1. Alma - making the case for a consolidated
library services platform
Clare Powne, University Librarian, Lancaster University
Alma Live, Lancaster, 3 June 2013

2. • New Librarian appointed
• Critical appraisal of library
operations
• Disruptive technology-
driven change
Library strategic review
October 2009

3. Horizon Report
Educause
Key trends
• abundance of resources and
relationships made easily
accessible via the Internet
• people expect to be able to work,
learn and study whenever and
wherever they want to
• students’ work is increasingly of a
collaborative nature
Technologies
• mobile computing
• open content
• e-books
Critical challenges
• digital media literacy
• economic pressures
• new models of education
• new forms of scholarly authoring,
publishing and researching
• keeping pace with rapid
proliferation of information and
software tools

4. 0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
2004/5 2010/11
print journals e-journals
e-journals

5. “I don’t use the Library any more, I just use e-journals”
“It’s all just out there anyway,
isn’t it?”
User expectation

6. User behaviour
0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
annual visits
loans
full-text accesses

7. 2004/5 2005/6 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/10 2010/11
Loans 490,758 462,831 467,277 416,761 388,087 383,189 406,126
e-book access 16,531 13,766 21,993 20,776 128,792 177,688 424,672
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
e-books

8. Our vision for the future is to be a sustainable and
academically excellent institution recognised as one
of the leading universities in the world
1 – 10 – 100 targets: regionally, nationally, globally
Services recognised for quality,
innovation, responsiveness
and efficiency
Lancaster University
Strategic plan 2009-15

9. • Policies and practices in universities require
modernisation to make the most efficient
use of assets and other resources
• Novel technologies and facilities are
needed to allow all staff and students
to access content and services from
providers elsewhere
Strategic plan 2009-15
Catalysts and drivers

10. We will implement integrated, effective and efficient services
that meet the needs of staff and students:
– by engaging in thorough process analysis
– by establishing effective change programmes that are properly
planned and resourced
We will continue to develop organisational structures that help
promote joined-up thinking in delivery of services and
processes:
– by deploying resources efficiently in support of agreed priorities
– by ensuring a fully integrated approach across central services and
faculties
Strategic plan 2009-15
Responsive and integrated services

11. • Library as content
– information provision
• Library as service
– the services which enable people to discover
and use information resources of all kinds
– staff roles and activities
• Library as place
– the spaces offered for independent study and research and
needed to house the physical collections
Library planning framework

12. • re-balance staff effort from time-intensive print-
based activity
• review processes and streamline
• adjust front-line staffing levels appropriate to service
demand
• release capacity for support of learning and
research, to add real value for users
• smaller work force with higher level skills for digital
environment
Strategic responses

13. To upgrade the LMS and the processes it supports to deliver
• efficiency savings
• service enhancements
• greater capacity for new areas of work
• cost effective Cloud-based solution
• single unified platform
• designed for hybrid print/digital environment
• encompassing workflows for materials in all formats
• unified resource management complementing unified discovery
• early adoption offering
• price advantage
• global collaboration at the forefront of system developments
Outline business case proposal to
Budget Review Group

14. • manage the transition to an increasingly digital environment
more effectively and efficiently
• integrate currently separate workflows for physical and digital
resources
• catalyse process review and service enhancement
• collaborate in international shared services development and
systems evolution
• integrate Library and other institutional systems and
processes (APIs)
• use data to support evidence-based decision-making and
planning (analytics)
Alma positions the Library to:

15. 2010/11
• self-service
• staff restructuring phase 1
• resource discovery
2011/12
• support for taught courses – Aspire resource list management
2012/13
• unified resource management – Alma
• staff restructuring phase 2
• planning for building re-modelling
Budget Review Group
Review of Library developments March 2011

16. • Aleph
– since 2002
– designed for print environment
– stand-alone locally hosted system
• Bolt-on additions for e-resource management
– SFX
– MetaLib
• Primo
– implemented May 2011
– badged as OneSearch
• replaced Catalogue August 2012
Ex Libris at Lancaster

17. onesearch.lancs.ac.uk
• single point of access for all physical and e-resources
• simplify information retrieval
• explore local collections and global academic
information resources simultaneously
• greater exposure for resources
• provide relevant results quickly
• ease of integration with other systems, particularly
catalogue and repository
• flexible and attractive interface

