Alma Known Issues

Inability to pull patterns from 853 of holdings and apply upon save of item

Staff must do much more typing. In Aleph you could associated an item with a 853 instance and it would use that (and the lang 008) to generate the appropriate captions after you filled in the correct enum/chron in the item. You could leave the description blank and Aleph would create the correct Description upon Saving the item.

(Noted to ExL as part of implementation) Case created 11/12/2019

00754388

Not in roadmap

Priority

Area

Problem

Impact

Workaround

Created Date

Salesforce Case

Expected resolution

Medium

Holdings

Automatically generated 866/7/8 fields, based on 853/4/5 fields, are missing any alternative numbering subfields data $g, $h, $m. These should be compressed into 866/7/8 $a

Public display lacks alternate numbering in summary holdings

non

1/20/23

06631447

General

Problem

Impact

Workaround

Created Date

Salesforce Case

Expected resolution

651 geo headings are split between 2 browses

• Subjects > Geographic names, there is both an option for LCSH and an option for LC Name authority records for 651. This is very confusing because both those vocabs read from 651/0 so you have to look in 2 different places depending on whether a 651 may be subdivided or not. There should be one LC vocab option when browsing by subject geographic names.

Need to check both

(Closed)

Pursue as enhancement. 

Heading Type: Source Code

Problem

Impact

Workaround

Created Date

Salesforce Case

Expected resolution

Name

240 is missing from index entries for 100 / 110 / 111

Name-title entries are incomplete because they include $t from 6XX/7XX but not 240 with 1XX

Update - all $t's have been removed from index. 

6/21/17

00434000

Working with ExL to develop new, separate name-title browse

(This didn't go anywhere as of Oct 2021)

Series: Uniform Title

490/1 is included

490/1 is not a controlled heading, therefore the list cannot be used to verify whether the series headings in controlled fields have the correct term

(as of July 2022, all 490 have been excluded from the browse as a workaround)

12/18/2018 

00634250

Case closed. Needs to be enhancement or Ideas Exchange. Forwarded to ELUNA Authority Task Group.

Title

240 uniform title is missing

740 title is missing

600 $t is missing

4/9/18

1/11/23

00538863

06621695

Original case was broader and is resolved except for 740. New case opened just for 740. 

Previous note: Working with ExL to develop new, separate name-title browse. Update Feb 2021: ExL reported this would not be part of current development work plan

Subject

647 is missing from the Subject browse

7/25/22

06450090 

Name

600/30 is missing when it is linked to authority record

Browse is incomplete. 

Use search "Subjects (LC)"

4/21/23

06731389

SOLUTIONS planned for 2025

High

Subject headings that include subdivisions beyond subdivisions in authority record won't be flipped

If the authority is for the subdivided form of a heading, and the bib heading is further subdivided, it will not be flipped when the heading changes. Only the subdivided form that exactly matches to the authority will be flipped. For example, this authority changed from:

$a Germany $x Politics and government $y 19th century

to:

$a Germany $x Politics and government $y 1789-1900

Bib headings that exactly matched that $a $x $y were flipped. Bib headings that were further subdivided did not, such as:

$a Germany $x Politics and government $y 19th century $v Congresses

4/11/19

00674542

NERS 6773

Idea Exchange.

Low

Personal series name headings not always linked

The presence of some punctuation prevents 800 field headings from linking. For example, the presence of a semicolon at the end of $f or $l prevents the field from linking.

800/1_ $$a Sibelius, Jean, $$d 1865-1957. $$t Works. $$f 1998 ; $$v ser. 1, v. 99. 

the above does not link, but if you remove the period after Works, and the semicolon after 1998, it does link.

