November 2024 Feature Release - Harvard Highlights

Owned by Avery Clements
Last updated: Oct 30, 2024 by Amanda Schmidt

Ex Libris Documentation

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

General

Enhancements

  • Manage Sets Page
    • A new option to add one or more Labels to a set is now available.
    • Labels will also be available as a facet (you may need to refresh the sets page to see the option). 
    • You can now exclude facets and also save the facets setup for future use, making it easy to reapply it in a single click.

Set labels

Resolved


Acquisitions / Finance

Enhancements

  • Open Access Workflows: New License Type for Transformative Agreements. It is now possible to create a license representing a "transformative agreement". This license contains all the license fields available for other license types, as well as the ability to indicate the number of tokens, and to mark whether the license is limited or unlimited. 
  • The "Available for" field is now displayed for summary funds. the summary fund's "Available for" will be inherited from its related ledger. Also any allocated fund that is linked wth a summary fund will now inherit the "Available for" values from the summary fund.
  • Users can now change the currency of PO lines that were packaged if they are in the following workflow steps: Ready, Sent, Waiting for Manual Renewal, Recurring Renewal, Waiting for Invoice. When a new currency is selected clicking Save removes the PO line from the original PO. If this is the only PO line, the PO will be deleted. 

Resolved

  • Previously, an error occurred sometimes when changing the location of an item from the PO line. This is fixed. 

  • Recent history for associated PO lines was not working. This was fixed. 
  • Material type in ordered items was not updated when saving PO lines created from a template. This was fixed. 

Analytics & Reporting

Enhancements

  • The following fields were added to a new Edition Simplified folder to the Bibliographic Details dimension in all subject areas in which it appears. These fields allow you to differentiate between editions of the same title for reporting purposes:
    • Edition Simplified (Combined) – the values of the Edition Simplified (Num) and Edition Simplified (Text) fields
    • Edition Simplified (Num) – the number of the edition found in the MARC 250 field, simplified
    • Edition Simplified (Text) – the text of the edition found in the MARC 250 field, simplified
    These fields do not display all of the edition information in the bibliographic record and are only a tool for comparison and reporting
  • The following two fields relating to Transformative Agreements were added to the Licenses subject area in a new Agreement Definitions folder:
    • Transformative Agreement Tokens Total – the number of articles that can be published in the agreement period
    • Transformative Agreement Unlimited – indicates if the transformative agreement has a limited or unlimited number of articles that can be published in a year
  • The Created with AI and Enriched with AI fields were added the Bibliographic Details dimension in all subject areas in which it appears. These fields indicate if the bibliographic record of the resource was created or enriched with the AI Assistant.

In addition, the Num of Titles Created with AI and Num of Titles Enriched with AI fields were added to Titles > Titles Measures. They indicate the number of titles created or enriched with the AI Assistant.

  • The following fields were added to Titles > Titles Details regarding item retention:
    • Has Item Committed to Retain – indicates (Yes/No) if the title has at least one item that was marked as Committed to Retain
    • Item Retention Reasons – the reason selected for retaining the item. If there is more than one item with a retention reason, the reasons are concatenated.
  • The prompts of the ACRL/IPEDS dashboard were enhanced so that when a value is selected for one prompt in a tab only relevant values can be selected in the other prompts. This enhancement was implemented for the following tabs:
    • Library Number of Titles (Physical)
    • Library Number of Titles (Electronic)
    • Volume Count
  • The Has W1 field was added to The Other Classifications > NLM Classifications dimension in all subject areas in which it appears. When a bibliographic record has two values in the 060 field, one containing the code W1 and another with a different code, the second code is the one that appears in the NLM Classification Code analytics field. To indicate that the record also contains a W1 value, the W1 analytics field displays Yes. The presence of the W1 code in the bibliographic record indicates that the item is a journal.
  • For POs sent automatically by Alma, the value in the PO Line Approver Primary Identifier field (Funds Expenditure > PO Line Approver) is System.
    The approval data is displayed for automatic POs sent from the November release date and later.
Resolved
  • In Analytics > Funds Expenditure, the vendor contact information (preferred email, preferred address, preferred phone) was taken from the vendor account. This was fixed, and now vendor information is taken from the vendor information in Alma.

