Alma Enhancements to Consider Chart

January 8, 2025

Present: Kara Young, Spruill Harder, J Armstrong, Caitlin Elwood

Agenda

FOLLOW-UPS FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS 

• Confusing Message on Courses Without a List (Resolved)
  • Kara changed the message to "This course currently has no reserve list. If you have any questions, contact your instructor."
• Tags (Resolved)
  • Kara added the tags Caitlin requested
  • Caitlin likes the tags very much
  • We should ask other processors what tags they want
• DRP Books Marked Complete In Error (Resolved)
  • Kara fixed and DRP books are no longer automatically marked complete. They are "Ready for Processing"
• Private Note Being Used Incorrectly by Teaching Staff (Resolved)
  • It now says "Private note (visible on to you)"
• Description Field Being Used Incorrectly by Teaching Staff (Resolved)
  • It now says "Do not enter reserve requests in this field”
• Public Note Does Not Communicate Changes to Library Staff (Resolved with Caveats)
  • Leaving as is
  • May use an analytics report to get this information
• Cancelled Work Orders (Resolved)
  • Kara fixed
• Restore at End of Semester (In Process)
  • When restoring HD items, the books ask to be sent to Widener before being sent to HD
  • Does this actually matter because HD runs a script on the books they receive? 
  • Spruill will send Kara list of barcodes to test issue

NEW DISCUSSION TOPICS 

• LTI 1.3 (In Process)
  • No visual changes; changes mostly in features we do not use.
  • Kara says rolling over lists may be in issue.
  • J will create project pages for this

• Add+ Design Confusion (In Process)
  • The ^ New Item design menu confuses users, as it hides the second drop down where you actually add an item
  • Kara says the new UI addresses this with icons next to the menu items
  • https://knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com/Leganto/Product_Documentation/Leganto_Online_Help_(English)/Managing_Lists_in_Leganto/03_Adding_Resources
  • https://exl-edu.com/15_Leganto/Managing_Lists/02_Add_Items_to_a_List/
• Material Type Statistics (In Process)
  • Spruill wants more consistent use of Material Types for better statistics
    • The current list of material types of long - can it be limited?
    • Different libraries/processors use material types differently. A standard use should be defined
    • Add an internal tag "Library Digitization" to mark all content scanned/produced by the library

• LTI 1.3 (In Process)
  • No visual changes; changes mostly in features we do not use.
  • Kara says rolling over lists may be in issue.
  • J will create project pages for this

• Future Meetings
  • Where to store PDFs
  • ALMA Workflows Project
    • Denise - Reserves Sequester/Seats
    • Caitlin - Automatic Work Orders to Correct Libraries
    • J - Make Jira tickets

May 3, 2023

Agenda

FOLLOW-UPS FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS 

• TAGS Discussion
  • Agree to implement tags as listed.
• Reminder email to instructors to create reading lists 
  • Review and edit Draft Letter (link).
  • Review list of courses and agree to send Draft Letter to these instructors.
    • Unfiltered list of summer 2023 courses can be found in Alma Analytics: /Shared Folders/Harvard University/_Departmental Reports/Reserves/Summer Courses.
    • Excel version of unfiltered list of summer 2023 courses.

NEW DISCUSSION TOPICS 

• Importance of due dates on reserve requests:
  • Leganto Due Date: Is it possible to customize language on the form that instructors use to create their citations?
  • Template Change: Include a section for "Syllabus"
• As we have time, review outstanding enhancements in order of release.

TEMPORARILY TABLED

• List status auto update when citation status changes 
  • J to look into this and report back. Doc is here.
• Out-of-the-box messages 
  • We were curious what these messages are, but we were unable to locate them. Will follow-up with Kara for more information.
  • KY: see below for more info on this.
    

April 19, 2023

Agenda

FOLLOW-UPS FROM PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS 

• TAGS Discussion
  • Excel spreadsheet that compiles the proposed tags
  • NOTES: Group to think about tags and we will agree to implement next time we meet. Kara Young to determine character limit.
    • KY: appears to accommodate long strings of text; entered one on sandbox for testing 5/3
• Reminder email to instructors to create reading lists 
  • You can now create an email to remind instructors to create lists for courses. The email can be launched from the Courses list via the new row action, Leganto create list - reminder email. 
  • NOTES: 
    • J Armstrong to draft letter. Group will review 5/3.
    • J Armstrong & Ronnie Broadfoot to create list of courses.
• No List Expected Field 
  • The No List Expected field was added to the Course dimension in the Leganto Student Usage, Leganto Instructor Usage Events, Course Reserves, and Requests subject areas. (Possible values: Checked and Unchecked). It indicates if the No List Expected checkbox is selected on the course record in Alma or not. For more information on this checkbox, see Indicating that Courses Deliberately Have No Reading List. 
  • NOTES: We are able to exclude courses marked as "no list expected" from reminder email list.
• Citation Material Types 
  • Customers can now add their own citation material types to Leganto (Configuration > Fulfillment > Courses > Citation Material Type). The new types are displayed as part of the Type drop-down menu. 
  • NOTES: Kara Young to add the following types:
    
