[DCRM-L] Alma

Thu Sep 19 11:25:36 MDT 2019

Hello all:

In addition to the comments noted above, my chief complaint regarding Alma
is an overarching lack of control over indexing MARC fields. Alma indexes
the fields that it has decided to index, and you cannot add indexes for
anything else. This is specifically problematic for libraries that have
relied on unavailable fields, such as the 79x, to track local data.

--Amy

On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 1:15 PM Noble, Richard <richard_noble at brown.edu>
wrote:

> Belinda-- Re *Hell's Angels*: Is there a circulating dead-tree copy of
> the book in any UCSC library? If so, what's the trick? I tried various
> searches and came up with Special Collections holdings only (including an
> "everything" search).
>
> RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY
> BROWN UNIVERSITY  ::  PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912  ::  401-863-1187
> <Richard_Noble at Br <RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU>own.edu>
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 12:19 PM Belinda Egan <began at ucsc.edu> wrote:
>
>> We started with Alma and Primo VE over a year ago, and have discovered
>> many of the issues that others have noted. For us the most user-unfriendly
>> feature in Primo is how multiple editions of the same work are grouped. For
>> example: last year we received a large collection of works by Hunter S.
>> Thompson, including various editions, printings, and translations.  There
>> seems to be no way to sort out the circulating books in Primo results.
>> Here's an example, a search for "Hell's Angels", narrowed to "Held by
>> library":
>>
>>
>> https://ucsc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,%22hell%27s%20angels%22&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=MyInstitution&vid=01CDL_SCR_INST:USCS&facet=tlevel,include,available_p&offset=0
>>
>> Good luck to the undergrad just trying to find a copy of the book in
>> English to check out... While we do have a facet configured to limit
>> results to Special Collections, we can't go the other way and exclude
>> non-circulating material.
>>
>> -Belinda
>>
>> Belinda Egan
>> McHenry Library, Metadata Services
>> UC Santa Cruz
>> 1156 High Street
>> Santa Cruz, CA 96064
>> 831-459-2094
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 6:02 AM Christine DeZelar-Tiedman <
>> dezel002 at umn.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> Others have already made the comments that I would have made, but I
>>> would like to add, in regard to Primo, that you can configure the de-duping
>>> and FRBR-ization of bib records so that rare materials are not clustering
>>> in search results with other related items. When we first came up on Primo,
>>> physical copies of rare books were getting clustered with ebook and
>>> microform versions of the same title, and the ebook always displayed as the
>>> primary item in the cluster, so unless someone knew to drill down, users
>>> might not know that we had a physical copy of the book. We were able to
>>> configure things so that materials in special collections locations did not
>>> get combined in Primo search results with other formats, but it took some
>>> convincing because most people (including ExLibris) assumed that e-versions
>>> would ALWAYS be preferred by users. We were also able to get some targeted
>>> searches set up, limiting to special collection materials. None of this is
>>> Alma-specific, but since you brought up Primo I wanted to mention it.
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 1:37 PM Gemberling, Ted P <tgemberl at uab.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Angela, 590’s are displaying in our Primo catalog and are searchable.
>>>> Now, I think maybe one factor that may be different for you is you don’t
>>>> want all your libraries to see all the notes. We just have one catalog for
>>>> our libraries. Admittedly we don’t have a lot of 590 notes. They are mostly
>>>> in our Special Collections materials.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ted Gemberling
>>>>
>>>> UAB Libraries
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> *On Behalf Of *Jones,
>>>> Angela
>>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 18, 2019 10:11 AM
>>>> *To:* DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
>>>> *Subject:* Re: [DCRM-L] Alma
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hi everyone,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> SMU migrated from Voyager to Alma in the summer of 2017. Off the top of
>>>> my head, here are my two cents about issues that specifically relate to
>>>> cataloging rare or special collections materials.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> First, bound-withs work very differently in Alma than in Voyager. I
>>>> find the Alma workflow to catalog bound-withs to be more cumbersome,
>>>> although the record displays and discoverability in both Alma and in Primo
>>>> seems to work fine.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The second issue concerns local notes. When we migrated, we went from
>>>> an environment where all the campus libraries shared Voyager, but didn’t
>>>> share bib records. Our bibs all migrated as separate bibs, but going
>>>> forward in Alma we have had to share new records. We all had been
>>>> accustomed to using 590 fields in our specific records for local notes, but
>>>> in a shared record environment that can get sort of messy. We have looked
>>>> at using other MARC fields in the holdings record to put in copy specific
>>>> notes such as donor notes, provenance, etc. But my understanding is that
>>>> such notes aren’t necessarily searchable in Primo. I would love to find out
>>>> that I am wrong about that, however!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> As I said, that is my two cents. Others may have different
>>>> perspectives.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Angela
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Angela Jones
>>>>
>>>> Head of Technical Services
>>>>
>>>> Underwood Law Library, Dedman School of Law
>>>>
>>>> Southern Methodist University
>>>>
>>>> P.O. Box 750354
>>>>
>>>> Dallas, TX 75275-0354
>>>>
>>>> 214-768-1827
>>>>
>>>> arjones at smu.edu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* DCRM-L <dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu> *On Behalf Of *Tedford,
>>>> Beth
>>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 18, 2019 9:54 AM
>>>> *To:* DCRM Users' Group <dcrm-l at lib.byu.edu>
>>>> *Subject:* Re: [DCRM-L] Alma
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I would as well. We will be migrating from Voyager to ALMA next year
>>>> and would love to hear of others experiences. Thanks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 10:36 AM Carpenter, Jane <
>>>> jfcarpenter at library.ucla.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I’d also be interested in hearing responses to Richard’s query—
>>>>
>>>> Thanks—
>>>>
>>>> Jane Carpenter
>>>>
>>>> Special Collections Cataloger
>>>>
>>>> UCLA Library Special Collections
>>>>
>>>> jfcarpenter at library.ucla.edu
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Sep 18, 2019, at 7:22 AM, Noble, Richard <richard_noble at brown.edu>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Could those of you who have experience with Alma in the context of rare
>>>> materials cataloging please advise me of what to look for in a presentation
>>>> by representatives from ExLibris? Advice off the top of your head would be
>>>> fine, and could be privately communicated if you think that advisable. We
>>>> are currently a III Sierra user.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Many thanks -
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> RICHARD NOBLE :: RARE MATERIALS CATALOGUER :: JOHN HAY LIBRARY
>>>>
>>>> BROWN UNIVERSITY  ::  PROVIDENCE, R.I. 02912  ::  401-863-1187
>>>>
>>>> <Richard_Noble at Br <RICHARD_NOBLE at BROWN.EDU>own.edu>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> Beth Tedford, MLIS
>>>>
>>>> Special Collections & Archives Assistant
>>>>
>>>> Rare books cataloger
>>>>
>>>> Z. Smith Reynolds Library
>>>>
>>>> Wake Forest University
>>>>
>>>> PO Box 7777
>>>>
>>>> Winston-Salem, NC 27109
>>>> 336-758-4657
>>>>
>>>> tedforme at wfu.edu
>>>>
>>>> Defender of Wonders
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Christine DeZelar-Tiedman
>>> Metadata and Emerging Technologies Librarian
>>> University of Minnesota Libraries
>>> 160 Wilson Library
>>> 309 19th Ave. S.
>>> Minneapolis, MN 55455
>>> (612) 625-0381
>>> dezel002 at umn.edu
>>>
>>> pronouns: she/her/hers
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>

-- 
Amy F. Brown
Special Collections Technical Services, Head
John J. Burns Library
140 Commonwealth Avenue
Chestnut Hill, MA  02467
617-552-8124
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