Course Reserves/Leganto

Enhancements

  • (Informational)The Leganto UI now provides a dedicated Library View which aims to support more efficient and customizable list processing and list review workflows. When accessing Leganto as a library staff member, the User Menu iconThe librarian view icon.now includes a library behind the user icon, indicating that the user is seeing functionality not available to instructors. Additionally, when hovering over the User Menu icon, Library view is now appended next to the user's name.

  • (Informational)Library staff can now customize their User settings in the following ways; for more information, see Library View:

    • Set the preferred tab when opening an item in full view (default is Links & availability tab)
    • Set the preferred tab when editing an item (default is Item details tab)
    • View tags, notes, and due dates on the full view under the item summary, and visible from all tabs
    • Display a Mark as done icon The mark as done icon. on both item brief and full views.

    • The Mark as done icon can be used to track personal progress while reviewing reading lists. Marking an item as done crosses it off in the UI, enabling you to visually track your progress. It is also possible to filter a list by the Mark as done status. Students, instructors, and other library staff do not see that you have marked an item as done.

    • Additionally, an edit icon The edit icon.is available on the brief view, providing library staff with one-click access to edit items. The edit icon is also available from the full view in Leganto standalone.

    • The course code is now displayed on the section and item stand-alone views of Leganto, ensuring that library staff who navigate directly to a citation from Alma can always view the course context. You can hover over the course code to see the course dates, number of participants, and other details.

    • Lastly, the Citation status can now be updated in bulk, providing the option to set the citation status to any out-of-the-box citation statuses or any custom status configured in the Additional Reading List Citation Statuses table (Fulfillment > Courses). 

  • (Informational)Search the library enhancements; for more information, see Searching for an Item from the Institution's Library.

    • There are a number of enhancements to the Search the library functionality in Leganto. It is now possible to filter a library search by all material Type. The top six filters (by number of results) display, with a Show more option to see all material types. It is still possible to select multiple filters.

    • When searching the library, the Open access icon indicator is now displayed next to the relevant search results.

    • Additionally, the Advanced search now includes the option to search by Publication/Creation date (default Any year).

    • The Advanced search also includes the option to search by an exact phrase.

    • Lastly, the Advanced search includes the option to search by DOI and Publisher

  • (Informational)Save Course Reserves Search Lists:
    • To enable users to save filters/searches as sets, a Save Query button is now available on the Course, Reading list, and Citations task list screens. This makes it much easier to create sets and to take advantage of the bulk jobs available. 

    • Saving a query generates a Logical set with the set type from which the query was saved. By default, the set is Private and Active.

  • When adding/editing an item, the Item details display can now be customized to show/hide the Hide from students checkbox, Due date and/or Note for Students. The parameter item_actions (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Leganto Features) can be left blank to hide all options, set to all to display all options, or set to any combination of hide,date,note to display the Hide from students checkbox, Due date and/or Note for Students. For more information, see Configuring Item Details Display.
  • (Informational)When a citation is in Edit mode, an Open in new tab icon open in new tab icon is now available to support navigating to and checking external (non-link resolver) links on the item Links & availability tab. 
  • In order to keep the instructor informed of the list status, when the parameter List status marked as complete (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Notifications - instructors) is set to Yes (default No), the notification List status marked as complete is available in the Notification type list. 
  • (Informational) Based on customer feedback, we changed the design and behavior of the text formatting options. It is now more obvious where to select to get in and out of the text field, and the formatting options are only displayed when text is highlighted. The formatting options can also be toggled on and off using common keyboard shortcuts (CTRL + B for Bold, CTRL + I for Italics, CTRL + U for Underline, and CTRL + K to insert a link).
  • (Informational) Based on customer feedback, when the Favorites menu does not have any items, the message Start adding items to your favorites is displayed and items can be added using the Add button.
  • (Informational) Based on customer feedback, when no usage data is available for analytics, the Analytics List and Per student tabs now indicate No data to present.
  • (Informational) When viewing a section in Leganto standalone, the Compact view/Expanded view toggle is now available.
  • Based on customer feedback:
    • The error message error.sub_msg.unknown_user label (Configuration > Leganto > General > Labels - New UI) now supports HTML.
    • The Item details tab no longer includes the More item details button when no more details are available.
    • Institutions can now display a message to instructors when duplicating a list. When list.duplicate.message (Configuration > Leganto > General > Labels - New UI) is configured (default blank), the message is displayed at the top of the Create new list window.
    • When hovering over the tooltip, the full course code is now included in the tooltip.
    • When the parameter mark_as_broken (Configuration > Leganto > Features > Leganto Features) is set to all or links, users can now Report a problem with the file or Mark as broken when viewing an image/video in the pop-up.

