Alma and interoperability:
Maximizing Alma’s role in the institutional landscape
Kevin Lin, Sue Harmer
Abstract
“Alma is a core library system but does not stand alone. This
paper will examine the ease of making Alma interoperate with
other systems to provide services for users. It will discuss
interoperability with Primo and the Alma Premium Sandbox, the
Relais ILL system using NCIP, self-check machines using SIP2, the
Monitor Business Machine online payment of fines using SIP2,
EDI ordering with vendors, and authentication for library users
using Active Directory. Ease of set-up and maintenance, as well
as issues and advantages will be discussed.”
FAST FACTS
8 FACULTIES
Arts & Social Sciences
Australian School of Business
Built Environment
UNSW Art & Design
Engineering
Law
Medicine
Science
The Library
•
•
•
•
•
5 libraries, 155 library staff
241,000 e-books, 1.2 million print books, 81,000 online journals, < 600 active print journals
Primo since February 2009. Main user interface since July 2010. 6,508,395 Primo searches in 2013
Alma live on 4 November 2013
Other key library systems:
– Research Data Management (https://resdata.unsw.edu.au/)
– Institutional Repository (http://www.unsworks.unsw.edu.au)
– Faculty-based Research Repositories (http://repository.arts.unsw.edu.au/)
– Research Outputs System (https://ros.unsw.edu.au)
Aleph and Voyager … past …
Primo: 2 institutions, 7 views
PCI
Active Directory
Institutional
Repository
(UNSWorks,
Fedora)
MetaLib/SFX
Ezproxy
Research Data
(Fedora and inhouse deposit)
Vendor online
resources
Aleph
Voyager
Group Study
Room booking
InterLibrary
loans
Finance
Faculty-based
Research
repositories
(Fedora)
UNSW
publications
management
(Symplectic)
Self-check
machines
Resource
vendors orders
Online fine
payments
Staff and
Student systems
Alma … current …
Primo: 2 institutions, 7 views
PCI
Faculty-based
Research
repositories
(Fedora)
UNSW
publications
management
(Symplectic)
Active Directory
Institutional
Repository
(UNSWorks,
Fedora)
MetaLib/SFX
Ezproxy
Research Data
(Fedora and inhouse deposit)
Group Study
Room booking
InterLibrary
loans (Relais ILL)
Alma
Vendor online
resources
Stunnel
Finance
Self-check
machines
Resource
vendors orders
Online fine
payments
Staff and
Student systems
Ease of set-up and maintenance
• Centralised location
• Literally labelled
• Consistency
Integration Profiles and S/FTP
Connections
•
•
•
•
AD authentication
Self Check / Online payment
EDI orders
Primo publishing
External Systems (Alma)
External Systems (S/FTP)
What works well
•
•
•
•
•
Authentication
No more GUI
Primo publishing
OvP (OPAC via Primo)
NCIP
• Premium sandbox interoperability
NCIP interoperability – Primo,
Relais ILL, Alma
• UNSW community uses Primo to search and submit ILL
requests
– NCIP LookupUser service
o checks eligiblity before allowing the user to
proceed
o retrieves user details, e.g. email address
• UNSW staff process ILL requests in Relais ILL
– Relais: initiator role
– Alma: responder role
o CheckOutItem, CheckInItem, AcceptItem
How it works – NCIP Lookup User
Borrowing workflow
Lending workflow
Challenges
• Working across time zones
– Toronto / Jerusalem / Sydney
• Speaking a common language
• Different priorities
• Release upgrades
Lessons learned
•
•
•
•
Resourcing
Focus shift to coordination
The Cloud and its implications
Utilizing the Premium Sandbox
Going forward
• SIP2
– Selective payment of fines / fees
• SMS
• Holdings exports/updates
– RapidILL
– Libraries Australia
• Continuous improvements to NCIP interoperability
• More connections, e.g. Finance
END