Alma February 2017 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
Library Scopes for Ledger Manager and Fund Manager – This new capability will allow institutions to distribute the management of ledgers and funds to the library level. This extends and complements the already existing library-level use of funds for ordering and invoicing.
Unlink Records from the Network Zone – To better support the maintenance and cleanup process in your institutional catalog, you can now unlink records from the Network Zone.
77X/78X Fields Available as Local Fields – If you work with a Network Zone, you often need to record relations between records that are local to your institution. As of this release, you will be able to use the 77x/78x fields as local extensions.
ProQuest KnowledgeBase Electronic Collections Added to the Community Zone – Before locally creating an electronic collection for databases, search the Community Zone for it. The Alma Community Zone is now enriched with electronic collections representing databases, including descriptive information and access to native interfaces.

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

Library Scopes for Ledger Manager and Fund Manager – Ledger Manager and Fund Manager now have optional library scopes. Changes were made to ledger and fund workflows to utilize this new feature.
Importing COUNTER Data to Alma: Release Information and Enhancements – Information regarding the COUNTER data general release was updated. In addition, various improvements were made to the COUNTER data feature in Alma for the select customers already using this feature.
Additional Acquisitions Enhancements

GND Authority Profile – A new GND authority profile is now available.
Accession Number Functionality Extended – The accession number sequencing functionality was extended to include institution-level sequencing for holdings records.
Configurable Statistics Notes for Physical Items – Statistics notes in the Physical Item Editor are now configurable.
An Idea Exchange Enhancement: Batch Deletion of Holdings Records – A new batch job is now available for deleting holdings records with no items.
Watch the Batch Deletion of Holdings Records video.
Additional Resource Management Enhancements

Assigning a Digital Title to a Collection from the MD Editor – You can now assign a title to a collection from the MD Editor.
Deposit Using SWORD – The Deposit functionality was enhanced with the ability to deposit using SWORD.
Additional Digital Resource Management Enhancements

Adding a Note on Query to Patron – A note field was added to the Query to Patron letter.
Notifying a Broker About a Recall Request – Alma now sends an NCIP RecallItem message to notify a broker that an item is requested for recall.
Map Levels of Service for BLDSS – It is now possible to assign a requested level of service for requests sent to the British Library using the BLDSS API. The level of service is mapped to the Service/Speed element of the Create Order BLDSS message.
Additional Resource Sharing Enhancements

An Idea Exchange Enhancement: Unlink Records from the Network Zone – A new batch job is available for unlinking records from the Network Zone.
Watch the Unlink Records from the Network Zone video.
77X/78X Fields Available as Local Fields – When cataloging records in the MD Editor, the 77X and 78X fields can now be added as local fields.

New Titles Subject Area – The new Titles subject area was added to Alma Analytics.
Holding Lifecycle Field Added to Holdings Details – The Holding Lifecycle field was added to the Holdings Details dimension of the Physical Items subject area.
Additional Analytics Enhancements

Managing Sets Unified on One Page – The Manage Sets pages previously found under Acquisitions, Resource Management, and User Management were unified into one page.
Twitter Added as a Social Login Provider – An option to use Twitter as a new social authentication system was added to the social authentication integration profile.
Additional Administration and Infrastructure Enhancements

Alma is now able to send a webhook (for general information on webhooks in Alma, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/integrations/webhooks) when the following letters are sent: FulCancelRequestLetter, FulUserBorrowingActivityLetter, FulItemChangeDueDateLetter, FulPlaceOnHoldShelfLetter. Webhooks can be activated in the Letter Activity code table (Administration > General Configuration > Configuration Menu > General Configuration > Letter Activity). For detailed information on these webhooks, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com...ifications.xsd.
An API was added to retrieve electronic collections. For more information, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com...pis/electronic.
A new filter, set_type, was added to the Retrieve Sets API for both itemized and logical sets, enabling you to retrieve the subset of set data that you want.
The Retrieve Course API now includes the following new fields:
- created_by
- created_date
- last_modified_by
- last_modified_date

ProQuest KnowledgeBase Electronic Collections Added to the Community Zone – As part of our efforts to incorporate the ProQuest KnowledgeBase in the Alma Community Zone, we have begun including approximately 9,000 ProQuest KnowledgeBase electronic collections in the Community Zone.
Library of Congress Authorities Community Zone Updates
New Electronic Collections Added to the Alma CKB
No new external search resources were added for the February release.

The following known issues were identified for the February release:

The counts for the Number of Electronic Collections (All, Active, and Deleted) Title measures in the new Titles subject area are currently not accurate. This issue will be fixed for the March release.

View a list of the features that are planned for the next Alma release.