CARLI Resource Sharing Committee: Alma & Primo VE Release Note Review, 2020-2022

Hide the Resource Sharing Link for Specific Resource Types

You now have the option to hide resource sharing services for specific discovery resource types (Configuration > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic > Display Logic Rules). This prevents users from placing borrowing requests for resources that you do not offer.

For more information, see Adding Display Logic Rules.

Resolved Issues

• When trying to send a 'LookupAgency' request to a resource sharing partner (from the partner details page), the operation failed and an error message was displayed. This was fixed and it is now possible to send Lookup Agency messages to partners.

• Resource sharing borrowing requests were updated to Returned to Partner immediately after being received. This was fixed and now when scanning in an item received for an overdue resource sharing borrowing request, a message will notify the operator that the request has been canceled and it will be returned to the lender.
• When filling the Resource Sharing Request form in GetIt, the data submitted in the field Additional Person Name is not displayed in Alma. This was fixed.

• A borrowing request was not received by the next partner on the rota after being manually rejected by the staff of the previous partner. This was fixed.

• Leganto sources were excluded from the Alma Link Resolver Usage report. This was fixed.

• Request Failed - submitting resource sharing requests on some records fail in Primo. This was fixed.

• The Shortened Due Date Letter displayed an inaccurate description. This was fixed.

• In specific cases, an error appeared when marking In-process items as 'Done'. This was fixed
• The list of cancellation reasons was not sorted in the code table. This was fixed.

• The 'red star' that marks mandatory fields is misplaced for labels having long text. This is fixed by adding width to CSS.

• Placing a request on a specific holding from the Manage Fulfillment Options page created the request on all the title's items instead of only on the items from the selected holding. This was fixed.

• Clicking Done when attaching documents to fulfill Digitization requests closed the request and did not advance the request to its next step. This was fixed.

Allowing Due Date After Patron Account Expiry Date

March 2022 Fulfillment Idea Exchange

Alma now enables configuring the system to enable privileged staff members to extend a loan due date at check-out time beyond the expiry date of a patron. By setting the new extend_due_date_beyond_user_expiry parameter (using the Fulfillment > Other Settings menu) with the value of MANAGER, OPERATOR or ALL you can determine which circulation desk operator role is required to extend a due date past the patron account's expiry date. If you do not want to enable this parameter, keep the value as NONE.

This enables lending items to patrons whose account is about to expire without having to manually change the calculated due date or the user record’s expiry date.

Extend Due Date

The new parameter affects only loans in the patron workbench. The behavior of self-check loans, personal delivery loans, and renewals is not affected.

Fulfillment Library Independence

February 2022 Fulfillment Idea Exchange

Fulfillment Library Independence supports better separation of private fulfillment data between multiple libraries that are grouped in an Alma institution, for instance:

• Small Universities or other organizations that are grouped into a single Alma institution
• Independent colleges that are part of a single institution
• Institutions that are organized as independent campuses

Maintaining a single Alma institution but still enabling greater independence of the libraries correctly balances the requirement for a single Alma institution with the need of the libraries to maintain their independence. The Fulfillment Library Independence enables separating fulfillment activities in one of two models:

1. The Full Fulfillment Independence Model
   This model restricts fulfillment data access at the highest degree, enabling access to patrons’ fulfillment activity only to staff with required roles in the owning library of the resource. For example, in this model circulation desk operators at a library have access to patrons' loans information only if the loaned item belongs to the circulation desk operator's scoped library.
2. The Partial Fulfillment Independence Model
   This model balances the patrons’ privacy with giving them the best service experience. It is similar to the Full model in all aspects, except that it gives more liberal access to the pickup library’s staff, as they are the ones who are in direct contact with the patron and need access to the relevant fulfillment data in order to provide better services. For example, in this model circulation desk operators at a library have access to patrons' loans information not only for loans of items that belong to the circulation desk operator's scoped library but also to loans that are picked up at the circulation desk operator's scoped library.

For more information, see Fulfillment Library Independence as well as this recording from the Jan. 18th webinar.

