August 2023 Resource Management 

The next-generation Alma UI design is now available for the Manage Sets page (Admin > Manage Jobs and Set > Manage Sets).

The New Layout is designed to provide users who manage sets with a more streamlined experience, in which more information is available at a glance and new facet options make it easier to locate sets with certain characteristics.

This release introduces a range of enhancements aimed at improving the creation and usage of sets in Alma. The enhancements focus on providing a quick and intuitive experience for users, streamlining workflows, and increase overall efficiency.

• Key updates:
  • Streamlined set creation: We have implemented a more straightforward and user-friendly approach to creating sets. Users will now find it easier than ever to generate sets, with simplified processes and fewer steps.
  • Improved set utilization: Recognizing the value of utilizing existing sets efficiently, we have introduced a quick and intuitive method for leveraging pre-existing sets. This enhancement enables users to access and utilize sets seamlessly in various tasks and searches.

• Creating Itemized Physical Holdings Sets

The physical holdings sets management was enhanced as part of the improved sets management enabling operators to easily create and manage itemized as well as logical sets of physical holdings records. This is especially useful when you want your set to include specific holdings, or to create an itemized set from a logical set of all holdings that fulfill a condition at a specific point in time.

For more information, see Managing Search Queries and Sets.

A webinar on "Search and Sets Functionality in Alma using the New UI for Managing Sets" will be delivered in two separate time zones on November 13 and 14. For further information and registration see the Alma 2023 Roadmap Webinar Series page.

UNIMARC classification version stored in subfield 250 $z is now mapped to Bibliographic field 676 $v for various related workflows across the system.

For example, when searching for a Bibliographic record from an Authority record using the “Search bibliographic records matching this value” option, the version is used. In addition, the version is now part of the Authority record display as part of the F3 browsing, as well as, part of the browse Bibliographic headings functionality. For more information, see Searching in Alma.

Browsing call numbers on the Browse Shelf Listing page (Metadata Editor, > Search and Browse > Shelf Listing) was enhanced. Now, when browsing for a call number, the call number searched is the third one that is displayed. This provides users with the context of some previous call number results on the page, similar to the display in Browse Bib Headings.

A new feature has been introduced that allows libraries to prevent the deletion of a bibliographic record. To implement this, the Bibliographic Collection Retention Definition table can be configured. Administrators can specify conditions for record retention. Add a field and subfield in order for the record to be protected from deletion if the subfield contains any value. Alternatively, specify a specific value, and only records with that value in the subfield will be retained.

After configuring the table, Alma performs verifications when attempting to delete a bibliographic record. It verifies if the record contains the specified content from the table. If the content is present, the bib record is protected from deletion. Furthermore, after the table is updated, any record that matches the defined criteria will be marked as committed to retain the next time it is indexed (when changed and saved, or during the semi-annual re-indexing). This allows for the retained records to be searchable within the system.

The institution’s table is consulted when deleting local records, and when attempting to delete a bibliographic record that is linked to the Community Zone (the removal of the linked record from the local institution is restricted based on the institution’s configuration).

For collaborative networks, network zone records’ retention is determined based on the configuration specified in the Network Zone’s table.

This feature is particularly beneficial for libraries with collaborative collections, that aim to safeguard specific records from deletion, as well as for libraries that want to make sure important records, for example; rare materials, donations, and so forth, are not accidentally removed from the catalog.

For more information, see Bibliographic Record Retention.

Previously, the removal of fields from a bibliographic record could not be undone. A new functionality called "Undo Remove, Cut, Paste Field" (Ctrl+Shift+Z) is introduced, that enables catalogers to undo such actions, providing a convenient way to restore accidentally removed fields without having to revert to a previous version of the record. This enhancement saves time and effort while ensuring accurate cataloging.

A new feature called Browse Authority Headings is now available, enabling users to browse authority files for name and subject authority records. This browsing functionality displays both the preferred and non-preferred terms in the authority record, clearly indicating which terms are preferred. Libraries can now easily explore the authority files used in their cataloging workflows, access authority records, and view any linked bibliographic records.

This enhancement is particularly beneficial for librarians who want to browse the authority vocabulary using a specific name or subject, even if they are unsure whether it is the preferred term or not. For librarians without cataloging privileges, the authority record browsing is a read-only capability. It is automatically enabled in all Alma roles, similar to the repository and authority searches.

For more information, see Browse Authority Headings.

Alma's import mechanism was enhanced to include the option to match on the title type, electronic or physical. When importing records to Alma, a matching option that considers the title type (print or electronic) is now available. Incoming print titles are matched to print titles in the repository, and incoming electronic titles are matched to electronic titles in the repository.

In addition, a new option to disregard matches for bibliographic Community Zone linked records was added to the Import profile configuration. 

For more information, see Creating/Editing an Import Profile: Match Profile.

For more information on the various Alma Resource Types, click here.

Currently, when Alma gets an open URL from Primo, it tries to find resources according to three main methods:

1. Match by identifier
   If no identifier exists/no match was found:
2. Match by title and author
   If no title+author exists/no match was found:
3. Search by title only ("Fuzzy Match")

A new option controlled by a customer parameter, avoid_fuzzy_search_resolving (Configuration -> Resources -> Other settings), enables the institution to indicate to Alma to avoid "Fuzzy matches" ("title only" matches) attempts. By default, the new customer parameter is set to "False" and Alma continues behaving as it does currently. The new functionality is only active when the customer parameter is set to "True".

The library scope available for the physical items and holdings search now affects also the physical titles search, so that librarians that define a preferred library's scope see in the search results only physical titles that have holdings in the defined libraries. The library scope set by the librarian is remembered by the system and applied across sessions and search types until the librarian chooses to change it.

This is helpful for librarians who are interested only in titles held by specific libraries and saves the need to add a library search condition for every physical title search.

For more information, see Searching in Alma.

A new type of analytical linking was added to the MARC21 standard, Parallel Description in Another Language of Cataloging (788). This type is now supported in Alma's workflows that consider analytical linking, for example, publishing profiles enrichment.

The import redirection mechanism now updates the related record fields where the 'secondary record' ID is replaced with the new 'primary record' ID either by 035 or MMS ID.