Systems Work Group Blog

On March 3, 2025, the Systems Work Group hosted an office hours/demo session focusing on Ex Libris Cloud Apps. The Cloud Apps platform was announced in summer 2020, not long after our consortium's implementation. Currently some CCC institutions use them actively, others occasionally, and still others not at all.

Cloud Apps were introduced in part to provide better access to Alma's numerous APIs. These APIs (an acronym that stands for application programming interface, which doesn't necessarily clarify things) are enormously powerful tools because they facilitate the retrieval and updating of Alma data without going through the Alma interface. If you think of almost anything in Alma—physical item records, user records, electronic portfolios and so on—there is a good chance these can be accessed and updated via APIs. 

To make use of these APIs, people generally write code, using programming languages such as Python or PHP. They can share this code with others, but to adapt such code to the needs of a different library, someone would normally need to possess some competence in the coding language, and might need access to a web server or other technical resources. By contrast, Cloud Apps are developed to run within the Alma UI and can supply options to the user graphically rather than via written code. As a result, anyone who finds a Cloud App useful can run it with no need to understand or manipulate the underlying code.

Some Cloud Apps are published by Ex Libris staff. Others are published by developers at libraries. Writing a Cloud App is not simple; it requires not only understanding how APIs operate, but also some facility in developing using the Angular framework. Current Systems Work Group member Jay Hartzell (MiraCosta College) has developed the Preferred Language Updater Cloud App, which retrieves an itemized user set and changes the preferred language setting in each user record to the language indicated in a dropdown menu, so that those users will receive Alma letters in that language. This is a great example of how Alma APIs simplify what would otherwise be a laborious process of opening each user record, clicking where needed, and saving, and also of how publishing a Cloud App makes running this process from within Alma convenient.

Some Cloud Apps function similarly to Alma jobs: the user drags an Excel file to the Cloud Apps window and triggers a bulk process. Others take what is currently on the Alma screen and provide additional functionality. Our demos featured one of each of these types. We hope they are useful to those exploring the use of Cloud Apps.

Demos

• Demo: Items Creator by Excel

  Jeff Karlsen (Sacramento City College) demonstrated how to use a Cloud App to create multiple physical items from a single spreadsheet.

• Demo: Multiple Items Edit

  Yvonne Reed (Victor Valley College) demonstrated how to use a Cloud App to easily edit multiple items listed on the screen without opening each one.

Resources

• Configuring and working with Cloud Apps

  Key info on making Cloud Apps available in your Alma institution, provisioning user roles, and so on

• Ex Libris App Center - Cloud Apps

  Here you can browse all published Cloud Apps

• Cloud Apps Developer Guide - Getting Started

  If you are curious about how to develop a Cloud App, all the info is here

• How can I create physical items in batch using an Excel file? (Cloud App)

  Instructions from the Los Rios Libraries on using the Items Creater by Excel Cloud App

Feb. 2025 Alma Release Notes had a few systems-related updates including the continuing migration to the new patron and title UIs, local labels in repository searches and set management, AI Metadata Assistant rollout, and more. We also wanted to highlight a few posts from the Developer’s Network Tech Blog.

Alma Release Notes

Full AI Metadata Assistant Availability

In the suite of AI tools provided by Ex Libris so far, this one allows library staff to create or enhance records using AI. So interesting! The potential of using AI for cataloging is of course the domain of our cataloging and technical services colleagues and there are policy compliance considerations for any NZ records, but there are a few steps you need to take as a general systems administrator.

1. Turn on AI in Configuration. Navigate to the AI Usage Profile in Alma Configuration. There is a disclaimer and you choose to turn on AI for metadata by indicating Yes. There are also settings for normalization, merge methods, etc.
2. Give the cataloger the appropriate role, AI Assisted Cataloging.

Where do you find the AI assistance in the MDE? Look for the AI little stars under the New menu and the Editing Actions menu.

New Patron and Title UIs Transition

The transition from the old UIs to the new dashboard-like UIs is underway and the new UIs are now the default. Administrators can check on who is opting out if they want to help the transition along.

In Alma Configuration, (Configuration > General > Feature Rollout Configuration) you can set your library’s default and see a list of who has opted out of the current default.

Labels in Sets and Records

Having the ability to tag items and sets so that you can manage them effectively has been a longstanding need. Often we come up with our own hacks or workarounds to just get things done. This new capacity may help! You can add and remove local labels to help when you are working on a project or need to filter a complicated set of items. Over time, the sheer number of sets you may use can get out of hand. Try out filters as a tool to manage your sets and projects without needing to add fields to bibs or item records.

Note: Roles are important! The ability to add or remove labels is only available to Manager and Administrator roles. Operators can view labels.

Repository Search Labels

Labels in Sets

Alma Acquisitions Improvement

If you are using the Alma Acq module, you might be happy to hear of just one of the improvements that came from the Idea Exchange this month. Changes in Bibliographic Records Reflected Automatically in PO Lines was greeted at my library with a resounding Yes!!!! Eliminating the need for a manual step is always welcome. This does require enabling by a general systems administrator. In Alma Configuration (Acquisition>General>Other Settings) you can set po_line_description_update_upon_bib_change to true to enable this functionality.