Configuring the Link Institution Zone Users to Centralized Network Zone Users Job

January 2022 Fulfillment

It is now possible to configure the Link Institution Zone Users to Centralized Network Zone Users job from the Fulfillment Jobs configuration menu. The job can only be configured and run in the Network Zone. 

Library Level Patron Notifications

January 2022 Fulfillment

Institutions can now configure Alma so that letters that aggregate information from multiple libraries, such as Borrowing Activity Letter, Courtesy Letter, Requests Report Letter, Overdue And Lost Loan Notification Letter will be aggregated and sent per library. This can be done by enabling the separate_patron_notifications_by_library customer parameter. The resulting letters will be sent from the specific library.

• When a notification is triggered, if divided by libraries, multiple notifications will be sent. For example, when sending an activity report from the patron workbench, if the patron has loans or fines in more than one library, an activity report will be sent for each such library.

• For Fulfillment entities that are not owned by a specific library (such as a fine or fee that is owned by the institution, or a request that may be served by multiple libraries) a letter will be sent by the institution.

• If an overdue and lost loan profile is configured to generate a notification fee, and several notifications are sent by this profile for different libraries, a fee will be charged for each notification.

In addition, the owner of short loans' Courtesy Letter has been changed to be the owning library.

'Will Supply' Message Sent Automatically

January 2022 Fulfillment-Resource Sharing Idea Exchange 

When an internal 'ship digitally/physically' request is placed for a lending request (automatically OR manually), a 'Will Supply' message is automatically sent (and status changed accordingly) to reflect that. This is only possible if the partner type supports a 'Will Supply' notification (ISO, ISO 18626 and Emails). This action is enabled by selecting the newly added step Automatically Will Supply in the borrowing workflow profile (disabled by default).

Add Workflow Profile

Will Supply Reason will be: "In process".

New labels were added to the 'Will Supply' email and the "ISO General Messages", to allow libraries to configure a note to be sent if there are items available or not.

• AutoWillSupplyAvailable - sent when the will supply email is sent automatically and there are available items to fill the ship request. Default value is empty.
• AutoWillSupplyUnavailable - sent when the will supply email is sent automatically and there are no available items to fill the ship request. Default value is “Your request will be supplied when an item becomes available, items are due back on {0).”

Alert of Associated Reading List when Withdrawing or Deleting Items

January 2022 Fulfillment - Course Reserves NERS Enhancement (ID #7207)

When using the Withdraw Items action to remove a physical item from a repository, Alma now checks whether this item is used as course material.

Physical Items - Items

Withdraw

If so, the warning message now includes a notice that the item is on one or more reading lists. The message also includes the courses that are associated with the list or lists.

Confirmation Message for removing physical items

Similarly, for electronic items, when using the action Portfolio List to Delete a portfolio, the warning message now includes a notice that one or more items from this portfolio are on at least one reading list and which courses the reading lists are associated with.

Electronic titles - Portfolio List

Delete

Confirmation Message for removing electronic items

Additional Enhancements

• January 2022 Fulfillment - Course Reserves
  On the Edit Citations screen, the facet labels under File were changed from Exists and Not Exist to File Attached and No File Attached.
  
  File facet
• January 2022 Fulfillment - Course Reserves SF: 05848830 05715135 05416589 05361476 05328522 05320310 05319647
  Itemized sets now support course sets that are larger than 1000 courses.
• January 2022 Fulfillment - Course Reserves
  The following fields were added to the Reading List Citations dimension of the Course Reserves, Leganto Student Usage, and Leganto Instructor Usage Events subject areas:
  • Citation Resolving Disabled – indicates if the resolving feature is disabled
  • Is Digital Citation – indicates if the citation is a digital resource
  • Citation AlmaD Downloads – the number of digital citation downloads during an active course
  • Citation Library External Tags – the library external tags of the citation
  • Section Library External Tags (added to the Leganto Reading List Sections dimension) – the library external tags of the section

Sharing Letter Customizations within Alma

December 2021 Administration and Infrastructure

Now Alma supports the ability to contribute XSL templates of customized letters to the Community Zone and to copy them over to your institution for local use, as well as preview how the template will work and look like before copying it over. This makes it much easier to share XSL configurations between institutions. 

