June 2024 Release - Harvard Highlights

Owned by Allison Powers
Last updated: May 30, 2024 by Kara Young
6 min read

Ex Libris Documentation

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

General

Enhancements

  • (blue star)   Additional Local Parameter Fields Now Available 

An additional 20 local parameter fields were added to the Bibliographic Details dimension in all subject areas in which it appears (for a total of 30 local parameter fields). These fields allow you to use customizable fields in your reports. Note that you must contact Ex Libris Support to add these fields. For more information, see Local Param 1-30.


  • New Alma cloud app available: item updater by excel. Please register with LTS prior to use. 

Acquisitions / Finance

Enhancements

Resolved

  • In some cases the Receiving workbench did not display all of the PO lines for an invoice. This was fixed.
  • There were performance issues related to the associating/disassociating of PO lines with holdings records. A tracking mechanism was implemented to monitor this. 

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 Analytics fields. For this month, the following tables within the Purchase Requests subject area have been updated:

The new Linked Open Data dimension was added to the Titles subject area of analytics. It contains the following fields that are relevant to the new BIBFRAME metadata schema:

    • Has Work – indicates that the bibliographic record has Work
    • Instance URI – the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that identifies the instance
    • Work MMSID – the MMS ID for the work of the instance
    • Work URI – the Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that identifies the work of the instance

In addition, the measure field, Num of Titles (Instances) with Work, was added to the Title Measures dimension. It measures the number of titles with a related work. For more information on the Linked Open Data dimension, see Linked Open Data. For more information on BIBFRAME, see BIBFRAME Support.

  • New Preferred Contact Information Fields For Vendors

The following preferred contact information fields were added to the Vendor dimension in the Funds Expenditure, Licenses, Purchase Requests, and Usage Data (Counter) subject areas. They display the default contact information used for the account.

    • Preferred Address
    • Preferred Address Note
    • Preferred Email
    • Preferred Phone Number

In addition, the Primary Product URL field was added to these locations. It displays the URL with URL type Primary Product. If there is more than one primary product URL, only one is displayed. For more information, see Vendor.

  • Additional Local Parameter Fields Now Available

An additional 20 local parameter fields were added to the Bibliographic Details dimension in all subject areas in which it appears (for a total of 30 local parameter fields). These fields allow you to use customizable fields in your reports. Note that you must contact Ex Libris Support to add these fields. For more information, see Local Param 1-30.

  • The DC Format field was added to the Bibliographic Details dimension for every subject area in which it appears. It displays the file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource cataloged in Dublin Core. For more information, see Bibliographic Details.
  • The DC Classifications and LC Classifications values for physical items can now be taken from the bibliographical record and not just from the holdings record. To support this new feature, the existing dimensions in Physical Items subject area are now named DC Classifications - Holdings and LC Classifications - Holdings and two new dimensions were added: Dewey Classifications - Bibliographic and LC Classifications - Bibliographic that display the values from the bibliographic record. For all other subject areas, DC Classifications and LC Classifications values are taken only from the bibliographic record. For more information, see LC Classifications - Holdings, LC Classifications - Bibliographic, Dewey Classifications - Holdings, Dewey Classifications - Bibliographic.
  • The following fields were added to Requests > Request Details:
    • From Another Institution
    • From Another Institution Circ Desk
    • From Another Institution Library

    These fields display the institution, library, and circulation desk from which items were requested in a fulfillment network.

Resolved  

  • There was a discrepancy between the Usage TR_J1 field (E-Inventory > Cost Usage Measures) and the TR_J1 - Unique Item Requests field (Usage Data > Usage Data Details - Release 5). This was fixed.
  • On the Analytics Object List page, when creating an object of type Report, selecting Excel as the export format, and switching the path to a dashboard, the export format stays Excel even though the object is a dashboard that can only be exported as a PDF. This was fixed, and now the export format for the dashboard changes to PDF.


Course Reserves/Leganto

Enhancements

  • Quick edit can now be customized to show/hide the Hide from students checkbox, Due date and/or Note for Students. The parameter quick_edit_options (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Leganto Features) can be left blank to hide all options, set to all to display all options, or any combination of hide,date,note to display the Hide from students checkbox, Due date and/or Note for Students. Regardless of the parameter configuration, all options remain visible in the Item details tab on the Full display.

  • The New UI now includes new parameters to support additional reading list processing workflows. If the current processing workflows are working well for you you probably do not need to make any changes. However, if you are struggling to replicate your classic UI processing workflows in the new UI, one or more of the following new configuration options may help you.

    • Some libraries report that when instructors are adding items to a list that is already published, they want instructors to finish making changes before sending the list to the library. Administrators can now control the status for items added to a published list. When the parameter auto_send_list_updates (Configuration > Leganto > List Management > Settings) is set to true, which is the default setting, as soon as a list is published, all items added after the list is published are automatically sent to the library, including items added after the list is published, and the items receive the Library Processing status. When auto_send_list_updates is set to false, items added after the list is published receive a Draft status, and the banner indicating that changes to the list have not been sent to the library is displayed at the top of the list.
    • Additionally, some libraries report that they only review resource lists when the instructor specifically asks the library to do so. Previously, the new UI automatically sent all lists to the library. Now, libraries can provide instructors with the option to send a list for review or publish a list as two separate options. When the parameter instructor_publishing_options (Configuration > Leganto > List Management > Settings) is set to 4 and auto_send_list_updates is set to false, instructors have the option to either send the list for review, publish the list, or simultaneously send the list for review and publish the list. 
    • Finally, some libraries report that because the list status automatically changes to Ready for Processing when new items are added to a published list, they are struggling to manage workflow queues, especially when using custom reading list statuses to track specific steps in their processing workflows. Now, when new items are added to a list that has already been sent to the library but has a status that is not Complete, the list status can be configured. The value for the list_new_citation_in_sent_list parameter (default Ready For Processing) (Configuration > Leganto > List Management > Course Reserves Automatic Status) is applied to the list when new items are added to the list, the list has already been sent to the library, and the list status is not complete.
  • June 2024 Leganto New UI
    Based on customer feedback,  users can now configure whether to show/hide the Complete status for items from the brief view. When the parameter complete_citation_status (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Leganto Features) is set (default blank), items with a status of Complete will have their status display in the brief view. The parameter can be configured for both librarians and instructors (all), just librarians (librarian), or just instructors (instructor). When left blank, the status is not displayed.
  • June 2024 Leganto New UI
    Based on customer feedback, when the parameter force_direct_uresolver (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Leganto Features) is set to false, the More options button is hidden. When selecting View online, the Full display is presented for the item.


E-Resources

Enhancements

Resolved

  • In the portfolio loader, if different identifiers in different rows of the import file both matched the same portfolio in the CZ, the portfolio was activated twice. This was fixed.