August 2018 Release - Harvard Highlights
- Laura Morse
- William Walsh
- Allison Powers
- Michael Edwards (Unlicensed)
Ex Libris Documentation
Harvard Alma Working Groups have summarized key changes below. A full list of changes for the release can be found in the official Ex Libris Release Notes.
Analytics & Reporting
Enhancements
- Titles Subject Area
The Library Name and Library Code fields in the Title Details dimension of the Titles subject area now contain data even when there are no items in the holdings record. The data will become available during the month of August, after the August release. - Fulfillment Subject Area
New attributes have been added to Fund Transactions dimension:
- Transaction Allocation Amount
- Transaction Encumbrance Amount
- Transaction Expenditure Amount
- Transaction Foreign Currency Encumbrance Amount
- Transaction Foreign Currency Expenditure Amount
E-Inventory Subject Area
New measures have been added to Portfolio dimension:
- No. of Portfolio (Deleted)
- No. of Portfolio (In Repository Not Linked to CZ)
Resolved
- It is now possible to combine the Fulfillment and Physical Items subject areas and use the Physical Item Details dimension as the common dimension. For example, a report will be able to display the Number of Items from the Physical Items subject area and Loans from the Fulfillment subject area and add attributes and filter the results by fields from the Physical Item Details dimension of the Fulfillment subject area.
- Invoices added by EDI did not appear in Analytics reports. This was fixed.
E-Resources
Enhancements
- License templates - A license can now be saved as a template. (Saved tabs are for: license summary, license terms, group settings, and administrator information.)
- There is now a current & perpetual access type available for electronic collections and portfolios. This combination is in addition to the two previously available types for either current or perpetual access.
Content
- New Electronic Collections added to the Alma CKB
Resolved
- In some cases, when moving between tabs on the Vendor Details page for a vendor that was an access provider, an error appeared. This was fixed.
Acquisitions/Finance
Enhancements
The Reporting Code (which contains the Harvard Object Code) is now available on the Invoice Lines Display Screen. To add this field to your display, first click first on restore defaults, and then choose the fields you would like to display.
The Allocated Fund Code now displayed on the funds list in the PO line and invoice. It is also displayed when the auto complete function suggests funds for adding to the PO line or invoice.
Fulfillment
Enhancements
There is a new option available in the following lists to view the MMS ID:
- Manage In Process Items
- Approval Requests List
- Expired/Active Hold Shelf
- Edit Citations
Resource Management
Enhancements
Authority Control Task List Facet – The Authority Control task list is used to monitor and manage the authority control process in relation to the institution's bibliographic records. It is now possible to facet authority control messages related to bibliographic records that are linked to the Community Zone, which is helpful when you do not want to monitor the authority control process for these records. See Using the Authority Control Task List for more information.
F3 Support for Authority Headings – When you are cataloging authority records in the MD Editor, you can now use F3 from the 5XX fields to display headings information (similar to working with bibliographic records) and select a headings record to update the authority record that you are cataloging. See Editing Authority Records with F3 for more information.
Uniform Title Browse – Uniform Title Browse – There is a new parameter that you can use to control whether uniform titles are included when you perform a Names browse in Browse Bibliographic Headings.
Call Number Search with Exact Phrase – With the completion of the July reindexing, the Contains exact phrase starting with search comparison option is fully available for the following indexes under a titles or holdings search: Dewey decimal class number, LC Call Number, Other Classification Number, Other System Number, Permanent call number (holdings), and Local call numbers. See Call Number Search with Exact Phrase for more information.
F3 Bibliographic Records Tab Filter – A new filter to view only linked records is now available on the bibliographic records tab when viewing an authority record from the F3 results. See the Viewing Bibliographic Records Linked or Available for a Suggested Authority Record section for more information.
Validate Empty Bibliographic Fields – There is a new metadata configuration validation task called Validate Empty Fields in New MARC21 Bibliographic that enables you to perform a validation to confirm that the fields defined in the task configuration are empty when creating a new record in the MD Editor (or with an API, import, PO line, or quick cataloging). See Editing Validation Processes for more information.
Holdings Records Section Added to the Import Job Report – The import job report was updated to include details for holdings records when they are imported. See Holdings Records Report Details for more information.
Matching Options Added to the Import Profile – Two new matching options are available for doing a fuzzy match when importing records. See Extended Fuzzy Serial Match Method and Extended Fuzzy Non-Serial Match Method for more information.
Resolved
- When viewing or editing item records and then canceling or saving, Alma returned to the first page of the List of Items, instead of the current page. This was fixed.
On the Change Item Information tab of the Scan In Items page, the Location defaulted to the first location in the list. The location now defaults to an empty selection.After moving an item from one holdings to another, deleting the first holdings, and then duplicating the item, the duplicated item was created in the deleted holdings instead of the new one. This was fixed.
The known issue where any role with a limited scope (by library assignment) could create and edit item information for non-scoped libraries using Quick Cataloging (Resources > Create Inventory > Add Physical Item > Item Information section > Location drop-down list) or the Physical Item Editor (General tab > Location Information section > Permanent location and General tab > Temporary Location Information section > Temporary location) was fixed. As a result of this fix, any role with a limited scope by library is no longer able to edit item information for non-scoped libraries; and depending on your use of roles and scopes, you may need to modify the library assignments configured for user roles.
The holdings record 852 form editor was fixed to handle repeating subfields. In the 852 form editor, the repeating subfields appear in sequential order with the subfield delimiter separating the repeating subfields after the first instance of the subfield. So, for example, the repeating instances of subfield i in 852 0# $$b MAIN $$c main $$h E457 $$i .C478 $$i .M63 $$i S:55 now appears as .C478$$.M63$$S:55 in the form editor and are resolved properly in the MD Editor. You may edit this subfield information using the form editor and following the same pattern. If you prefer, you may enter a space before the delimiter when you add repeating subfield information as in .C478$$.M63$$S:55 $$.123 $$.456, and the content will resolve properly in the MD Editor.
When importing records using the New Order profile, Alma creates PO lines and, if configured, it will pack them into the same PO. In cases where there are more than 50 records in the input file, Alma splits the records into separate files of up to 50 records each and executes the import in parallel. This caused a deadlock when two processes tried to update the same PO record. This was fixed, and now the process completes without deadlocks.
Some authority records were not available using F3 > View, and could not be linked using Select. These were fixed.
For controlled vocabularies, the suggestion box did not pop up when the text included Hebrew. This was fixed.
In the MD Editor, after pressing F3 to view bibliographic headings, consulting bibliographic records, and then selecting Cancel or Select, the MD Editor left pane became small. This was fixed.
A Cataloger was unable to edit a template that he or she created and then shared. This was fixed.