E-Resources

Enhancements

  • Automatic update of electronic holdings for Elsevier is now based on unique ID. With the November 2024 release, Elsevier autoholdings transitions from ISSN/ISBN matching to a unique key matching approach. This change aims to reduce multi-match situations and enhance the autoholdings process. Future releases will extend this approach to additional providers.
  • Update URL suffix using the "Change Electronic Portfolio/Collection Information" jobs. A new feature has been added to the "Change Electronic Portfolio Information" and "Change Electronic Collection Information" jobs, enabling bulk editing of static URL suffixes. Users can now add, delete, or replace suffixes, such as those used to log into a provider's platform. The updated URL will be applied to the 'Static URL (override)' field.
  • It is now possible to define linking parameters for Database Collections on the Collection Level, which can be used for CDI Direct Linking. Some providers require customized URLs for accessing their content, which include special credentials. Previously, linking parameters for collections with portfolios were configured at the service level. With the new development, you can now define linking parameters at the collection level for database-type collections. These linking parameters are used by CDI direct linking. Note that only database collections that were defined this way in the Community Zone can be configured, and only the CZ-defined linking parameters can be set. The CZ will gradually add relevant linking parameters for database collections, with an initial focus on Gale and ProQuest collections. Notifications for new database collections with available linking parameters will be provided through content release notes and the CZ update task list. 

Resolved

  • The UResolver incorrectly filtered services by date. This was fixed. Previously, for specific journal volumes, the date filter was applied to some portfolios even though they fell within the availability period. The date filter is now correctly applied as intended. 


Fulfillment

Enhancements

  • The Manage Patron Services UI was completely redesigned, in order to leverage new layout capabilities to support a more streamlined workflow at the circulation desk. To turn on the new Manage Patron Services UI, click on your user icon () in Alma's persistent bar, select Feature Rollout Preferences, and activate the New Circulation Desk UI toggle.

    For a webinar showing the new functionality, see The New Manage Patron Services Page Circulation Desk.     For more information on working with the new circulation desk see Managing Patron Services - New Layout.
  • Automatic loan renewal notice:It is now possible to configure the system to send notices to patrons when loans get automatically updated by the automatic renew process. This enables users to have earlier awareness of the due back date , and not only when they receive a courtesy reminder before the due date.
    Watch the Automatic Renew Notices video (1:45 mins).
  • Circulation desk staff can manually override the patron role expiry date that is calculated by the Patron Role Renewal Period policy in the User Registration Rules. This makes it possible for circulation desk staff to easily manage patron roles, without requiring excessive user management roles. Must be turned on by ExLibris.
  • Patron Notification Letter when Hold Shelf Expiry Date is Updated: he system can be set up to notify patrons when the expiry date of an item on hold shelf is changed. This enables patrons to be aware of changes in the hold shelf period that were implemented by the library staff. For more information see Updating the Expiry Date for Requests and Letters.

  • It is now possible to define standard opening hours at the institution level. The institution level opening hours will be inherited by all libraries.
    A library may create its own standard opening hours, effectively disconnecting from the institution level opening hours. For more information see Configuring the Institution and its Libraries.

Resource Management

Enhancements

  • Holding re-linking - new option 
    • When you are relinking the last holding on a bib, Alma will now ask you how you want to handle the bib (suppress, delete, do nothing). 
  • Authority control: Preferred Term Correction can now change the field tag where appropriate.
    • LTS will work with AARGH on the timing of turning on this new option. 
  • Browse Shelf List:  a new column has been added for Author (containing 1XX data)
  • Metadata Editor: new menu option equivalent of F3

    • A new menu option named 'Open Authority Headings' is available in the "Editing Actions" menu.

    • This menu option does the equivalent of using the F3 key in a field for controlled headings – it will open a list to view and select headings from LNAMES, LCSH, etc. 

  • Forthcoming: Searching Bibliographic Records by Language Code (available after re-indexing in November)
    • A new search index, "Language code", was added to enable users to search the code directly as it appears in the record (in 008 or 041).
    • The existing Language index, which contains a dropdown list of MARC language options, has not changed. 

Resolved

  • When viewing a single holdings record from the Holdings action of an item in the Physical Items search results, the Edit and Relink buttons were not displayed. This was fixed.