9/4/19

00724600

Partially resolved Oct 2020

Outstanding scenarios will be resolved as part of partial heading linking work by ExL 

NOT CURRENTLY ON ROADMAP

Medium

Headings with ampersands and commas may not link

Headings with ampersands, plus signs, apostrophes, and commas may be marked as Ambiguous instead of linking if there is another heading or cross-reference without the character. Examples of headings that may be reported as ambiguous instead of linking: 

• Peabody Essex Museum

• Peabody & Essex Museum

• Ciné+ (France)

• Cine France

• Mohammad, Ali

• Mohammad Ali (a cross-reference in the authority record for Ali, Mohammad)

• McFarland & Company

• McFarland Company (cross-reference in authority record for J. Horace McFarland Company)

6/30/20

00856792

NONE

Will eventually be resolved with move to Linked Data infrastructure

Medium

Order of bib subfields not corrected (if they were incorrect to start with)

Example: our heading (incorrectly) has 651 a x y x

Matching authority has a x x y

Our heading is linked to authority but order of subfields was not corrected

Note: using F3 from MDE does correct the subfield order.

11/12/20

00899515

NONE

Low

Alma ignores "not valid as subject" byte in LCNAMES

When a name is used as a subject, Alma will flip the heading even if the authority record has the fixed field that says the heading is not valid as a subject. 

5/11/21

Reported to Alma Authorities Working Group

NONE

Low

Incorrect indicators / thesauri when flipping LCSH to LCGFT

When a 655 field is coded for LCSH and matches a non-preferred term in LCGFT, Alma flips the heading to the preferred LCGFT term but does not update the coding (it should change the 2nd ind to 7 and add $2 lcgft). This does not have an effect on patrons using HOLLIS, but the incorrect coding may cause problems in future linked data projects or migrations. Genre terms in other thesauri are not affected (aat, etc.). Data correction needs to occur in Alma for flips where the LCGFT term DIFFERS from the LCSH term, such as Comics (Graphic works), Screenplays, Thrillers (Fiction), Academic Theses.

Please vote on the Ideas Exchange. (Clean-up of these was removed from the project request list in Nov. 2023 - data will need to be addressed during future migration projects). More background on LC FAQ on LCSH/LCFGT. At Harvard generally only legacy records use the 655/0 LCSH term. Current records generally use 655/7 LCGFT.

Note that the issue was discussed at length at ExL, and derives from the fact LC provides the LCGFT in the LCSH file, rather than as separate feeds.

(U-Minn case 00189209)

NONE

Please vote on the Idea  

Low

630 links to Names even when fuller match is available in LCSH

When a 630 is followed by subdivisions for elements present in an authority,
Alma links only to the authority for the name heading, and not a matching LCSH. In the example below, the Bible heading with $x Criticism... is defined in LCSH, but the heading is linked to the LCNAME with $a and $p. 

01/15/2021

Reported to AAWG

Low

CZ bib records do not undergo authority control

CZ bib records have outdated headings. This will create split entries in the Browses and Primo facets if we use CZ collections for certain packages. ExL has no plans to perform authority control on CZ bibs. Revisit with Provider Zone.

4/9/18

00538880

 Update April 2025 - LCSH headings now undergoing some control

Severity

High

Presence of |t prevents authority name from linking/flipping

Name headings with $t will only link if there is an authority for the name/title

(See also variants in next row)

10/16/17

479457

Fixed in 2025

#2 priority from AAFG (2021)

(variants of above)

Variant 1: If multiple authorities have the same 1XX where the only difference is $l (language), the bib heading will not link, and it will be reported as a multiple match (ambiguous). 

Variant 2: Same for subfield $k (added 7/25/22)

Variant 3: We noted that in at least one example the only possible sources of incorrectly assessed conflict in Alma were other vocabularies (e.g. Rameau). (added 4/24/23)

2/23/21

new case number 05307441

case number in previous salesforce: 00922961

(Same as above)

Critical

Preferred term correction job incorrectly flips headings with important subfield code differences: |x |v |t

Loss of data. Example of improper flips:

• 600 10 $$a Shakespeare, William, $$d 1564-1616 $$x Comedies.  flipped to:

• 600 10 $$a Shakespeare, William, $$d 1564-1616. $$t Plays. $$k Selections

Note - as of 6/25/18 this appears to be limited to 600 fields. The example below no longer occurs:

• 650 $$a Motion pictures $$x Periodicals $$x History.  flipped to:

• 650 $$a Motion pictures $$x History $$v Periodicals 

10/16/17

479439

Fixed as of 6/26/24 for prospective jobs via new rule "respect subfield coding"

High

Preferred term correction process won't flip headings if the field number changes. It only reports them.

