Ex Libris Documentation

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

• Alma March 2024 Release Notes
• Leganto March 2024 Release Notes

General 

Enhancements

• The method of creating a performance tracking file has changed. Previously a performance tracking file could be created after completing a task and noticing slowness. With this change you need to "Start a Performance Tracking Session" first.

• • Select the Alma help menu () > Start Performance Tracking Session.

• • Reproduce the performance issue.
  • When you have completed recording the session, select the Alma help menu () > Stop Performance Tracking Session and Generate File.

• • The generated performance tracking file can be accessed from the download icon () in your browser.

Analytics & Reporting

• Enhancements

  • Updated Documentation for Analytics Tables

    As part of an ongoing project and in alignment with the Analytics Community of Practice, Ex Libris is currently enriching the documentation of several analytics field tables each month with additional information. This initiative aims to assist and support users in comprehending how our Alma data is presented within the realm of Alma Analytics. For this month, documentation of the following tables within the Funds Expenditure subject area have been updated:

    • PO Line
    • Dewey Classifications

  • Loan Measures Dimension Added to Physical Items Subject Area

    The Loan Measures dimension was added to the Physical Items subject area. It contains measure fields that display the number of loans per item that were made either in the past two, three, four, five, or more than five years ago for either in house, not in house, or total loans. For more information, see Loan Measures.

  • Has Perpetual Electronic Access field was added to the Titles > Title Details. It indicates (Yes/No) if the access type of the electronic title is Perpetual. Note that if the access type is mixed (current and perpetual) the value of this field is No.

  Resolved

  • When running a report with the Physical Items > Physical Item Details > Has Committed to Retain field, the count of "No" values changes when the "Retention Reason” field is added to the report. This was fixed.
  • In the Primo analytics subject area, Customized Values Usage, the Year field displayed the thousands separator in the default format. This was fixed, and now no separator is displayed.
  • The Fulfillment > Patron Details > Patron Group field was sometimes empty in reports for renewed items depending on the renewal date. This was fixed.
  • Users without the Design Analytics role could not export reports with prompts. This was fixed.

Course Reserves/Leganto 

Enhancements

• NERS: notify users when broken links are resolved: It is now possible to send notifications to users who have reported broken links when the library staff has resolved the issue. Upon selecting Remove to remove a broken link alert in Alma, the staff member is prompted to Confirm that they do want to remove the broken link alert. Additionally, the confirmation message now includes the option to send a notification to the user about the resolved link. To send the broken link notification, keep the Notify user checkbox checked and select the relevant notification template (configured from (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Broken Link Notification Template Name)) for the fixed link. The text from the template displays in the Note to user box, and can be customized if needed. There is one out-of-the-box template which reads "We have resolved the issue. You can now access the item using the link below."
• You can now configure a citation status to be automatically applied when a copyright request is submitted by setting the status in the citation_copyright_clearance_submitted (Configuration > Leganto > List Management > Course Reserves Automatic Statuses) parameter.
• When the parameter force_PDF_viewer (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Leganto Features) is set to true, when opening a shareable link to a PDF, the user is automatically directed to a PDF of the citation rather than to the full citation in Leganto. Files with copyright restrictions require the user to be logged in to view the citation. A LOGIN button is now available in the PDF viewer to enable users to log in to view the citation. 
• New UI:
  • It is now possible to automatically trigger the copyright clearance form when a file is added to a citation in Leganto. To enable this feature, ensure that the parameter instructor_copyright_clearance (Configuration > Fulfillment > Copyright Management > Leganto Copyright Settings) is set to course_association. The copyright clearance form will appear when the list is linked to a course and the user selects a copyright option that is mapped to a Copyright Status (Configuration > Leganto > List Management > File Upload Copyright Options) that is not set to Self Declared, Fair Use, Declined, or Approved. The status of the copyright request is viewable in the Item actions > Library services section.
  • Import citations from EndNote: When endnote_enabled (Configuration > Leganto > General > External Integrations) is set true, EndNote appears as an options in the Settings  menu > Reference managers > Add citation managers.
  • The List description, section Description, and note Description can now include formatting or links using the floating format menu that displays when adding the note. Select Save to save your changes.
  • When filtering a list, you can now select multiple filters for Tags. The filter is applied using an OR condition rather than an AND condition.
  • Tags and Private notes can now be added to Favorites in bulk.
  • When sorting items by Author, for items that only have an Additional person and no Author, the Additional person is treated as an author, and the item is sorted according to the Additional person. 
  • Due to loading times, the default presentation for lists that contain more than 150 items is collapsed regardless of the settings in the parameter sections_collapsed (Configuration > Leganto > UI > Settings). Institutions that had previously configured all lists to be opened with sections collapsed specifically due to performance issues should consider changing the parameter to show sections expanded for all lists shorter than 150 items. 
  • When searching for a list, Leganto now returns lists that contain all of the search terms in any combination of searchable fields. For example, a search for "Introduction history" returns lists with "introduction" in the list title or description and "history" in the course name. This flexible search behavior makes it easier for users to find the lists they are looking for using the simple search. 
• Analytics: The Detailed List Usage tab was added to the Leganto Usage DV dashboard. It provides a detailed list of student usage in Leganto. For more information on the Leganto Usage dashboard, see Leganto Usage Dashboard.