Alma System Numbers (Formerly "Aleph/HOLLIS Numbers")

Owned by Jennifer Koerber (Unlicensed)
Last updated: May 15, 2019
2 min read

In Alma, each record has a system number called the MMSID, that uniquely identifies each record and can be used to link related records together.

Parts of an MMSID

An Alma MMSID is made up of three parts: the record identifier, an autogenerated sequence of numbers, and the four-digit institution code. The record type code plus the autogenerated section make the MMSID a unique identifier.

MMS ID: 99 001102328020  3941

The middle segment is the autogenerated section of the number. For all records created pre-migration (before June 2018), it is the Aleph number + 020 (as in this example); for all records created after migration, it is a truly autogenerated, random sequence of numbers.

Each MMSID ends with the four-digit institution code: Harvard is 3941.

Each record starts with a two-digit code that indicates the record type.

A partial list of 2-digit record type codes:

  • 99: Bibliographic records
  • 22: Holding records
  • 23: Items
  • 12: Digital representation REP (Harvard isn't using this)
  • 13: Digital files (Harvard isn't using this)
  • 53: Portfolios
  • 61: Packages
  • 11: Publishing information for digital inventory (Harvard isn't using this)
  • 21: Publishing information for physical inventory
  • 51: Publishing information for electronic inventory
  • 71: Publishing information for bibliographic records without inventory

 

Switching from Aleph Numbers to Alma MMSIDs

In Aleph, the system number (what we called the "Aleph number" or "HOLLIS number") was a central organizational element that was used to connect records in different systems back to the main database of information through Aleph. Over the 17 years that Aleph was in place, many processes came to rely on the Aleph number, and you may see references to this identifier in local documentation.

During the migration to Alma, as records were imported, the Aleph number was replaced by an MMSID. However, for all records that migrated from Aleph to Alma, the MMSID includes the Aleph number, plus the numbers 020. The Aleph number was also added to the 900 field as a searchable term (see the Harvard-defined MARC fields page for more information).

Again, let's look at our example:

Aleph ID : 001102328

MMS ID: 99 001102328 020  3941

 

Note that for records created new in Alma, the segment in between is not an "Aleph number" and should not be treated as such. Again, it is the entire MMSID that is a unique identifier, not just that central section.
 

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