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Alma Analytics Resource Guide

This guide covers how to use the Alma Analytics platform to produce robust reports. Included are instructions on accessing the Oracle-based service as well as how to use its menu driven service to build custom reports.

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Shelf Lists and Inventories

If you need to produce a list of items that exist at a certain Library and Location, you have a number of tools available to you.  The first is Advanced Search.  Look at this page for deciding when Advanced Search may be appropriate and for the kinds of criteria you can use. Don't forget you can export the results of the search to Excel or other useful formats.

The next is Alma Analytics.  You can create a report, for example, of all items that exist at a Library and Location, and also add more information to the report, such as Material Type, Process Type, number of Loans etc. or restrict it to a more limited set of records.  Don't forget to set your 'Lifecycle = Active' so you do not pick up deleted items, and to consider if you need to use the Temporary Location (to see things that may be temporarily shelved at another location.)

Alma also has a 'Browse Shelf List' function, which is documented Browsing the Shelf Listing. However: "The Browse Shelf Listing feature provides item-level call number Institution Zone browse capability from within the MD Editor for holdings information. This capability can also be accessed from the Resources > Cataloging options." So this is more of a cataloging activity than what you might be expecting.

A related activity is submitting shelf reads of barcodes into the system for comparison against the items in the database, described here: Managing Physical Item Inventory Using Shelf Reporting

For most purposes, an Advanced Search or a simple Analytics report will be what you need.