Alma August 2016 Release Notes
The Alma August release provides numerous new features and enhancements. Some of these enhancements are a result of the NERS or Idea Exchange 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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| Export URL Options Expanded – Are you using Export URL functionality accessible from Resource Management configuration? If so, note that this functionality is now replaced by the new and improved Export URL job, which allows exporting URLs from all entity types, including URLs that are created dynamically by the Alma Link Resolver. We recommend that you use the new Export URL job when working with third-party link checkers, and when configuring your proxy server. Note that as of the November release, the previous Resource Management configuration Export URL functionality will be deprecated. |
| BCC Selected Notifications – If you want copies of your library notices to be sent to another email address—for example, for archiving purposes or for use by another application—you can now easily do so for any notification. |
| Enhanced CampusM Integration – Do you use or plan to use CampusM as your library mobile application? If so, you can now enjoy a new integration option that pushes Alma-generated patron notifications to your CampusM university application so that your patrons can get their notifications directly in their university apps. |
| Loan Anonymization Rules – Like many other libraries that utilize loan anonymization, you may be interested in setting up exceptions to the anonymization process. With this new development, you can easily set up your exceptions and data retention rules. |
| Customizing Primo Resource Sharing Forms – Do you want to allow patrons to directly submit resource sharing requests from Primo without staff mediation? If so, you probably want better control over the look and feel of the request form. With this new development, you have a simple configuration tool that enables you to control the request form. |
| Available For Fields Added to E-Inventory Subject Area – By reporting with the new Available For Group settings attributes in the E-Inventory subject area, you can get a more accurate and in-depth analysis of the electronic inventory. Information regarding the availability of the resources across libraries and campuses, coupled with the already existing wide variety of fields, can provide key decision makers with all the information they require. |
What's New?
The following sections present the new and changed features in this release of Alma.
Acquisitions
- Analytics Issues Report for Continuous Items - You can now view an Analytics report on missing items directly from the Received Items List page when managing the items of a continuous PO line.
- Additional Acquisitions Enhancements
Resource Management
- Brief Record Levels - Final Phase of the Implementation - The final phase of the three-phase implementation for brief record levels is now complete.
- Changing the Placement of an Authority Record - While working in draft mode with an authority record, you can change the placement of the record to the Community Zone, Network Zone, or Institution Zone. Placement of authority records is limited to vocabularies to which contributions are possible. Currently, these include the GND and BARE vocabularies.
- Generation of Author Numbers - Alma cataloging now generates the author number in MARC 21 bibliographic records based on a new cutter file.
- Normalization Process Enhancement for the CNMARC Bibliographic Profile - Alma cataloging nw has a new normalization process for the CNMARC bibliographic profile to create the 210 $a from the 010 $a.
- Export URL Options Expanded - To support your ongoing needs for managing URL content, Alma's export options now provide additional flexibility for improved workflows and URL content accuracy.
- Sharing Alma Link Resolver Statistics with bX - In the following releases, Alma will start sharing Alma Link Resolver data statistics with the bX community.
- Delete Electronic Collection Job - Deleting electronic collections that contain portfolios is now performed by a background job.
- Additional Resource Management Enhancements
Digital Resource Management
- Dublin Core Support for Bulk Ingest of Bibliographic Records - Enhancements were made to several areas of Alma to better support Dublin Core format for bibliographic records.
- Additional Digital Resource Management Enhancements
Fulfillment
Idea Exchange: BCC Selected Notifications - It is now possible to send notifications and emails with blind carbon copies (BCC) for any preconfigured email address.- Enhanced CampusM Integration - Integration options with CampusM, the Ex Libris mobile campus solution (http://www.campusm.com/), now include an option to export Alma notifications to CampusM. This enables displaying patron library notifications in the mobile CampusM application.
- Loan Anonymization Rules - Loan anonymization rules now include more flexibility over which loans are anonymized.