(E.g. bib headings is 110 and matches 410 xref, and preferred term is in 130)

These show up on the "Preferred Term Correction - BIB heading found no authorized term" report and need to be flipped manually.

5/13/18

551952

Fixed in Fall 2024. 

Idea

Also NERS 6670

High

"Mixed" heading types don't link (and therefore don't flip)

When Alma tries to link a 110, 710, it only looks in LCNAMES, and not in LCSH for places defined in 151 which may be used as corporate names. For example, Massachusetts does not validate in bib 110, 710, only in 651.

When Alma tries to link a 610, it only looks in LCNAMES, not in LCSH for entities that may be used as subject names but not in 110/710. Example: Zimniĭ dvoret︠s︡ (Saint Petersburg, Russia) does not validate in bib field 610.

More: if a castle or similar heading is defined for LCSH (in authority field 110), it may not be used as a bib 110 or 710, only as a 610.  Because Alma only looks at LCNAMES when linking 610 headings, it will not find the matching LCSH heading (in LCSH authority field 110).  

Confirmed on Dec. 2024 that is is functional: 

Open

4/6/20

0083018

It depends on a setting that Support will do for you when the March 2021 release is installed"

May 2021

Resolved. 

(The line item was briefly not working for a month or two in 2024 due to a regression that was then fixed) 

Low

Subfield 3 of 830 is moved to end of statement

Inconsistent with other $3 displays (usually first subfield to display)

10/7/19

00738708

CB adjusted Primo rules to display in proper place

Funds

Overencumbrance allowed in excess of rule limit when using order template

Possible to overcommit fund despite rule.

4/17/2019

678250

Closed

Not scheduled to be fixed.

Invoices

Occasionally, an invoice with no visible errors won't move out of review

Staff cannot submit invoice for approval.

LTS submits ticket to Ex Libris; they have an internal tool to move invoice forward in workflow.

12/3/2020

905640

Closed

Not scheduled to be fixed.

Invoices

User without proper role can delete approved invoice

A user without invoice operator extended is able to delete an approved and closed invoice via the EDI file reload functionality

11/9/2018

620424

Closed

Ex Libris will not change this functionality.

Invoices

Alerts for invoice approval rules

An invoice approval rule for a negative discount does not trigger an alert.

1/17/2018

508728

Closed

Not scheduled to be fixed.

Invoices

Error when reloading EDI invoice

Attempting to reload an EDI invoice file with a long file name via the reload function on the vendor record returns a file not found error. (The same is true when reloading via the EDI tab of the vendor record or via the Create Invoice From File function.)

Manually shorten file name before reloading

4/24/2019

680093

Closed

Invoices

Blank search box when creating invoice from PO

Using the "Search from a list" functionality to find a PO when creating an invoice via PO may return a blank search box.

Use the fix documented in this Knowledge Article.

2/6/2020

Not scheduled to be fixed.

Invoices

Backing out of viewing unassigned invoice takes user to Assigned tab

Some users report that viewing (not editing) an unassigned invoice from the In Review task list, then using back, take them to the Assigned to Me tab. 

Added click to switch tabs.

4/6/2021

05318277

Closed

Not scheduled to be fixed.

Invoices

Clicking on a PO line using multiple funds does not lead to the POL

Users report that clicking on a PO line that uses more than one fund from the Invoice Lines tab of an invoice leads to the Transactions tab of one of the funds, not the POL.

11/18/2021

06040267

Closed

Resolved Aug. 2022

Order Letter