Items & Holdings Overview

Because Alma contains every step in the life of an item - from order to cataloging to inventory maintenance to de-accessioning - information about item records crosses most functional areas. For this reason, they get their own section.

Introduction to Alma Inventory

Alma’s inventory is comprised of the intellectual entity (IE), a middle level, and an item.

Basic Alma Inventory Design

Intellectual Entity (IE)

The IE is the resource that is managed. The IE provides a pointer to the metadata (MMS) record at the inventory level. Within Alma, the IE is mostly transparent and is not discoverable on its own, but allows Alma to point to a combination of community and institutional records from the local inventory.

Middle Level

The middle level as a grouping level for the different resource types:

For physical resources, the middle level contains the holdings information such as the Main library or Law library holdings.
For electronic resources, the middle level contains the electronic service information such as full text or selected full text.
For digital resources, the middle level contains the representation information such as master copy or derivative copy. (Note: Harvard is not using the digital resources functions of Alma).

Item

The item is the inventory level for fulfillment and usage. This level inventory contains information about the physical item, the electronic portfolio, or the digital file.

Inventory Model Examples

Physical Inventory - Monograph

Physical Inventory - Serials

Electronic Inventory - Serials