18. • large consumer of ISS virtualised servers
• efficiency savings
• no hardware replacement costs
• no local software administration
• further freeing of systems staff from routine
maintenance, software upgrades
• releasing capacity for collaborative involvement in
development of innovative services
• potential to share common tasks with other libraries
Software as a service

19. Resonance with institutional strategy:
• quality, innovation, responsiveness, efficiency, integration
Agency for necessary change
Catalyst for
• process review and optimisation
• service enhancement
• staff development and opportunity
Global collaboration on significantly different approaches to
automated management of library operations
Strategic positioning for the rapidly evolving environment
Summary

20. Alma at Lancaster
Project implementation
David Summers
Deputy Librarian, Lancaster University

21. • Signed contract 24 May 2011
• European EAs kick-off meeting July 2011
• European EAs prioritisation meeting January 2012
• Formation of Lancaster project team January 2012
• Lancaster Project kick-off meeting 30 June 2012
• Training programme August 2012
• Functional workshop September 2012
• Implementation period Sept - Dec 2012
• Go Live 14 January 2013
• Post-implementation Jan-May 2013
Implementation – the timetable

22. • Config & migration forms 2-15 July
• Aleph & SFX test migration 15-30 July
• Access to Sandbox 31 July
• Training Webinars 31 Jul-17 Aug
• Access to Production environment 6 August
• Functional Workshops 4-7 September
• Workflow & Integrations testing Oct-Dec
• Cutover period 21 Dec-14 Jan
• Go Live 14 January
• Alma admin certification 19-20 February
• Switch to Alma Support 11 March
Key project dates

23. • Training webinars from Chicago
• Project management from Hamburg
• Data migration and development from Jerusalem
• Data hosting from Amsterdam
The global project experience

24. • Aleph migration
• SFX migration
• Core functionality for most processes
• Configuration of Alma (after a slow start!)
• Integration with Primo
What went well

25. • Periods of slow running in first weeks
• Integration with Aspire
• Courtesy and overdue notices / account statements
• Establishing e-book workflows
• Interlending (still extremely basic)
• Initial problem with Primo Central
• Updating patron records
What went less well (or took longer
than expected)

26. • Most basic workflows now in place, but more work to do on
optimising them
• APIs restored – Library system now searchable from student
portal and iLancaster
• Work started on extracting basic analytics, but optimisation is
reliant on further Ex Libris development
• Some integrations now working, e.g. Aspire
• Community Zone still very basic
Where are we now?

27. Progress with workflows
Area Workflow
Basic
workflow
established
Issues
Efficiency benefit
after 2 months
Efficiency benefit
after 4 months
Anticipated
benefit after 6
months?
Acquisitions Ordering print materials 28-Feb-13 Neutral Positive Positive
Acquisitions Receiving & Invoicing 28-Feb-13 Not yet integrated with Finance system Neutral Neutral Neutral
Acquisitions Ordering & activating e-books 17-Apr-13 Ordering simplified through use of CZ Negative Positive Positive
Acquisitions Ordering subscriptions materials 15-Feb-13
Currently re-entering new subscription orders. Gains will
come with next subscription year Negative Neutral Positive
Acquisitions E-journal activation 15-Feb-13 No gains on SFX Neutral Neutral Neutral
Fulfilment Fines - user payment 28-Feb-13 Some minor gains through part-payment Neutral Neutral Positive
Fulfilment Fines - upload to student records 28-Feb-13
Weekly manual process. Improvements will require
changes to analytics (to show user ID) Negative Negative Neutral
Fulfilment Cash reconciliation 15-Feb-13
Weekly process. Improvement will require change to
analytics (to refresh daily) Negative Negative Neutral
Fulfilment Requests 28-Feb-13
Collection and scanning now done by Aides, request
monitoring functionality better than in Aleph Neutral Positive Positive
Fulfilment High Demand 28-Mar-13
Immediate improvements in efficiency initially
undermined by bug, now resolved. Neutral Positive Positive
Fulfilment Self service circulation 28-Feb-13
Some issues with SIP2 holding back desired
improvements, e.g. emailed receipts. Neutral Neutral Neutral
Fulfilment External borrower registration 28-Feb-13 Records need inputting - plans to develop user interface Neutral Neutral Positive
Resource sharing IDS requests to the British Library 28-Feb-13 Requests need inputting. Alma functionality very basic. Negative Negative Neutral
Resource sharing IDS requests to other partners No functionality Negative Negative Neutral
Resource sharing IDS lending request management No functionality Negative Negative Neutral
Resource Management Importing catalogue records 15-Feb-13 Much more efficient and now done by Library Assistants Positive Positive Positive
Resource Management
Classification/catalogue record
enhancement 15-Feb-13 Process similar to Aleph but need now much reduced Positive Positive Positive
Resource Management
Holding/Item record amendments for new
stock 15-Feb-13 Currently bug causing problems for multiple copies Negative Negative Positive
Resource Management
Withdrawal of stock / amendment of
records 15-Feb-13 Process much more efficient than with Aleph Positive Positive Positive
Integrations API link to portal etc 10-Apr-13 Neutral Positive Positive
Integrations API link to Finance system No functionality at present Neutral Neutral Neutral
Analytics
Producing analytics and embedding them in
workflows
Work on analytics and standard reports now under way,
but held back by lack of daily updating Negative Negative Positive