    • Unlimited user ebook 
    • Limited user ebook 
    • Digital reserve book
  • KY: done 5/3 on Prod
• List status auto update when citation status changes 
  • When a previously completed list has a citation status change due to one of the following parameters set in Configuration > Leganto > List Management > Course Reserves Automatic Statuses. For example, you can choose to have the list status change to Ready for Processing if the citation status changes when the instructor adds a tag. 
  • NOTES: J to look into this and report back. Doc is here.
• List status changed to draft notification 
  • When enabled (Configuration > Leganto > Notifications - instructors > List status changed to draft), all those set to receive notifications will also receive a notification that a list was changed from published to draft. The default for this notification is disabled. 
  • NOTES: We decided to enable this feature.
  • KY: it was actually already set to YES despite what release notes said
• 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. 
  • NOTES: We decided to leave the sections as expanded.

NEW DISCUSSION TOPICS 

• Labels Source and Add Source 
  • 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. 
  • NOTES: We are happy with the labels as they now are.
• Add tag 
  • Updated tag workflow: Previously, when adding or removing tags from a citation, a user selected the Add tag option, then selected or removed the tags, then selected SAVE. Now, users can select Add Tag and select the relevant tags, which are saved automatically. 
  • NOTES: This enhancement is a new standard feature and did not require discussion.
• Receive notifications when Library-External tags are added or removed 
  • Following the addition of the Library-External tag type in the October release, Instructors can now receive notifications when Library-External tags are added or removed. Enabled in are enabled in Configuration > Leganto > Features > Notifications - instructors. These notification types are disabled by default. Notifications are also be sent via email when the Leganto Detailed Notifications Email Letter General > Letter > Letters Configuration (default disabled) is configured. 
  • NOTES: We are not using Library External tags, and so, this configuration does not matter at this time.
• Out-of-the-box messages 
  • Leganto now offers out-of-the-box messages to let users know why a list is not accessible. You can configure these messages from Configuration > Leganto > General > Labels. 
  • NOTES: We were curious what these messages are, but we were unable to locate them. Follow-up with Kara Young for more information.
  • KY: These are the scenarios for which we can customize messages:
    

April 12, 2023

Agenda

Updates and Check-Ins

• In Attendance: Ronnie, Caitlin, Ryan, Carol, J, Kara
• IMPORTANT: If we did not create the PDF, we do not have to remediate it

NOTES

• Reminder email to instructors to create reading lists
  • Does remediation policy change your opinion on this?
  • Trial run this summer with DCE?
  • Law already sends email about it
  • Gutman doesn't have course catalog that far in advance
  • Is this a batch email? Can you email only certain people?
• ALMA-D Files Display in Bib records
  • Multiple volumes on one record are confusing, as the file/link names are not descriptive
  • Kara can turn on a label setting to help distinguish the files/links
  • Someone would have to add in the descriptive label 
  • Digital representations in Alma (Alma-D)
• Professors adding their own files
  • Should this be stopped because of the new PDF requirements?
• No List Expected Field 
  • Kara says it isn't really a possibility for us
• Citation Material Type
  • Think about it and we will talk next time
• Digital Display in Collection
  • What does this mean? Is it copying PDFs?
  • Who uses "collections" in Leganto?
• No List Expected Field
  • Can this help with the batch process of emailing reading list reminder?
• Institutions can now integrate with the Learning Management System via LTI 1.3.  
  • Harvard hasn't done this
  • The MED school specifically asked for a feature this update will have
• Labels can now be imported into Leganto 
  • Are we currently using this?
  • Can this be used to label library uploaded and professor uploaded materials?
• Can tags or statuses be use to indicate what has been remediated?
  • Many more custom tags can be created
  • Can a tag be added to everything which is a pre-June 1st PDF?
  • Can different levels of remediation be indicated?