To learn more, watch Contributing Letter Configurations to the Community Zone and Copying to Your Institution (5:30 mins)

In addition, get the presentation: How to contribute letter configurations to the Community Zone and copy them to the institution

See the online help at Contributing Letter Customizations to Community Zone.

Watch the Contributing Letter Configurations to the Community Zone and Copying to the Institution video (5:39 minutes).

Proxy Requesting

December 2021 Fulfillment  Idea Exchange

A new type of proxy user is introduced, that will function as an extension for the sponsor user: Fulfillment proxies will have a proxy account (separate from their personal account, if exists), with which they'll be able to log into Primo or Primo VE, place hold and resource sharing requests on behalf of their sponsor user, follow up on these requests, be notified when they reach the hold shelf, and check out items on behalf of the sponsor user.

To create a fulfillment proxy user, check the "Add as a fulfillment proxy" when adding the new user, and select the sponsor user from the list. The new account created will only be able to perform fulfillment activities on behalf of the sponsor.

See Managing Proxy Users.

Allow Multiple Rollovers

December 2021 Fulfillment - Course Reserves NERS Enhancement (ID #7334)

Alma now enables the institution to run the rollover job multiple times without fear of unintentionally duplicating reading lists that have already been rolled over. The Course Loader integration profile (Configuration Menu > General > External Systems > Integration Profiles) now includes an On rollover copy only lists created before field. By default, the calendar field is empty. Institutions that run the rollover job more than once per term can enter the date of the previous rollover to ensure that reading lists that were previously rolled over will not be rolled over again. 

Course Loader - Allow Multiple Rollovers

The job checks if the reading list associated with the OLD_COURSE_CODE was created before the date defined in the field. If the reading list was created prior to the defined date, the reading list associated with the OLD_COURSE_CODE is rolled over to the course defined in COURSE_CODE. Otherwise, the reading list is not rolled over.

For more information, see Configuring Course Loading.

·         December 2021 Fulfillment - Course Reserves Idea Exchange

When a purchase request is created from a citation, a new bibliographic record is created if one does not already exist. If the purchase request is rejected, the bibliographic record is deleted. Previously, the citation remained attached to the MMS_ID of the deleted bibliographic record. Now, the MMS_ID is also detached from the citation.

·         December 2021 Fulfillment - Course Reserves Idea Exchange

Institutions now have the option to set the DCS Synchronize job to run every six hours, in addition to the existing option of running it once a day.

For more information, see DCS Synchronize.

·         December 2021 Fulfillment - Course Reserves Idea Exchange

When rolling over a course, Alma now enables you to Copy (Configuration Menu > Leganto > List Management > Instructor Rollover Operations) an:

o internal library note

The option is disabled by default.

For more information, see Configuring Course Loading.

Link Resolver ViewIt Online Service Order - Preference to Electronic Resources with Orders

November 2021 Fulfillment  NERS Enhancement (ID #6941)

When presenting Electronic Services via Alma Link Resolver, Alma now gives the library the option to prefer services of collections/portfolios that have a linked PO Line (i.e., subscribed services or owned ). Once enabled, services for portfolios that have a PO Line, either at the level of the collection or at the level of the portfolio itself, are displayed above all the other services. This preference overrides both the default alphabetic sorting order and the list of services listed in the Top Services section. 

To support this feature, a new option "Prefer Ordered Resources Option" was added to the Online Services Order page (Configuration > Fulfillment > Discovery Interface Display Logic> Online Services Order).

See Configuring the Order of Online Services.

Notes

When reviewing this initial overview and the accompanying page “Configuring the Order of Online Services” of this update it’s fairly straightforward, but there are a few items of note that should be considered for workflow:

• Configuring the order of online services requires an administrator role (general or fulfillment only) those are usually pretty limited
• Changes to the configuration of the order of online services only happen at institution level

Resolved Issues

• November 2021 Release Update Fulfillment SF: 06022886
  When receiving RS borrowing requests, the message "The email channel is disabled" is displayed when the letter 'Borrower Receive Email Letter' is disabled. This was fixed.

• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00922078 00906215
  When loaning an item that is on the expired hold shelf to a different patron, Alma cancels the expired request to enable the loan. Previously the expired request was canceled even if the loan failed due to a loan block. This caused items on the hold shelf to sometimes incorrectly appear as in place. This was fixed. Now the expired request is canceled only if the loan succeeds.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00966877
  Previously, special characters in work order type are not presented when configuring the work order type‘s statuses. This was fixed.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00961918
  The option of changing a due date if the status of a loan is Claimed Return was removed since a due date cannot be changed for this status.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00987873
  One of the preliminary conditions of library deletion has encounter a problem and prevents the deletion of the library. This was fixed.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00886909
  SIP2 passwords appearing in the Alma logs unencrypted. This was fixed. The password field in SIP messages will not be printed to log as is, but rather will be hidden with asterisks.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00996079
  The item policy in the patron workbench was not translated. This was fixed.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00834526 00877220 00884692 00977415 00988353 00864231
  It was not possible to edit a Course or Reading-List name when the UI was not in English. This was fixed.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00489396 00944501 00133518 00481372 00185027 00114851
  The error message shown while entering the ILL form in Primo Classic without logging in used to be constant. This was fixed. It is now customizable by editing the ‘c.uresolver.request.ill.msg.serviceNeedLogin‘ label.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00826833
  The locate process using the UResolver locate would sometimes miss relevant services due to direct linking configuration. This was fixed.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00950394
  Ship Item Digitally row action for Lending requests did not work when sending a URL rather than uploading a file. This was fixed
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00993190 00973952 00971404
  Inconsistencies have been found between RapidILL tasks widget and the task list requests count. This was fixed.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00973014
  Resource Sharing Languages was not using the translation in the ILL Request form. This was fixed.
• November 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00984785
  The option to Send File to Patron from a Borrowing request returns an error when the requester was already anonymized. This was fixed.

Copyright Issue Supports Alpha Characters

November 2021 Fulfillment - Course Reserves SF: 00939891

Previously, the journal/article Issue field (Fulfillment > Course Reserves > Citations > Edit) only supported numbers. Leganto now also supports alpha characters for the journal/article Issue field.

The field is not case sensitive, but the characters need to match exactly for the copyright engine to identify a match against previous records. For example:

• March-April is the same as March-april
• March April is not the same as March-April
• March is not the same as Mar

Journal/Article Issue

For more information, see Copyright Management.

Additional Enhancements

• November 2021 Fulfillment - Course Reserves
  The Section ID field, already in Leganto Student Usage and Leganto Instructor Usage Events > Reading List Sections, was added to Course Reserves > Leganto Reading List Section.
• November 2021 Fulfillment - Course Reserves
  The Citation Material Type Code field was added to the following subject areas under the Citations or Reading List Citations dimensions:
  • Course Reserves
  • Purchase Requests
  • Leganto Student Usage
  • Leganto Instructor Usage Events

Notes

• To configure the copyright settings you must be a general or fulfillment administrator
• Alma will apply the default rule for copyright if all other rules fail (the default rule CANNOT be deleted)
• You can configure copyright declarations to display before all digitized course materials

Resolved Issues for Resource Sharing

November Fulfillment - Resource Sharing 2021
When copying a partner from the community tab into your institution, the server and port partner parameters did not populate correctly. This has been fixed. To fix any local partners that you have already copied, remove them and copy them again.

Sending Emails to Multiple Recipients via CC Email Accounts

October 2021 Administration and Infrastructure  Idea Exchange

Now Alma can send emails to multiple recipients simultaneously, for example emails addressed to under-aged patrons can also be sent to their legal guardians. To enable this, Alma now supports a new type of email "CC address" for public and staff type users only. When an email is sent to the patron, it is sent to all of the CC addresses, in addition to the address that is marked as Preferred. 

Managing the CC emails is currently possible using the Alma UI , Create User API and the SIS load. Primo VE will enable managing CC emails in an upcoming release.

See Managing User Contact Information. 

Watch the Send Emails to Multiple Recipients via CC Email Accounts video (1:09 minutes).

Binding of Items Not in Place Now Allowed

October 2021 Acquisitions, Fulfillment, Resource Management

Alma now allows binding items when they are in process in a work order department, are being handled by the Acquisitions or Technical Services departments, or by a work order department. This enables users from the Technical Services department to bind issues that are not yet in place.