28. Lancaster – specific objectives
What has been achieved so far?
OBJECTIVE CURRENT STATUS
To be pioneers not followers Achieved
To offer high quality, state-of-the-art, fully integrated
resources for users
Partially achieved
To develop and refine efficient workflows, which will
continue to evolve in response to new developments
Early days
To use easily-derived analytics to inform service
improvement
Early days
To lower overall costs of service provision Not yet achieved
To free Library staff for more creative activities Not yet achieved
To share data and efficiencies with a wider
community of Alma users
Not yet achieved

29. Mainly in our hands
• Full review / optimisation of
workflows to align for future
need rather than past practice
• Embed analytics for service
improvement
• Optimise current integrations
with other campus systems, e.g.
student portal
• Put Primo in Cloud?
In collaboration with Ex Libris
• Greater benefits from Community
Zone
• Develop further integrations with
other HE systems, e.g. finance
system, KB+ for UK Alma users?
• Better resource sharing
functionality
Looking ahead
The next steps

30. Supporting a Unified Resource System in
the Cloud
John Krug & Andy Hartland
Library Systems

31. • Despite the title I’ll be talking very little about Alma and
supporting it in the cloud. Because ….
• Alma has been configured and our data migrated to it both by
Ex Libris. Initial problems & surprises sorted out. Still some
remaining but we are working round them till fixed.
• Now we tweak configuration and improve library
communications, reporting problems, requesting
enhancements and monitoring their resolution in the monthly
updates. That’s Alma LMS support in the cloud.
• Process and workflow improvements are taking place, they
are staff driven and implemented with support from Library
Systems where necessary.
Support changes

32. Systems context
Aleph
Production
Aleph Test
Metalib/SFX
Production
Metalib/SFX
Test
Primo FE
Primo BE
Primo ST
Library BELibrary FE
Ezproxy
Primo FEPrimo BE
Primo ST
Library BELibrary FE
Ezproxy
Library BE
Library FE
Alma
Alma, Primo,
Ezproxy
NowLast year Future?

33. • IaaS started years ago with the move to university hosted VM and
we got rid of our own Sun hardware. Now moving to SaaS.
• 4 less virtual servers to support, Aleph Production, Aleph Test and 2
Windows servers used as Aleph print clients.
• Metalib/SFX will also be going, another 2 servers gone.
• Ideally, Primo and Ezproxy in the cloud, releasing another 4 servers.
• This releases between 24-56 GB RAM and 1-2 TB of disc for reuse in
by the VM infrastructure depending on exactly what we do.
• No longer necessary to pay for RHEL licences for Aleph and
Metalib/SFX Servers.
• We now have two (frontend & backend) CENTOS (free RHEL) Linux
servers supporting library/Alma operations and development.
Systems change

34. Infrastructure savings
RAM & Disc costs from ISS
System Ram GB Disc GB Ram @ £10.42
per GB per year
Disc @ £1.54
per GB per year
Licensing Costs Cost per year
Now
Aleph Production 8.00 336.00 83.36 517.44 169 769.8
Aleph Test 4.00 290.00 41.68 446.6 169 657.28
Metalib/SFX
Production 8.00 274.00 83.36 421.96 169 674.32
Metalib/SFX Test 4.00 220.00 41.68 338.8 169 549.48
Total 24.00 1,120.00 250.08 1,724.80 676.00 2,650.88
Possible Future
Ezproxy 0.27 10.00 2.8134 15.4 18.21
Primo FE 12.00 214.00 125.04 329.56 169 623.6
Primo BE 8.00 306.00 83.36 471.24 169 723.6
Primo ST 12.00 260.00 125.04 400.4 169 694.44
Total 32.27 790.00 336.25 1,216.60 507.00 2,059.85
Totals 56.27 1,910.00 586.33 2,941.40 1,183.00 4,710.73

