Alma Electronic Resources Management

If an electronic collection or portfolio is unavailable in the CZ, or is unavailable from the desired vendor and/or interface, it's necessary to create a local collection or portfolio.

Local Electronic Collections are created by clicking on the Add Local Electronic Collection button in the Resources menu. Portfolios are added to the collection as individual portfolios or uploaded using the Portfolio Loader as a batch. It's also possible to populate a local electronic collection with MARC records provided by the vendor using an import profile. 

Standalone Portfolios (or portfolios not attached to an electronic collection) can be added to an existing electronic collection in the CZ, linked to the CZ, or added to a local electronic collection for easier tracking and management.



 Manually Create a Local Electronic Collection

• Create an electronic collection by navigating to Resources menu, Create Inventory section, and click on Add Local Electronic Collection.
• In the Electronic Collection Editor, enter a name and description for the collection. Select the Collection Type (Selective Package), Service Type (Full Text), and select the Library. When complete, click Save and Continue.
  
• In the Electronic Service Editor, select Available for the Service Activation Status.
  
• Verify the Service is correct (Full Text) and enter an optional description in the Service Description tab.
  
• In the Linking tab, enter the URL provided by the vendor and enable the proxy.
  
• Add Portfolios to the collection in the Portfolios tab. Portfolios can be added in one of two ways:
  • Load Portfolios as an Excel file using the Load Portfolios option (See the Using the Portfolio Loader Function box located below.)
  • Create and add a single electronic portfolio by following these steps:
    • Navigate to the Portfolios tab, click Add Portfolio, and select Add Local Portfolio
    • Enter the following information:
      • Creation Type: Create New Title
      • Record Type: One Time or Continuing
      • Placement of New Record: Institution
      • Title, Author, ISSN or ISBN
      • Enter coverage information for journal portfolios
      • Enter the URL provided by the vendor, select the material type, and enable the default proxy
• As always, click Save when complete!

Upload an Excel file of portfolio information to upload an entirely new batch of portfolios, delete an entire batch of portfolios, or make changes to select portfolios. Make sure that identifier numbers in your Excel file are showing correctly before loading the file, as sometimes leading zeros might be incorrectly removed by Excel.

• In the Electronic Services Editor, navigate to the Portfolios tab and click on Load Portfolios.
  

• To batch upload an entirely new set of portfolios, select Complete for the Loading Policy Type and Add Local Portfolios for the Select Action. Make sure that Institution is selected for Select Catalog, upload the file, select Validate Online, and click Next.
• To batch delete an entire set of portfolios, select Complete for the Loading Policy Type and Delete Portfolios for the Select Action. Make sure to also select Delete Bibliographic Record(s) in the Handling Bibliographic Records Without Inventory field. Upload the file and click Next.
  
• To make changes to some of the portfolios in the collection, select Incremental as the Loading Policy Type. A drop down menu will appear in the Select Action section. Select the desired action: update some of the portfolios, delete some of the portfolios, or add new portfolios to the collection. Upload the file and click Next.
  
• Alma will validate the file and make available an Excel file with all the portfolios that did not validate properly on the next screen.
• Download the file as these portfolios will have to be handled manually.
• Click the button to Activate the job which will add, delete, or update the portfolios.

• Start the process to create a local portfolio by navigating to Resources menu, Create Inventory section, and click on Add Local Portfolio
• Add the Descriptive Information for the portfolio:
  • Creation Type: Create New Portfolio
  • Record Type: One Time or Continuing 
  • Placement of New Record: Institution
  • Enter the Title, Author, ISSN or ISBN, and Language information
    
• For Standalone Portfolios, enter the General Information as follows:
  • Portfolio Type: Standalone
  • Select the Library and Interface Name
    
• For portfolios that are part of an electronic collection, enter the General Information as follows:
  • Portfolio Type: Part of an electronic collection
  • Select the Electronic Collection, Service, and Library
    
• Leave the Coverage Information blank for ebooks and streaming media, but enter the start and end dates of coverage for ejournals.
  
• For portfolios that are part of an electronic collection, the Inventory and Linking Information will already be populated. For standalone portfolios, enter the URL provided by the vendor. In either case, be sure to also enable the proxy.
  • Part of an Electronic Collection:
    
  • Standalone:
    
• Click Save and Done when complete.

It's a good idea to go a step further and link standalone portfolios to the Community. By doing so, updates applied to records in the CZ will also be applied to the local portfolio. Linking to the Community saves time in management of the local portfolio in the future.

• After creating the portfolio, click the button to Link to Community.
  
• Select the appropriate portfolio and click Next.
  

• Select the option to Use Descriptive Metadata from the Community (to take advantage of updates and changes passed from the vendor to Ex Libris). Click Next.
  
• Review the information and Click Link to Community.