Binding is not allowed for Acquisitions items that were not received yet (in process type "Acquisition") or for items are not in place but not in process (e.g. missing, on loan, lost). 

As before the introduction of this development, when items are being bound together, the original  items are deleted and a new item, with no history, is generated. Now the following happens when items are bound:

• For in-process items, if the original items are attached to open PO lines, Alma will attempt to remove the PO line, or remove the item from the PO line to allow the binding process. 
• The work order processes that the items are in will be completed. 
• Alma will attempt to move item-level requests from the items to be bounds to the new item. if the new item cannot fulfill the request, the request is canceled. 

See Binding (Merging) Items.

• October 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00876813
  When cross consortia barcode search was enabled (customer parameter ‘fulfillment_network_unique_barcodes‘), scanning barcodes with leading/trailing whitespaces failed with error ‘Item not found at any member institution‘. This was fixed.

October 2021 Fulfillment SF: 00933598 00971333 00964516 00960951 00961818 00963604 00972157 00963126 00933339
In a fulfillment network, if the customer parameter ‘fulfillment_network_search_by_all‘ was set to true, creation of a linked account failed for users that had a primary identifier that contained a partial match to another user. This caused fulfillment network loans and requests to fail for these users. This was fixed.

Alma and Primo VE Enhancements June 2021

Courtesy Letter Indication for Block on Patron

June 2021 Fulfillment 

If the loan was not renewed due to patron level block, then the courtesy notice will correctly show the reason for blocking the renewal.

'Type of Request' Indicator on Patron Request or Work Order

June 2021 Fulfillment 

The pop-up message that alerts the circulation desk operator about existing requests on the scanned item will now include the 'type of request' when an item has a pending or active request. This enables better separation between items that are requested by other patrons and items that are requested for library processes, such as a move request. A new "Item is requested by the library" block preference controls this popup.

'Notify Users' on Cancellation Requests for Staff Requests

June 2021 Fulfillment Idea Exchange

Alma now sends cancelation notices to requesting staff via email when a move or work order request is canceled. Cancelling any non-patron request (such as work orders or move requests) with the 'Notify User' checkbox enabled will send the cancelation letter to the request creator, such as the operator who placed it.

New Reports Added to Consortia Folder

June 2021 Analytics

The following out-of-the-box reports were added to the Consortia folder. These reports can aid an institution in evaluating overlap as well as unique titles across the consortia:

Alma and PrimoVE Release Notes: May 2021

(Updates to the Alma and PrimoVE System occur on the first Sunday of each month.)

https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Alma/Release_Notes/2021        https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Primo/Release_Notes/002Primo_VE/2021 

Alma Release Notes for Fulfillment and Resource Sharing

Support ability to Waive All/Large lists of Fines/Fees in User Record (Fines and Fees tab) 

May 2021 Fulfillment   

Alma now enables user to select fines and fees across the full paginated fees list (among multiple pages) and waive them. A 'Waive All' option is added to the Fines\Fees tab. Previously, users could only waive selected fines and fees on a currently displayed page. 

The new ability to select fines and fees across the full paginated fees list (i.e. selecting from different pages) implies that any personalization a user may have previously done for the fees' list columns will have to be redone following this release.

It is not possible to waive more than 100 selected fees in one action.

Watch the Waive All the Fines and Fees of a Patron video (1:13 minutes).

Note: This new pagination ability will hopefully transfer to other parts of Alma where multiple pages of items need to be processed at once.

Search user records by phone number 

May 2021 Fulfillment   

In Alma, phone numbers are now a searchable user field. Phone numbers can now be entered in the simple or the advanced  search to find users. if country code is entered in the phone number it should be used when searching), on numeric values only (any non-numeric values, e.g. hyphens, spaces or brackets, will not affect the search).

Note: Very useful for the current situation where many patron contacts are through voice mail messages. 

Sort user list by User Group and Expiration/Purge Date

May 2021 Fulfillment   Idea Exchange

Alma now enables the User List to be sorted by User Group, Purge Date  and Expiration Date. When using the advanced search, a set can be created to include multiple user groups. These groups or the expiry/purge date can now be sorted. The purge date column is hidden by default and can be added to the displayed columns.