35. • Perceived loss of control. No low level access.
• Worry about the capability to provide data security & integrity, disaster
recovery, performance.
• Many network links in the chain.
• No hardware, OS and routine application maintenance for cloud based
services.
• Access to leading/bleeding edge library management services.
• Fast update cycle.
• Data security & integrity, disaster recovery, performance better provided
by specialists at Ex Libris and Lancaster ISS than a 2 person Library Systems
team.
• Time released for providing better services.
• Need to be able to trust the provider.
Cloud Risks & Benefits

36. • You are moving to the cloud, shared tenancy. So:
– Be critical of current operations.
– Attempting to recreate your current system in Alma will cause
problems so be prepared for change.
– Clean up your data.
• Normalise anomalies/typos in bibliographic, holdings, item data.
– Simplify processes.
• User groups, locations, collections.
• Alma is a reasonable system for a modern academic library.
• Modern design and implementation with an eye on the
future.
• Do things the Alma way, have time for other projects.
Pre-implementation hints

37. • Skills (more a change of emphasis than wholesale change)
– From: SQL, Linux, scripting, awk, perl, technical integration.
– To: SQL, Linux, scripting, XSLT, XML, OBIEE, web services. Python is our
chosen programming/scripting language, service provision.
– The same but different. Emphasis is on interfaces and web services
rather than direct database access and manipulation.
• Time (again a change in emphasis)
– Much less time managing servers, particularly backup and batch
schedules.
– Allowing a move from systems maintenance to service development.
More interesting and useful to the library and university.
More changes

38. • We have some old servers to decommission, historical loans data to
be migrated to a local repository so it can continue to be analysed
and some on-going Alma issues to resolve.
• Development of interfaces to other university systems, HR and
Registry (identity management), Finance, Portal and Lancaster
Mobile (iLancaster).
• All easier in Alma, better/improving interfaces, less integration glue
& twine.
• More time for ‘Business Analysis’, improving the services library
systems provide to library staff, library patrons and the university
academic community.
• Time for other projects, Shibboleth, RDM, …….., etc. Projects that
are important for the library.
The services to be developed? Still
under review and discussion.

39. • Easy to create reports and browse data, allowing report construction to
move sideways from technical staff to staff who make first hand use of the
data. Information discovery ‘empowerment’ and skills transfer.
• Development of
– library operations and statistics dashboards.
– In depth statistical reporting with drill down.
– data mining, discovery of information we suspect is there and finding
surprises we had no idea about.
– predictive analytics, likelihood of events.
• e.g. P->E, will there be a tipping point (meaning rapid change in
process, budget allocation) and when, which groups are adopting
fastest, slowest, etc.
– OBIEE ‘actionable intelligence’ to trigger events and workflow.
• e.g. Loans on item passes threshold -> triggers Alma workflow for purchasing
of copies or e-resource.
Analytics services

40. • Daily updates of Analytics data is taking too long to happen, supposed to
have been February 2013, now scheduled for end of June.
• Initially, Alma broke the 10 year old XSL 1.0 standard by inserting a custom
pre-processor causing us confusion, letters development was dangerously
delayed.
Both fragments below are valid XSL but only one worked ……
<xsl:include href="header.xsl"/> <xsl:include href="header.xsl" />
<xsl:include href="senderReceiver.xsl"/> <xsl:include href="senderReceiver.xsl" />
• 3rd party communication. With some issues we have felt like ‘piggy in the
middle’ getting Ex Libris to work with 3M and Talis/Aspire.
• We felt were like a development partner but were early adopters which
was sometime a struggle. Future implementations should be easier.
• Nothing insurmountable.
Problems

41. • Library Systems will concentrate less on the ‘technical how’ of
service delivery and more on ‘what’, library needed services
are delivered.
• Information discovery and LMS configuration no longer
mostly the preserve of Library Systems.
• Library Systems to initiate and support change.
– Data driven
– New projects
In summary

42. Acquisition workflows in Alma
Integrating print and electronic
Nicola Kilgallon - Acquisitions & E-Resources Librarian

43. • Single system to manage print, electronic, and digital content
• Streamline workflows
• Increase support for e-resource issues
• Develop staff skills
• Develop a One Team approach
• Community Zone benefits
What were we hoping for?