- Support for 3M/Bibliotecha liber8:connect RFID Readers - Alma may now be integrated with the 3M/Bibiliotheca liber8:connect equipment for RFID scan-in, check-out, check-in, and item updates.
- Additional Fulfillment Enhancements
Resource Sharing
- Customizing Primo Resource Sharing Forms - For resource sharing request forms in Primo, fields may now be moved, made mandatory, or hidden from the patron's view.
Watch the Customizing Primo Resource Sharing Forms video
- Excluding Items from Resource Sharing - It is now possible to define item policies to indicate that the item should be considered unavailable for a resource sharing request.
- Language Field in Resource Sharing Requests - The language for materials in a resource sharing request may now be selected for both borrowing and lending requests.
- Additional Resource Sharing Enhancements
Collaborative Networks
- Enhanced Network Search Results for the Held By Details Page - The Held By Details page now includes a new left pane listing all institutions, and the Electronic Collections tab has been updated to provide more information. Watch the Enhanced Network Search Results video
Analytics
- Enhancements to Usage Data Details - Several enhancements were implemented to the Usage Data Details dimension of the Usage Data subject area.
- Available For Fields Added to E-Inventory Subject Area - New Available For fields indicating group settings are available in the Portfolio dimension of the E-Inventory subject area.
- Additional Analytics Enhancements
Administration and Infrastructure
- Sandbox Management - You can view the status and history of your sandboxes, and the sandboxes of the institutions for which your institution is the contract lead with Ex Libris, on the new Sandbox Management page.
- Alma Social Login - Staff may now use selected social networks to log in to their Alma accounts.
- Additional Administration and Infrastructure Enhancements
APIs
- The material type (secondary_type) was added to the reading list citations API.
- A new API enables you to create, read, update, and delete representations and files. For more information, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/apis/bibs.
- A new API enables you to retrieve itemized or logical set members:
GET /conf/sets
GET /conf/sets/{set id}
GET /conf/sets/{set id}/\membersThe retrieved information depends on the records included in the set. - JSON-LD linked data responses are now enriched with wikidata links. For more information, see https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/integrations/linked_data.
Known Issues
- When importing an EOD file using the New Order profile, if the location of the item does not have a call number type, the call number type of the institution should be used as the alternative call number type. Currently, however, no alternative call number is used.
- Related to merging bibliographic records in the MD Editor, if there are no requests, the Merge Records and Combine Inventory pop-up window does not display a count of 0 (zero) requests. The count appears for requests only when it is greater than 0 (zero). The count should also appear as 0 (zero) requests when there are no requests.
- Regarding the autocomplete/pop-up assistance being provided for several UNIMARC fields in the MD Editor, there is a known issue related to UNIMARC 327 $a and 327 $b. These subfields are based on the same functionality and as a result, the pop-up suggestions in the MD Editor suggests both subfields’ values when entering content in either the 327 $a or the 327 $b.
- Fixed position fields cannot be modified using the extension loader (extension packs) at this time.
- When creating an OCLC Connexion import profile in a Network Zone member institution with the Use NZ option selected, the Use NZ record option is used upon finding a match. Currently, there is no possibility to select the Merge, Overlay, or Do not import options instead.
- When a record is deleted in Alma, the headings associated with the record are still available when browsing bibliographic headings.
- The Total electronic portfolios imported count in the MD import report does not take into account the portfolios imported in the first file that is imported when the import is split into several files.
- The URL condition that was added as an advanced search option under Electronic Collection when searching for electronic titles is not functioning properly.
The following previously known issue was fixed for this release:
- When LDAP is used for authentication, and one or more field values in the LDAP integration profile are missing, the values from a previously defined LDAP integration profile are used. If there is no previously defined LDAP profile, or if this profile also contains missing values for these fields, authentication will fail.
As of this release, each profile is handled separately so that if a profile is missing parameters, these parameters are not taken from a previously defined profile.