Functions Moved to Central Configuration Dashboard

There are two new functionalities now available in the Central Configuration Dashboard (CCD), a powerful tool that was added within the last year to help consortium managers make changes to member institution IZs. Opening hours and code and mapping tables are now available in the CCD. Since our NZ Administrator, Pawel, has access to the CCD, the continued improvements and upgrades may be of use to us.

From the Developer’s Network Tech Blog

For many of us who work on systems projects, the Ex Libris Developer’s Network is a great resource for information sharing and testing integrations with Alma and Primo. A few recent posts and content are worth mentioning.

How to use the Ex Libris Secure FTP service

If you don’t have ready access to an FTP server, you can use the server provided by Ex Libris. This post walks you through the basics and provides links to documentation. For many of us, this free server became an option after we had migrated and set up what we needed for day to day operations.

Automating Letter and Code Table Exports from Alma

If you are interested in automating your letters management using some smart tools, check out the post on using Python and Git to export your letters info and keep track of changes over time. If you have not used Python or Git for a project, this may be a place to start!

Library Open Workflows Posts

For the past few months, several posts have been posted about the new Library Open Workflows. If you are curious, these posts may be a great place to explore this emerging premium tool.

The November release brings two big redesigns of core features in the Alma experience: the title search and manage patron services user interfaces. These features can be enabled for a user account by logging in, clicking the account icon in the top-right corner > feature rollout preferences > toggle the slider for each new UI.

When will these redesigned changes go live?

Initial release,  November 2024 (December 2024 for title search because of some bugs), is opt-in; in the February 2025 release the new UIs will become opt-out; and full activation (old UI no longer available) is slated for May 2025.

Title UI Update Changes

ExL made significant changes to the layout of the title search screen. The stated intention was to streamline workflows by bringing common tasks with title results lists into the results window.

One thing to note for systems administrators is that while the new title UI offers a lot of granular customization options, you may find yourself spending a chunk of time getting the initial institutional configuration set up. This is both because of the number of customizations available and the need to customize results for each search scope. So, physical titles won't have the same options as electronic titles or all titles; and the customizations you make for IZ searches are not automatically applied to NZ or CZ searches. That said, putting together some basic customizations for frequently-used search scopes may be worthwhile.

Manage Patron Services UI Update

The primary window for fulfillment, the Manage Patron Services screen, underwent a significant overhaul. 

Some significant differences between the old and new UI:

• User account information is now in a column on the left side.
  • Some aspects of how user account information displays can be changed: users can drag the patron notes, system notes, or fines and fees windows to change their relative order.
• The item list can be customized to display as a compact table or larger rows with more detail.
• Which columns are displayed and their order can be customized, similar to other screens in Alma. (For example, I hid the Labels and Notes columns, and relocated Barcode to near the Title for easier viewing).
• Importantly, systems administrators can provide institution-level configuration changes to this screen that are inherited by all users. So, if your institution doesn't use one of the default display fields, you can remove it globally for all users.
• The quick user management screen (accessed by clicking on the primary identifier of the user) is now a pop-out window, rather than a full-screen account details page.

Feature Promotion

ExL has added a pop-up alerting Alma users to new features such as the new manage patron services UI. Feature promotion is enabled by default. If you want to disable it institution-wide, simply disable Digital Adoption in configuration.

Automatic Loan Renewal notifications

Up until now, users who had loans that were automatically renewed were not notified of the renewal. … which, if it seems weird to you, you're not alone. From Ex Libris's end, the idea seemed to be that users didn't necessarily need to know their due date unless they needed to return an item, so the only notification they received with an updated due date was the courtesy notice sent just before the item was due. Essentially the Send Courtesy Notices and Handle Loan Renewals job would attempt a renewal, and if it wasn't possible and was within the courtesy notice threshold, it would send a courtesy notice instead.

Regardless of the reasoning, the lack of any coherent notification mechanism for automatic renewals made this feature dead-in-the-water for many institutions. But thankfully the November release revives the utility of this feature.

Do I have to enable something?

Yes!

If you already have automatic loan renewals set up, just navigate to the Fulfillment Jobs Configuration (Configuration > Fulfillment > Fulfillment Jobs Configuration), scroll down to Send Courtesy Notices and Handle Loan Renewals Job. Find the checkbox for Notify Automatic Renewals, click it, then Save your changes. Then go to the Letters Configuration page and make sure the Automatic Loans Renew Notice letter is enabled.

If you haven't configured Automatic Loan Renewals, refer to the ExL documentation on the subject.

--Jay Hartzell, MiraCosta College

The Systems Work Group is initiating its blog with this post, which highlights systems-administration-oriented enhancements from the May and August 2024 Alma releases. Going forward, you can expect a post from our work group not too long after each quarterly release.