44. How did we manage before Alma?
Aleph from 2002
SFX from 2004

45. Aleph
• Acquisition staff created basic
records for print & e-book orders
• Acquisition staff received physical
items
• Cataloguing staff enhanced
bibliographic records for physical
items
• E-resources staff retrieved MARC
records for e-books from
suppliers & publishers
• Systems staff uploaded e-book
MARC records
SFX
• E-resources staff activated e-
books and e-journals
• Systems staff exported brief e-
journal records into Aleph
Who did what?

46. What’s changed?
Ordering print books - importing records from external catalogues
at the point of order

47. What’s changed?
Using Community Zone records to order e-books and e-journals

48. Acquisition staff now
activate new e-book titles
via automated Task List
What’s changed?
Activating e-resources

49. New e-journal and e-book
packages ordered using
Community Zone records
Packages activated via the
Task List
What’s changed?
Activating packages

50. • Acquisition staff activating e-books
• Community Zone records used for single e-book titles
o Cataloguing staff enhancing these records
o Stopped uploading single title MARC records
• E-Resources staff uploading MARC records for e-book
packages
• Community Zone records for e-journals automatically
displaying in OneSearch
Summary of workflows changes

51. • Improved e-book records in the Community Zone
o Stop enhancing e-book records for single titles
o Stop uploading records from suppliers for e-book packages
• Community Zone includes records from other Alma libraries
o Stop importing records from external catalogues for print items
• Extend selection and purchasing roles to wider group of staff
o Creating Reading Lists
o Reacting quickly to physical items in high demand
o Reviewing and monitoring usage of existing e-book titles
Anticipated future changes to
workflows

52. • Short-term
o End-of-year management of funds and ledgers
o Develop reporting and analysis options via Analytics
o Involve more staff in the selection, acquisition and management
of new content
• Longer-term
o Cost per usage analysis
o Licence management
o Patron Driven Acquisition workflows
o Trial evaluation
o Interaction with University Financial System
What’s next?

53. Resource management – towards
simplification and a unified approach
… moving towards a streamlined, shared approach to metadata management in a hybrid
information world
Richard Ingham, Annette Lawrence
Metadata Management, Lancaster University

54. • In 2002 Lancaster was operating with an in house system
• Modified AACR2 and an in house metadata schema – not a
MARC environment
• Locally developed name and subject headings – not LC
• No items or holding records – copy information stored in the
bibliographic record
• No record importing – original cataloguing
• …. And an in house version of BLISS 1 classification
The result : very staff intensive and not cost effective
The context for resource management
at Lancaster University

55. • Aleph arrives 2002
• Converted our data to a MARC environment and upgraded
our records (approx. 65- 70%)
• Adopted full AACR2 and MARC21 standards
• Adopted use of LC name and subject headings
• Started importing records
Lancaster has joined the modern cataloguing world, although…
What happened next?

56. • Acquisitions staff still create original basic catalogue record
for order purposes
• Record importing at the cataloguing stage and the majority
done by Senior Library Assistants
• Managing LC authority records at a local level
• Limited number of external sources to import records
• Print and electronic resource management separate
What happened next?
The Aleph Years 2002 - 2012

57. • Implemented January 2013
• What did we want ALMA to do for us?
And then ….

58. To develop and refine efficient workflows, which will continue to evolve in
response to new developments, reduce staff intensive processes, take advantage
of new technologies to automate procedures
Free resource management staff to work in more creative areas – future plans
may include managing digital media assets, research data, etc.
Consolidate print and electronic workflows, including metadata enhancement
Use management information from analytics functionality to inform collection
management decisions and space planning
Align resource management with
Library strategy – key goals

59. Resource management and the bigger
picture

60. Achievement so far :
• Record importing now managed at Acquisitions Stage by
Library Assistants using the External Search functionality
• Increased number of external sources
• All holding/item record management by Library Assistants
What has Alma done for resource
management at Lancaster?

61. • Community Zone records for electronic books - currently
enhanced at local level by metadata editors as part of hybrid
metadata approach to print and electronic format
management
• Community Zone records for print books and journals - we
plan to review how we can best use the Community Zone to
improve the hit rate for record import as metadata becomes
available
What has Alma done for
resource management at
Lancaster?

62. • All authority control managed by the network authority files
in the Community Zone – no local management
• Towards our goal – reduced intervention of metadata staff
with the import and amendment of metadata at local level –
staff free to work in new areas!
What has Alma done for
resource management at
Lancaster?

