We are creating APIs to add functionality to Alma! Some of the APIs are opt-in. If you would like to use this API at your institution, please send in a ticket to help@flvc.org. Other APIs we have created are to fix some functionality and are listed here to show what is possible.
It is not currently possible to configure Alma to make Pop Up notifications occur when Lost or Claim Returned Items are returned using the “Return Item” function in Alma. Many institutions have commented that the sliding red feedback message is too easily ignored during the check in process.
ExLibris has suggested that if we would like to see settings for pop ups for the "Return Items" workbench, to consider submitting a request via the Alma Idea Exchange: https://ideas.exlibrisgroup.com/forums/308173-alma
Set Note
In order to get a pop up we created an API that finds all items that have been Lost or Claim Returned and adds a Fulfillment Note to the item record. That way when/if the Lost item is returned a pop up will come up that needs to be clicked through in order to move forward.
The Fulfillment Note will say “This item has been declared Lost” or “This item has been declared Claim Returned”. The Fulfillment note added to the item record would replace any note that is currently there. The note that was in Fulfillment note will be moved to Internal Note 1, 2 or 3, whichever is empty. If none are empty then the Fulfillment note will be overwritten.
Since the API would rely on Analytics which is about a day behind it might miss the fringe case where an item was made Lost and the patron returns it the same day. In order to mitigate this issue, the API will also check each item listed in the Analytics report against Alma in real time to make sure the item is still Lost or Claim Returned. If it is not, it will not add the note, instead it will just add the barcode of the item and the primary identifier of the patron to a report that is emailed out once the job is complete.
This API runs daily at 3:00am.
Remove Note
A separate but related API will be run to remove the Fulfillment Note from items that have been returned. This API will rely on an Analytics report that pulls items that have the “This item has been declared Lost” or “This item has been declared Claim Returned” in the Fulfillment Note field but that do not have a Process Type of Lost or Claim Returned.
The API won’t be able to determine whether there was an existing note in the Fulfillment Note field that was replaced so an email will be generated that will list the barcodes of any items where the Fulfillment Note was removed and there exists notes in any of the Internal Note fields for staff to check over.
This API runs daily at 3:00am.
Alma doesn’t have an out of the box report of Returned Items that were Lost and Claimed Returned like Aleph used to have. This API will rely on Analytics and compare a report of Lost and Claim Returned Items from one day to the next and return the Primary ID of the patron and item barcode of any item that is no longer on the report grouped by library. The report will be emailed out to library staff once the job is complete. Due to the nature of Analytics being a day behind, this report might miss items made Lost and returned on the same day.
Please send a list of all staff member's email addresses at your institution that needs this report to help@flvc.org.
This API runs at 3:45am daily.
Eleven institutions had minimum fine amounts set up in Aleph for their different Item Statuses. Alma does not have a place to set a minimum fine per loan transaction so an API was created. The API runs against an Analytics report and Analytics is refreshed at 8pm so fines below the minimum threshold created before 8pm the previous day are waived the next day while fines generated after 8pm the previous day are waived the next day.
This API runs at 8am daily.
During Migration, adding the inventory cost to the replacement cost field in item records was chosen for FSU. This decision ended up affecting many more items than was anticipated. This API uses logic to remove the replacement cost in the item record for items that should use the default replacement cost from the associated Loan TOU.
This API runs at 3:00am daily.
UCF is implementing a new Enterprise Resource Planning system and is no longer doing improvements for their old PeopleSoft system which makes updating their patron load script infeasible. In order to allow Joint Use items to show up in the UCF catalog while still being UBorrowable to UCF patrons each patron record needs to have a campus code. We created this API to update patron records uploaded by their patron load with a campus code. The API relies on an Analytics report of patrons with all User Groups except those loaded by VCC that have a NULL Campus Code field. These patrons will be updated by the API to add the campus code.
This API runs daily at 4:00am.