SUNY Libraries Consortium (SLC) 2017-2022

Members:

Angela M. Rhodes, Morrisville, Chair
Ellen Bahr. Alfred University
Lana Bittman, Fashion Institute of Technology
Timothy Jackson, SUNY Library Services
Chaeyeon Kim, Upstate Medical
Gregg Headrick, SUNY Downstate
Jason Parker, University at Buffalo
Liz Simmons, Genesee Community College

Charge:

The Improvements and Enhancements Working Group will focus on gathering performance and functionality problems with the Alma and Primo systems across SUNY libraries, and work collaboratively with the SLS to pursue avenues for improvements.

The Working Group will work closely in an advisory capacity with the SUNY Library Services (SLS) to help coordinate and strategically address issues related to support, enhancements, and improvements for the Alma and Primo VE systems.

The IE Working Group will advise the SLS on directions and issues in three main areas:

• Supporting issues and trends across SUNY, and working with SLS on how best to engage ExLibris or address potential knowledge gaps with campuses.
• Gathering input and refining the use of SUNY’s development cases with ExLibris, specifically our “Top 5” cases where ExLibris has agreed to work with SUNY to develop solutions.
• Coordination of Enhancement requests via the ExLibris User Group North America (ELUNA) as well as use of the Idea Exchange.

The Improvements and Enhancements Working Group will work with the SLS to review and coordinate:

• Idea Exchange submissions.
• Current discussion in the ExLibris Alma and Primo exlibrisusers.org listserv to find trends or important issues to address.
• ExLibris Alma and Primo Release Notes.
• Basecamp posts to facilitate submission of cases and issues.
• Communication with campuses and other working groups to define cases to be included in “Top 5” cases that ExLibris will facilitate faster development
• Professional development opportunities to improve workflows and configuration.

The SLS will facilitate and coordinate support and high-level vendor management with ExLibris, which includes time-consuming review of cases and issues and negotiation of functionality for requested enhancements. The IE WG will act in an advisory capacity to the SLS to provide input to the SLS and help facilitate communication to and from the larger SUNY library community.

Improvements and Enhancements Made to Alma are Introduced Through Three Avenues:

The following are SUNY's high priorities to address:

1. High rate of lending locate failures for article resource sharing requests.  

   We've seen improvements since the hierarchical locate process was implemented in February 2021, but we've still seeing too many lending locate failures for article requests.  Improvements scheduled for the May 2021 release should drastically reduce the number of lending locate failures.  SLS will provide feedback on May 2021 fixes during June 2021 meeting.  

2. Unable to display information about requesting services to users in Primo.  

   NERS request #6637 was enhanced to allow addition of general description to forms (with option to add a link to this description).  This enhancement is planned for Q4 2021.  Ex Libris presented two workarounds that can be used in the meantime (adding linkable footers to forms, using GES to provide link to more info).

3. Limiting Personal Delivery Options for Resource Sharing to Specific Subsets of User Groups.

   Alma doesn’t allow you to use Job Category as an input parameter for Borrowing Resource Sharing fulfillment unit rules.  We’ve asked that Job Category to be added to the list of input parameters for Borrowing Resource Sharing fulfillment unit rules so campuses can use Job Category to apply a borrowing resource sharing TOU to a subset of a user group.  This will be particularly helpful to campuses looking to provide personal delivery services to some but not all members of a user group.  Ex Libris will provide a response to this request during our October meeting. 

4. Selecting Hold Locations for Interested Users.

   Acquisitions staff can select an interested user when creating an item order.  The item should be automatically placed on hold for that user once the item is received, but SUNY libraries have found multiple issues with this functionality.  These issues can result in the item either being placed on hold at the wrong location or not being placed on hold at all.  We’ve asked that these issues be addressed, and Ex Libris will provide a response to this request during our October meeting.  

5. Primo indexing not reflecting holdings changes in the NZ

   Holdings changes made in a campus look like they've taken effect in the NZ because the campus has been removed from the holdings list, but the NZ bib records are still publishing as available in the campus's Primo. Saving and releasing the record in the NZ forces re-indexing and causes the record to disappear, but we shouldn't have to manually do this, and haven't had to do it for a long time.

Last updated: October 25, 2021