Note that not all interesting enhancements are covered. The idea here is to highlight those enhancements focused on high-level system administration, bulk processes, integrations and so on. So improvements to, say, the metadata editor, discovery features, or fields in electronic collections or portfolios are not likely to be mentioned unless perhaps there is a configuration required to enable it. In addition, we are making judgment calls as to which of the many enhancements are of most interest to our consortium’s libraries. 

User-level configuration of Alma color scheme (August)

This might seem trivial, but some of us have found that staff working in Alma absolutely love being able to choose their own colors. Alma being Alma, you will need to configure a setting allowing the colors to be customized. Do it, then announce it to your Alma users; it’s your very own Wizard of Oz.

Scheduling support for manual jobs (May)

On the one hand this seems like a great enhancement; on the other, in the work group we weren’t coming up with a lot of use cases. But if you find yourself regularly running the same job on a logical set–i.e. The set logic won’t change and the job parameters will always be the same–then you can now set this up to run itself daily, weekly, or whatever. Note that here we are talking about jobs that you access via Run a job; not every Alma bulk process starts there.

Pin Analytics Objects to Selected Roles and Users (August)

You might remember that, when our consortium went live with Alma, it was possible to use the Analytics Object List to make particular reports appear in the Analytics menu within Alma for all users with particular assigned roles. Later, when the Objects List and Analytics menu were redesigned, we lost that ability–the entire menu was personalized, and now depended on users selecting reports to show there.

This enhancement allows Analytics admins to use the Objects list to pin reports or dashboards to a “Pinned by Admin” section of the Analytics menu. The setup remains essentially personalized: users can leave a report in that section, favorite it to move it up to their main listing, or remove it. 

If you start pinning reports–and we recommend you do–it’s a good idea to communicate with your Alma users about why they’re seeing what they’re seeing.

Enable Cloud App Activation per Role (August)

Many of us are using at least one or two cloud apps. While they are in some cases very useful supplements to what we can do using the ordinary Alma UI, they have opened up some security gaps, since they were launched without good tools for limiting access to them. This enhancement allows admins to limit access by either:

• Assigning a “cloud apps” role allowing access to all cloud apps
• Providing access to cloud apps based on the kinds of entities the apps act upon. For example, users with roles allowing them to edit physical inventory would have access to cloud apps that modify physical inventory.

We recommend you configure this if you use cloud apps!

Support Parallel Work in Multiple Tabs in Internet Browser (May)

While this sounded great, some of us are finding that in practice it doesn’t consistently work. Some members have had success working, for instance, within the electronic activation task list in one tab and searching titles or checking a bib record in another. But others have found that if you do much in one open tab, returning to the other and, say, performing a search sometimes fails. So be aware when notifying your users that they may want to tread carefully. Also heed the vendor’s warnings! Do not sign in as separate users simultaneously.

New Limited Designs Analytics Roles (May)

The Designs Analytics user role has up to now been all-or-nothing. For some of us this has meant we decline to provide this role to certain Alma users, since the data is sensitive. (It’s still possible to provide such users with access to particular reports and dashboards via the Analytics Object List.) Ideally users would be able to browse reports in, say, E-Inventory or Physical Items, while staying away from sensitive user data in Fulfillment and Users.

While this enhancement promised to deliver some granularity, it failed, since each distinct Designs Analytics role it created had access to the Users subject area. Watch for this gap to be addressed (we hear) in the November release!

Creating Multiple Items for a Holdings Record Using Item Templates (Aug, building on May enhancement)

While this is not really a systems-level enhancement–it’s available to all physical inventory operators–we’re noting it because it may take the place of systems work you’ve done to enable bulk creation of item records, such as configuring import profiles or activating cloud apps. Next time your library needs to process hundreds of Chromebooks or ZTC-funded class sets, you might find this attractive.

Another systems-level element: it has been noted on ALMA-L that there is no centralized way to audit item templates, so if any are problematic or need to be deleted, admins currently have no way to accomplish that.

Acquisitions enhancements

Exciting developments for the subset of our institutions using Acquisitions.

 Copy PO Line Price to Replacement Cost (Aug)

The title says it all. Configure one or two parameters, and staff have one less thing to do when receiving items. Yay!

Quick Ordering from Amazon (May, further enhanced in Aug)

This is a bookmarklet that purports to simplify creating PO lines based on Amazon book pages. System admins will need to configure a New Order API integration profile if you don't already have one. However, some work group members who tried it did not have success.

NZ changes

The following are not anything institution-level admins need to act on, but are of interest given our status as a collaborative network.

Consortium Import Permission Per Member (May)

The NZ can now prevent particular institutions from importing records to the NZ. So: when Pawel says you need to take a look at your import profile match & merge records, do it, or he might need to take action!

New Consortium Central Configuration Dashboard (Aug)

The NZ now has a sort of control panel that allows the NZ administrator to view and change configuration settings for individual institutions or across the network. So far there doesn’t seem to be much, if any, application for this development in our network–we do not tend to coordinate our configurations. But as we move forward, if there are areas where a particular configuration is needed across our institutions (or perhaps in a meaningful subset), this tool would come in handy.