December 1, 2022

Agenda

Updates and Check-Ins

• Videos and Guided Tours–how are they going so far?
• In Attendance: Kara, J, Spruill, Carol, Caitlin, Ronnie, Ryan

NOTES

• There is a setting to possibly turn a list back to "Ready for Processing" when there are changes on the list. Kara will investigate in sandbox if this actually solves our problem of changes to requests being unfindable.
• Templates for reserves list - J made some different examples, by week, item type, and others. Required/Recommended was suggested by Ronnie.
• Status list by Caitlin will be sent out by J. Please add any additional statuses you would like on the list. These statuses will be visible in Canvas and can be made more descriptive.
• Should we automatically publish lists? Should lists be automatically sent to library? Professors often do not take these two steps themselves and this would eliminate that issue, but lists may be published before the professor actually wants. Shopping period may cause issues with CCC.
• Number of enrolled students - Can this information be automatically populated into ALMA? Kara will investigate in the sandbox. Caitlin suggested guesstimating by the number of TAs listed.

Statuses and Section Templates

Check out (see shared Word Doc) and comment on the new enhancements.

• What statuses do you use while processing?
• Section and section templates

September 15, 2022

Agenda

Updates

• General Messages 
• Publication Statues available in ALMA

Videos and Guided Tours

• Pre-meeting work:
  • Follow the instructions listed in the test parameters.
• During the meeting, we will discuss our findings and decide on next steps.

Quick Review of New Standard Features

• See shared Word Doc for descriptions of enhancements. You may place comments here if you think the enhancement warrants discussion.

Meeting Notes

Present

J, Ronnie, Caitlin, Kara, Ryan

Notes

Kyle Courtney's notice to include in Canvas about copyright:

• Can this be shortened into a preview phrase because this is very long and will take up a lot of screen space?
• You can close out the message but it is large. None of the reserve list was visible while the message was up.
• Will this impact accessibility/usability for screen readers?

This course website contains copyrighted materials. Those materials may include text, images, graphics, audio and video clips, and other content (collectively, the “Content”). In some cases, the copyright is owned by third parties, and Harvard is making the third‐ party Content available to you by various means, including public domain materials, permissions, licensing, or fair use.

The Content is made available only for your personal, noncommercial, educational and scholarly use. You may not use the Content for any other purpose, or distribute or make the Content available to others, unless you obtain any required permission from the copyright holder. Some Content may be provided via streaming or other means that restrict copying; you may not circumvent those restrictions. You may not alter or remove any copyright or other proprietary notices included in the Content.

Reviewed enhancements from (see shared Word Doc) and no one had anything to discuss.

Discussed guided tour videos but not everyone had watched them. 

For next time: check out  (see shared Word Doc) and comment on the new enhancements.

• What statuses do you use while processing?
• Section and section templates

August 11, 2022

Agenda

• Pre-meeting work:
  • Follow the instructions listed in the test parameters.
• During the meeting, we will discuss our findings and decide on next steps.
• Can we keep track on the main enhancements page? Fulfillment Enhancement Review (FER) Area#Leganto (KY)

Meeting Notes

Present

Ryan, Carol, J, Kara, Caitlin

Notes

IMPORTANT :  Vote for which guided tour videos to use : Testing: Video Guides and Guided Tours

Discussed archive.org appearing in HOLLIS

• https://help.archive.org/help/borrowing-from-the-lending-library/
• 1-hour loan should theoretically always be possible with waitlist
• Should we rely on this?
• How does archive.org manage copyright?

Discussed guided tours in Leganto

• List templates? Should we use them?
• Use of public notes
• Can students see these videos? Should students have their own videos?
• Vote for which guided tour videos to use : Testing: Video Guides and Guided Tours

Default search in Leganto

• Can Kara turn off the checked box full-text only?
  • KY: Yes: To enable Leganto users to include results without full text in Primo Central search results, set primo_include_non_fulltext_option to default_true or default_false.
  • Configure in Leganto > Primo Integration > primo_include_non_fulltext_option > default_false

Use of tags in Leganto 

• No one says they use them and why the three we have exist is unknown
  • KY: used in two courses, could be accidents
• Who does use them?
• Are statuses better?

Enabling annotations of PDFS in Leganto

• Does anyone use it?
• Can it be turned off?

New citation statuses appeared in ALMA - Why?

KY: this might be due to differences in sandbox envi. I'm not seeing it in prod. Could be the result of other testing.

