Ex Libris Documentation

Harvard Alma working groups have summarized key updates below. See the Ex Libris monthly notes for complete details:

• Alma January 2022 Release Notes
• Leganto January 2022 Release Notes

General Information

• The Alma sandbox will be refreshed on February 13, 2022.
  
  
• Search: In some cases when searching for an expression containing both a hyphen and an apostrophe (e.g. Hebrew, Korean) omitting the hyphen from the search by replacing it with a space yielded no results. This was fixed.

Analytics & Reporting

Enhancements

• Num of Digital Accesses field was added to Borrowing Requests > Borrowing Request Details. It indicates how many requested digital files were actually accessed by patrons.
• Year of Publication field was added to the Usage Data > Usage Data Details - Release 5 dimension in addition to its current location in the Usage Data Details - JR5 dimension to make it more accessible when creating reports.

Resolved

• An analytics scheduled report email contains no data. This was fixed.
• Holding Record Modification Date displayed an incorrect value after an indexing job was run. This was fixed.
• Local authorities records were not updated in Alma Analytics. This was fixed and they are now updated daily.
• Digitization requests cancelled by patrons appear in analytics as cancelled by the library. This was fixed.

Acquisitions/Finance

Resolved

• Fixed an issue where a PO remained after the last PO line was removed. The PO is now deleted when no POLs remain. 

Course Reserves/Leganto

Enhancements

• Alert of Associated Reading List when Withdrawing or Deleting Items: 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.
• Leganto: new onboarding experience. Leganto now offers a new series of onboarding screens for instructors, displayed when Instructors log in for the first time. The onboarding screens include GIFs that portray the general concepts underling Leganto and how it can be used, then point instructors to where they can go for more information when they need it.
• Option to set section view for a reading list: When enabled, instructors can use the action Set Section Collapsed/Expanded to override the institution's default setting.
• If an instructor is not assigned to any courses, when selecting Manage course association or Roll Over list, a message now explains why the instructor cannot perform the action. The messages can be customized
• For clarity, the Edit item and Cite It! labels Source and Add Source were changed to URL (citation.field.source) and Add URL (citation.add.src.btn). You can customize both labels in Configuration > Leganto > General > Labels.
• Previously, the full citation view included an indication that an item is also on another reading list. To streamline the instructor and student experience and reduce confusion we are removing this indication.

• On the Edit Citations screen, the facet labels under File were changed from Exists and Not Exist to File Attached and No File Attached.

• The flag disable_resolving_for_no_fulltext_citations (Configuration Menu > Leganto > List Management > Settings) was removed because it is no longer in use.

• It is now possible to drag items to sections that are collapsed.

• On the Edit Citations screen, the facet labels under File were changed from Exists and Not Exist to File Attached and No File Attached.

• Itemized sets now support course sets that are larger than 1000 courses.

• Analytics: New fields were added to the Reading List Citations dimension of the Course Reserves, Leganto Student Usage, and Leganto Instructor Usage Events subject areas.

E-Resources

Enhancements

• The Alma link resolver now attempts to match on both the ISSN and eISSN in the OpenURL, returning services for all matches.
• The electronic collection name filter was added to the P&E tab of the Title-level Overlap Analysis dashboard in Analytics. You can use it to display titles that are part of a specific electronic collection that also have physical inventory.

Resolved

• Fixed issue where inclusion of Public name (override) broke the Online Services Order configuration for electronic collections.
• Fixed the Recent Entities panel to include activated Electronic Portfolios.

Fulfillment

Enhancements

• Library-level patron notifications: 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.

Resolved

• Searching for requests in the Manage In Process Items page by MMS ID did not work. This was fixed.
• Scanning a loaned item generates a message, "Item is already on loan and has been renewed", even though it was not renewed. This was fixed.
• When using Return Items at a desk with hold shelf processing and then at a pickup location without hold shelf processing, the item was not placed on the hold shelf. This was fixed.

Resource Management

Enhancements

• When withdrawing items or portfolios, Alma now returns a warning if the material is being used in course reserves.
• The Alma Derive New Record tool (not to be confused with the Connexion functionality) now includes options for Record Identifier. MMS ID (001) and Other System Number (035) is the default for MARC21 profiles.

Resolved

• You can now press Enter, instead of being forced to click the Go button, at the popup that is displayed when withdrawing the last item on a holding.
• Fixed issue in Firefox where the left panel in the MDE hid part of the bib record for some users.
• Corporate headings with subordinate units or relator terms are correctly handled now by ACTL. (Previously, headings relator terms in $j were not linked, and headings with subordinate units in $e were being duplicated).