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Alma February 2018 Release Notes

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This Alma release provides numerous new features and enhancements. Some of these enhancements are a result of Idea Exchange or NERS initiatives.
PDF.png 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
Change PO Line Attributes After Ordering (Part I) – A new job, Update PO Lines Limited Attributes, enables staff users to change the purchase type of an order that is not closed or canceled to another purchase type of the same inventory type and continuity. For example, now an entire set of PO lines can be changed from Database One Time to Electronic Book One Time or from Print Book One Time to Musical Score One Time. This job will be further enhanced with additional options in future releases.
New Controlled Vocabulary (CV) Option in License Term Types – It is now possible to add a list of controlled vocabulary for customized license terms. This makes the process of adding terms more efficient and ensures the uniqueness of the data. All terms are entered by staff in a unique manner by choosing from the predefined list.
Peer Review and Open Access – You are now able to see Peer Reviewed and Open Access visual indications in various areas of Alma, such as the search results, resource editors, and the list of items. You are also able to use the indication as a parameter in the advanced search, improving your search refinement capabilities.
Dublin Core Forms for Patron Deposits – Institutions can now customize their end-user deposit forms for Dublin Core records. The selection of metadata, the order in which it is displayed, and the definition of mandatory fields are configurable, allowing you to create designated deposit forms per collection.
Print a Receive Slip Automatically for Non-Returnable Physical Items – If the resource sharing service you offer to your patrons includes receiving non-returnable items for fulfilling their requests, you now have an option to print a slip for these resources when they are received at the borrowing library. The slips can be attached to the received resources.
Configure UI Width and Font Size – As a user, you are now able to switch between different view modes. You can either view more information with a smaller font, or less information with a larger font.

What's New

The following sections present the new and changed features in this release of Alma.

New Alma User Interface

As of this release, users are no longer be able to use the classic UI. For more information on Alma's new user interface, see What's New in Alma's New User Interface and The Alma User Interface.

Acquisitions

Resource Management

Digital Resource Management

Fulfillment

  • Fulfillment Enhancements – Several enhancements were made to the Fulfillment functional area for the February release.

Resource Sharing

Course Reserves

Collaborative Networks

Analytics

Administration and Infrastructure

In April, Ex Libris will start using a new SSL certificate vendor, Digicert, which will provide your connection to Alma with increased security and stability. This change should cause no downtime or service degradation. To ensure that the migration goes smoothly, please confirm that all systems that connect to Alma have the Intermediate and root certificate installed, as detailed here.

APIs

Accessibility

  • Ex Libris is committed to providing an experience that is fully accessible to everyone. We make every effort to ensure that all pages comply with web accessibility guidelines. In the February release, we improved many aspects of accessibility, and during the month of February, we will release an updated Accessibility Conformance Report (valid for VPAT® Version 2.0). This report will cover the degree of conformance for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 and Section 508 as published in 2017. For information on accessibility and Alma, see this FAQ page.
  • Alma-Summon (patron-facing, services page) accessibility was improved. More than 40 issues were resolved, including:
    • removing all the unnecessary alt text and unsupported ARIA label attributes that are not announced by the screen reader
    • verifying that the correct semantics are used on all pages by ensuring that a hierarchical heading structure is used and that there is consistent navigation throughout the site using the “skip to” links
    • placing the focus on the last interactive element when opening and closing objects

Known Issues

There are no known issues for the February release.

Next Release Sneak Preview

View a list of the features that are planned for the March 2018 release.
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