Pop-up message when scanning in an item with a request note

May 2021 Fulfillment Idea Exchange 

A new 'Requester Note' message has been added to the Scan In Messages Configuration screen. By default, this message is enabled and will appear as a 'Pop-Up'. The message will be displayed when an item that is scanned in has a 'Requester Note' associated to it.

Watch the Requester Note Appears Upon Scanning In an Item video (1:39 minutes).

Enhanced export when sending requests to remote storage

May 2021 Fulfillment  

The integration profile for exporting requests to remote storage was enhanced in the following ways:

Privacy enhancement: For integration types XML and XML/NCIP (regardless of system type), a new configuration, "Include patron info in physical item requests", now allows libraries to have patron information in the exported XML for physical requests.

Libraries that wish to include patron information in physical requests will need to enable the new checkbox in the integration profile.

Locate status added to the audit trail of borrowing and lending Resource Sharing requests

May 2021 Fulfillment-Resource Sharing  

Locate status has been added to the audit trail of borrowing and lending RS requests. This allows librarians to see when locate status changed between "Locate not run", "Resource located" and "Locate failed". This change in the 'locate status' is reported in the request history.

Prefer electronic format in lender locate

May 2021 Fulfillment-Resource Sharing  

Alma can be configured to show preference to electronic format articles in the lender side locate process. If a requested article is found in electronic format then that resource will be considered the only option for the lender. Other potential physical options are considered only if no electronic resources are found.This behavior is activated by the new "Prefer Uresolver locate results" switch that can be switched on at the Lending Setup section of the resource sharing library. Note that electronic resources are considered a match only if their coverage matches the details of the request.This affects both the automatic and the manual locate process on the lender side.

  Select the Reject request when locate fails check box to reject a lending request when the locate did not find any matching items. 

  Select the Reject request when no available items check box to reject a lending request when there are no items that are available in place. 

  Select the Reject request when no requestable items check box to reject a lending request when there are no items that are requestable for resource sharing, according to the applicable policy. 

  Select the Reject request when only electronic available check box to automatically reject items that are only available electronically. When Reject request when only electronic available is selected, set the Electronic Rejection Rules to control automatic rejection rules based on the resource's license terms. 

Note: Should I-Share have the 4^th option or use Ignore electronic resources? Or are we already set up with peer-to-peer Resource Sharing?

For more information, see Configuring Parameters of a Resource Sharing Library.Combined Search - Support For Electronic Collections of Type Database

Combined Search - Support For Electronic Collections of Type Database

May 2021 Collaborative Networks 

Electronic collection of type 'Database' (electronic collection with no portfolios) managed in the Network Zone for all members or for specific members (using an 'Available For' group) will now be included in the Institution Zone's combined search for the relevant member. 
Using combined search results provides consortia members quick access to electronic resources that are managed for them in the Network Zone.

This functionality is supported for institutions where combined search is enabled. Contact Customer Support to enable combining Institution and Network Zone search results. For details, see Combining Institution and Network Zone Search Results. 

Improved Letter XML Examples

May 2021 Administration and Infrastructure Idea Exchange

When configuring letters, users can make use of out-of-the-box XML examples. These examples were now enriched to provide more detail that can help uses to customize the letters. To view these examples, open the DefaultLetter.xml file that is located in the Letter Examples tab of the Letters Configuration page for the desired letter. 

See Configuring Alma Letters.

Click to download the full PDF of the Alma December 2020 Release Notes and Resolved Issues from the Ex Libris website.

