Alma Electronic Resources Management

Once a new resource has been acquired and the content provider has confirmed that access is available and active, it’s time to activate the resource in Alma so it’s discoverable in Primo.

Alma assists in the ordering and activation workflow for electronic resources by automatically populating the Electronic Resource Activation Task List with newly ordered electronic resources. When a POL is created for an electronic resource, the resource is automatically added to the Electronic Resource Activation Task List.

If your library is not using the acquisitions functionality in Alma and therefore did not create a purchase order line for the newly acquired resource, it will be necessary to locate and activate the electronic collection from the CZ.

• Find the resource in the Electronic Resource Activation Task List (if a POL was created) or in the Community Zone (if a POL was not created)
• Use the ellipses to select Activate to open the Electronic Collection and Services Set Up Activation Wizard.
• In the Local Electronic Collection Information section, keep the bib record suppressed, do not enable the proxy, and enter an optional public name.

• Do not make any changes in the Central Discovery Index Information section.

• Check the first two boxes in the Full Text Service section: Activate this electronic collection service and Make service available
• Check the last box for aggregator packages only: Automatically Activate New Portfolios
• Enter an optional public name or note, and leave the Activate from Date and Activate until Date fields blank.

• Click Next.
• Enter the appropriate linking parameters for the vendor. See the following SLS FAQ for more information about vendor-specific linking parameters:
  • What Electronic Collections Require Special Parameters to Work, and How Do I Add These Parameters?
• Enable the proxy, select the default proxy, and click Next.

• Select the appropriate Activation Type:
  • For aggregator packages, select Activate All
  • For selective packages, select one of the two following options: activate via Excel upload or manually activate portfolios

• Click Activate on the final page of the wizard to start the portfolio activation job.

If activating a selective package, it's necessary to select portfolios to activate within the collection. Two options exist to activate select portfolios: manually activate portfolios by selecting individual portfolios to activate or activate portfolios as a batch using an Excel file in the Portfolio Loader.

Manual Activation

• When activating the electronic collection, select Manual Activation as the Activation Type during the activation process
• When the collection has been activated, locate the electronic collection in the IZ, and use the ellipses to select Edit Service
• Navigate to the Portfolios tab
• Search or browse the list of portfolios and check the boxes next to portfolios to activate
• When complete, click the Activate/Deactivate button and select Activate Selected
• Click Save

Portfolio Loader (Excel file)

• Before starting the activation workflow, prepare an Excel file of portfolios to activate. The file must follow the Portfolio Loader Template which is available from in the Portfolio Loader documentation from Ex Libris
• When activating the electronic collection, select the Activate Electronic Collection and Selected Portfolios via Excel File Upload as the Activation Type during the activation process
• On the Activation Wizard: File Upload page, complete these steps:
  • Select Institution as the catalog
  • Upload the file
  • Select Validate Online
  • Click Next
• Alma will validate the file to check which portfolios will successfully activate
• On the next page, Alma will indicate how many portfolios successfully validated and how many portfolios did not successfully validate. Download the Excel file of portfolios with errors as these portfolios will have to be manually activated.
• Click Activate to start the activation job

Ex Libris differentiates between "databases," which have no full-text content, and "electronic collections," which include electronic portfolios and full-text. The out of the box "database search" from the Primo VE header doesn't work well because of this distinction, and the Discovery Working has recommended deactivating this search and adding a link to your external A-Z database list instead, under Configure Views, Edit View, Links Menu tab.

If you would like to activate database type collections for acquisitions purposes, you may do that. It's recommended that you suppress that top-level bib record so that it doesn't appear in your Primo search, but if you would like them to show in Primo, just make sure that the collection level link is correct and uses your proxy. You could also suppress the database level bib and use Resource Recommender to call attention to databases by title.

Ex Libris Documentation:

• Resource Recommender

• If using Alma acquisitions, the database will be listed in the Electronic Resource Activation Task List for activation. If not using Alma acquisitions, search the CZ for the record to activate.
• Use the ellipses to select Activate and open the Electronic Collection and Services Set Up Activation Wizard.

• Enter an optional public name and leave the bib record suppressed in the first page of the Activation Wizard. Do not change the information in the Central Discovery Index Information section. Click Next.

• On the next page, click Activate.

If the library acquired a single ebook, journal, or streaming film from a vendor, the single portfolio will have to be activated in Alma from the appropriate vendor and interface. 

• Search the Community Zone by Electronic Portfolio to locate the portfolio and the collection to which the portfolio belongs. Be sure to select the correct vendor and interface that matches the vendor and interface from which you have full text access.
• Search the Community Zone for the Electronic Collection and activate the collection as a selective package
• Select Manual Activation as the Activation Type in the Activation Wizard
• Follow the steps to activate a selective package and only activate the single portfolio acquired from the vendor using the Manual Activation process described in the box above.

Note that access is tested at the portfolio-level, rather than for the collection.

• When the activation job is complete, click on the Portfolio List and use the ellipses for any of the portfolios to select Test Access.

• Click on the collection name to open a new window and verify that users can access full-text content.

If your library is using the acquisitions functionality in Alma and a POL was created for the collection or portfolio, the collection or portfolio will remain in the Electronic Resource Activation Task List until you manually remove it.

• Remove the resource from the Task List once you have activated it and verified that access is working correctly.
• Find the resource in the Electronic Resource Activation Task List by navigating to the Resources menu, Manage Inventory section, and click on Manage Electronic Resource Activation
• Use the ellipses to select Done
• If you are prompted with a message about the bibliographic record being suppressed, use the ellipses to select Unsuppress and then use the ellipses to select Done once again
• The collection or portfolio will be removed from the Electronic Resource Activation Task List
• If you had to unsuppress the bibliographic record, follow the steps in the SLS FAQ to suppress the bibliographic record using the Metadata Editor: How Do I Hide Bib Records for the Top Level of an Electronic Collection or Database from Displaying in Primo?