• On order
• In rialto cart
• Rialto awaiting approval

Reading List/PDFs access - Publication Statues available in ALMA

• All Students Restricted (PUBLIC) – All students can view the list as a syllabus, but only course students can access the course materials.
• Course Students (RESTRICTED) – Course students (only) can view the list and access the course materials (electronic citations and uploaded files).
• Anyone Restricted (OPEN_TO_WORLD) – Anyone with a permalink can view the list as a syllabus, but only course students can access the course materials.
• All Students Full (REGISTERED) – All students can view the list and access the uploaded or electronic citations.
• Anyone Full (FULL) – Anyone with a permalink can view the list and access the course materials.
• Anyone Restricted, All Students Full (PARTIAL) – Anyone with a permalink can view the list as a syllabus; all students can access the course materials.
• Draft (DRAFT) – The list is not visible to students.
• Archived (ARCHIVED) – Not visible in Leganto, cannot be found by searching in Leganto, and is not rolled over by a course rollover, but continue to appear in Analytics. The list becomes unassigned. You can unarchive the list on the Reading List Tasks List page (see Editing a Reading List).
• Published (in filter on Reading List Tasks List page, only) – Published matches all reading lists that are not Draft, Archived, or Deleted.
• Active (in filter on Reading List Tasks List page, only) – Active matches all reading lists that are not Archived or Deleted.
• Deleted (DELETED; in filter on Reading List Tasks List page, only) – A deleted, but not purged, list. A deleted list is not visible in Leganto, cannot be found by searching, is not rolled over by a course rollover, and does not appear in Analytics.

July 14, 2022

Agenda

• Pre-meeting work:
  • Review the below enhancements and comment on the shared Word Document. (I will move these 5 to the top so they are more easily located within the larger list.)
  • As you have time, look through the rest of the enhancements and mark those that you think are not necessary to review. (e.g., because they have no action associated with them.) 
• During the meeting, we will discuss our findings and decide on next steps.

Meeting Notes

Present

J Armstrong, Carol Kentner, Kara Young, Ronnie Broadfoot

Notes

We discussed the following information sources that instructors have available to them via Leganto/Ex Libris:

• Video Tours/Guided Tours
• Help Pages
• Useful Links
• Onboarding Screens

Video Tours/Guided Tours

• Both Video Tours and Guided Tours are now turned on in the Sandbox.
• They may be accessed by clicking on the ? icon in the header of a Reading List.
• 
• The LER Subgroup will review each video and each guide before the next synchronous meeting.
• J will create testing parameters and post these to the wiki.

Help Pages

• Help Pages are accessed via the "Help" link in the below menu.
• 
• While these help pages are customizable, the LER Subgroup decided to keep them as they are for now.

Useful Links

• Useful Links are accessed via the Link icon in the header.
• Useful Links are defined by Library Staff.
• The LER Subgroup discussed options for what we might want to include as a Useful Link:

  • Harvard Library Course Reserves Service Page?

  • Liaison contact information?

  • Links to individual Schools' course reserves information resources?

• We determined it would be best to start with just the Library Course Reserves Service Page.
• This led to a discussion about what ought to be included on the Service Page if the majority of our "how-to" content moves to Ex-Libris-provided links.

Onboarding Screens

• Onboarding Screens are seen by instructors the first time that they access Leganto. They are turned on by default.
• You may watch a video of what these look like here:

Additional Points of Discussion

Configure notifications for when new notes are added to a list 

• We decided not to change any current configurations.

You can now add a second page range for citations of type Book Extract 

• We decided to adopt this enhancement without testing.

 Update a set of courses with the Course Bulk Update job 

• This enhancement is a new standard feature and did not require discussion.

Display item’s chapter number in brief display 

• We decided to adopt this enhancement without testing.

 Add general message to top of reading list citations 

• We discussed the role that this feature may have in communicating copyright information to students and instructors.
• This requires follow-up from J and Spruill. 

Select how permalinks appear in export file 

• This enhancement is a new standard feature and did not require discussion.

Automatically Create First Section When Creating a List in Leganto 

• While this enhancement is a new standard feature and did not require discussion, it did motivate some thoughts about our creating new templates for instructions and library staff. 
• J will solicit ideas for templates, and we can test creating them in the Sandbox.
• During our discussion of templates, we discussed how unwieldy large lists are. We discussed the possibility of having it be a default setting that all sections in the list are collapsed. This is a possibility, but requires further discussion–perhaps in consultation with Amy Deschenes. 

June 30, 2022

Agenda

• Kick-off meeting