Enhancements of note for fulfillment/AFN/resource sharing topics from the December release:

• Alma Letters:
  • New Letter: Patron Welcome Letter
    • When adding a patron role to a user, whether manually, through a job, via API or SIS, the Patron Welcome Letter is now sent.
      • The letter can be turned off for user records that are added via an SIS import or for linked accounts by configuring the XSL.
        • Documentation: How to configure a letter to not be sent under certain circumstances
        • Feel free to email CARLI support for assistance.
      • Ex Libris Documentation:
        • Description
        • Video overview
  • New Letter: On Hold Shelf Letter Reminder
    • After this month’s update it is now possible to send a reminder notification to the patron after a set number of days, whereas before only one hold shelf letter was ever sent.
    • As this letter and job affect I-Share patrons as well as local, the CARLI Resource Sharing Committee discussed enabling this letter at their December meeting. More details on the initial consortial settings, including how libraries can customize the wording of the letter for local patrons, will be emailed to CARLI member libraries soon.
  • Letters Configuration Page Enhancements
    • The columns "Updated By" and "Last Updated" were added to the Letters Configuration page. This helps you troubleshoot issues with letter customization and know which staff user last updated the configuration.
• Item Level Requesting in an Automated Fulfillment Network (AFN):
  • This may be an alternative to using the "free-text" volume field. The CARLI Resource Sharing Committee and CARLI Office Staff will research, investigate, and discuss this setting before enabling it (or not) across the consortium.
• New privilege that controls the view of active balance in the Manage Patron Services screen:
  • According to Ex Libris, it will be possible to adjust roles to hide the display of fines and fees from some library staff, by removing the privilege to see fine/fees from the associated role. Those areas are:
    • Visibility of the Fines/fees tab in the 'User details' screen.
    • Searching by Fines/Fees in the 'Advanced Users' search.
    • Presentation of the patron's 'Active balance' in the 'Manage patron services' screen.
  • It seems that the "Circulation Operator- Limited" role may be the role libraries might like to remove the privilege from.
  • If you are interested:
    • The CARLI Sandbox 2 will (soon- ticket open with Ex Libris) be set to have the privilege removed for testing.
    • If you would like to have the privilege removed in production, your Alma/Primo Contact can email CARLI Support to file a support case with Ex Libris.
• New circulation desk configuration to control the appearance of the 'register new user' button:
  • This option is enabled by default to show the "Register User" button.
    • This is separate from the "Register new user" role privilege – both the role privilege and the desk configuration need to be enabled for the button to appear in Manage Patron Services (in the event a circulation desk role has the privilege but the desk does not support registering a new user, the button will not appear).
  • Hiding the button for the circulation desk does not prevent staff with User Manager privileges from adding a user record from the User Management area of Alma.
  • Hiding the button for the circulation desk does not prevent staff from finding/checking materials out to patrons from other I-Share libraries.
• Digitization: Deliver Digital Documents
  • To streamline the digital document delivery process, you can now deliver all digital documents on the Document Delivery page (Fulfillment > Resource Requests > Deliver Digital Documents) without needing to work through the complete Pick from Shelf workflow.
  • If your library does Alma Digitization requests, see the December Release Notes for more details on this setting, including the adjustments to the workflow to use this functionality.

Bug fixes in the December release:

• Known Issue: Staff receive an error message after checking out AFN materials to a patron and clicking "Done" (posted 9/17/2020; fix anticipated 12/2020)
• Known Issue: Local Request Form dropdown list of institutions is out of order (posted 9/17/2020; updated 10/19/2020; fix anticipated 12/2020)
• Known Issue: Incomplete electronic or physical holdings data displaying in Primo VE (posted 9/17/2020; updated 10/22/2020; partial fixes anticipated 11/2020 and 12/2020)

Alma development periodically needs to take a "back seat," and maintenance, cloud infrastructure, and other important tasks need to be handled in order to ensure that Alma meets the highest standards of performance and high availability. The October 2020 release is devoted to such tasks.

Normalization of the Community Zone (CZ) updated permissions to prevent specific fields from being added or edited in the CZ by members of the community.

Click to download the full PDF of the Alma September 2020 Release Notes and Resolved Issues from the Ex Libris website.

Enhancements of note for fulfillment/AFN/resource sharing topics from the September release:

• New Alma Layout Enhancements
  • Continuing the rollout of the new Alma layout, the new layout is now available for Alma users.
    • Starting from the August release, Alma Administrators can turn the new functionality on (Opt-in).
    • In September release, users who were opted in can switch between the current and the new layout as they please. (For instructions, see Turning On the New Layout for Users.)
    • In the November release, the new layout will become the default.
• RFID Multi-Scan Function
  • You can now configure your RFID reader to scan more than one item at a time.