service name, service public name, service ordering information, URL to the service, whether the service is available for physical and/or electronic resources
- The partner defined as a service with the following information: partner code, partner name, URL (the fully constructed URL)
- The GET BIB API can now include the number of requests on the bibliographic record.
Content Operations
Known Issues
There are no known issues for the May release.
Next Release Sneak Preview
View a list of the features that are planned for the June 2018 release.