NERS 2022 enhancements

The August Release sees the implementation of  two NERS 2022 enhancements:

1. Improve letter editing functionality 
2. Support for dynamic collections

With the inclusion of these enhancements, we mark the completion of the NERS 2022 enhancement cycle. Looking ahead, we are already planning and preparing for the NERS 2023 cycle, continuing our long standing collaboration with our user community.

New Cookies Banner

As part of our commitment to transparency and privacy protection, we will be introducing a new feature in Alma and all our higher-education back-office products that requests user consent for the use of cookies. Regardless of your cookie preferences, your daily activities and Alma functionality will remain unaffected. See full details about this in the August Release Notes.

This feature will be rolled out gradually post August Release.

New PO Line task list 

The next-generation Alma UI design is now available for the PO Lines task list. Individual users can opt-in to use the new UI task list layout, or continue using the classic UI.

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

The new user Interface is being gradually rolled out. For more information see here. In August the new UI will be turned off by default. Users are encouraged to opt-in to benefit from the new UI advantages.

There are multiple changes and advantages with the new interface, which also addresses a number of Ideas Exchange items. For more information see here.

A webinar on “The New Unified PO Line list” will be delivered in two separate time zones on Aug. 08. 

For further information and registration see the Alma 2023 Roadmap Webinar Series page.

 Users will have a more streamlined experience, more information available upfront, new search and facet options and many more advantages.

Linked Data

Bibliographic record retention

It is now possible to prevent a bib record from being deleted. This is based on a new "Bibliographic Collection Retention definition" table, where administrators can specify conditions for record retention.

For network zone records, the retention is determined according to the configuration in the Network Zone table.

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 specific configuration set by that institution.

 This is especially useful for libraries with collaborative collections, who wish to protect certain records from being deleted.

Idea Exchange - Browse Authority headings

A new feature called Browse Authority Headings has been introduced, 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. 

 This is useful for librarians who wish to browse the authority vocabulary using a specific name or subject, without being sure if it is the preferred term or not.

Idea Exchange - Undo options in the Metadata Editor

Previously, it was not possible to undo removing fields from a bib record.It is now possible to "Undo Remove, Cut, Paste Field" (Ctrl+Shift+Z), that allows catalogers to undo these actions as well.

This is useful when a field is accidentally removed and needs to be recovered, without having to restore a previous version of the record.

Idea Exchange - Library scope with the Physical Titles search

The library scope which was previously applied only to the physical items and holdings search now also applies to the physical titles search.

Staff that define a preferred libraries scope will only see search results of the physical titles that have holdings in the defined libraries.

The library scope will be remembered and applied across sessions and search types.

 This is helpful for staff that are only interested in titles held by specific libraries. They no longer have to add a library search condition to every physical titles search.

Automated upload of electronic holdings now supported for PROJECT MUSE titles

In addition to the existing publishers/vendors integrating with Alma, the Automated Upload of Electronic holdings process now supports PROJECT MUSE titles. Customers are now able to configure an integration profile with PROJECT MUSE and fully automate their holdings update.

 Automated upload of electronic holdings for PROJECT MUSE saves staff manual labor, and time and improves accuracy and efficiency.

Long term digital loans with limit to concurrent usage

Long term digital loans is a process by which libraries can lend out digital copies (representations) of physical materials to patrons for periods of a day or more. The system imitates the experience of lending physical items by allowing you to limit the number of digital copies being lent concurrently and configuring the time period of the loan. As with physical items, if the digital copy is on loan, the requester enters a waitlist. Alma keeps track of the patrons who requested the digital representation and notifies the next person in the waitlist when it is available. Users can also indicate the list of physical items that are represented by each digital resource. 

Long term digital loans introduces a rich set of policies, is fully integrated into the Alma requests workflow, and is accessible from the patron Library Card in Primo.

 There is full control over digital loans, both from a workflow and from a copyrights perspective.

 NERS Enhancement - Logical Collections for automatic title assignment

A new type of "Logical" collection allows for the automatic assignment of titles according to a pre-defined logical set. To support this feature, a new Logical Collection checkbox was added to the Add New Collection page when creating a collection.

In addition, you can now search for logical collections with the advanced search:

 Save significant time by automating population of title collections.

Improved menu search 

Enhancements have been made to the Alma internal search menu functionality, incorporating "smart" search capabilities. The search feature now provides suggestions for synonyms, interchangeable terms, and support for spelling mistakes. This enhancement facilitates users' navigation making it easier to find links in the Alma search menu. 

 This facilitates the user's navigation in the Alma menu making it easier to find links in the Alma search menu.