63. 2002
Original cataloguing for all
records
Local authority creation and
management
Very staff intensive
2002-2012
Original cataloguing diminishing
quickly
Still creating basic records at
order stage for upgrade via
record import
Managing LC authorities
2013 -
Towards full collaborative data
sharing – minimal original
cataloguing and amendment
Networked authority control –
no local management
Staff efficient!
Towards a shared approach to
metadata management

64. • RDA – What can Alma do for us? Alma currently supports the
updated fields that support the RDA content standard
• It is planned from Q3 2013 that Alma will fully support RDA
with the RDA entities encoded in single bibliographic and
authority records
Alma and the bigger picture – RDA and
beyond …

65. • Alma’s metadata management environment features support
for multiple metadata schemas – MARC21 and Dublin Core at
present with MODS planned for 2014
• The format neutral infrastructure should provide a sustainable
platform to allow for agile movement to new schemas such as
Bibframe as the industry moves forward
Bibframe and beyond?

66. Transferred the interrogation and manipulation
of data, and the configuration of resource
management processes to the metadata team
from the systems team
What else has Alma done for
resource management?

67. • Alma supports powerful, refined searching, including multiple
field combinations using data from bibliographic, holdings and
item records
• Detailed sets of results can be exported as Excel files or used
for global change processes
There is more to resource management than
cataloguing books - The Repository Search

68. • Alma Analytics presents new opportunities for evaluating our
resources and collections— giving a strong future focus to our
collection development planning
• We are using it to analyse how stock is expanding, usage by
classmark and format, comparisons of print and electronic
acquisition
Alma Analytics – detailed data analysis

69. • Created normalisation rules to improve the quality of
imported records and reduce local editing
• Added new external resources to increase hit rate for record
import
• Created templates for local use
• Performed data clean up via global change functionality
• Created sets of records to withdraw, amend or export via
Excel for further analysis
Major change – all performed by metadata team without
systems team intervention
Resource Management Configuration –
what have we done so far?

70. • Continue to move towards collaborative metadata
management
• Work towards fully exploiting Alma Analytics functionality
• Maximise use of configuration tools to improve processes
• Ongoing review of workflows as new features develop
• Long term – maintain active awareness of new developments,
e.g. proposed digital management functionality – part of Ex
Libris roadmap for Alma for 2013/14 and onwards
Moving onwards …

71. A taste of Alma
From circulation to fulfillment

72. • Issues
• Returns
• Renewals
• Requests
• Fines
Alma circulates books........

74. The changing world of fulfillment

75. • Simplercirculation rules
• Efficientprocesses
• Integratedworkflows
• Management information
What were we looking for in Alma
fulfillment?

76. • LANUL 01 ## 02 + 00000049 00 A 2345 0000 00020 020 010 D
A 20130116 A 2345 040 000 06 5.00 000 2 01
• LANUL 01 ## 03 + 00000070 00 A 2345 0000 00020 040 010 D
A 20130116 A 2345 040 000 06 5.00 000 2 01
• LANUL 01 ## 04 + 00000049 00 A 2345 0000 00020 006 000 D
A 20130116 A 2345 040 000 06 5.00 000 2 01
Simplification
Aleph tab16......

77. • Simplify before you start
Fulfillment Unit
↑
Terms of Use
↑
Policies
Simplification
Circulation

78. Simplification
Configuration interface

79. • Automated workflows with task list where intervention is
required (e.g. pick from shelf list; requests for digitization).
• Allow staff to see at a glance what needs doing.
• Allows for flexible management of processes - can allow
anybody to access task lists if you give them the right
permissions.
Efficiency
Workflows & process efficiency

80. What is a fulfillment request?
• User requesting a book which is on loan
• User requesting a book which is on the shelves
• User requesting a digitized chapter
• Library request to move an item to another collection
Integrated workflows
Example - requests

81. Integrated workflows
Scan in items

82. Integrated workflows
Manage hold shelf

83. • Task lists
• Search, sort and filter options already in interface
• Repository - advanced searches, sets
• Analytics & KPIs
Information
Lots of ways to interrogate Alma for information

84. Information
Task lists - monitor requests & work orders

85. Information
Search, sort and filter

86. Information
Repository searches, advanced searches and sets

87. Information
Analytics

88. • Integration of processes - from acquisition to fulfillment
• Use of data to inform decisions
• KPIs
• Resource Management
• Daily analytics - especially for cash reconciliation
Future