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Created by Carole A. Chapman (Unlicensed)

Background

The “Material Type” Material Type field in an Item record has a drop-down menu where users can choose from a long list (106 as of the March 2020 release) of Physical Material Types (i.e. Item Material Types) from the master Ex Libris list. This list can be configured to change the Order order of the types, Enable enable or Disabledisable the types, or Change change the Descriptiondescription (i.e. Label) of the types that show in the drop-down menu in the item record. You can also choose which Item Material Type you want as a Default default when you add a new item.

Step-by-step guide

To configure the Item Material Types you need to have one of the following roles: Catalog Administrator or General System Administrator.

1. Open Alma Configuration by clicking the Gear icon in the upper right corner of your Alma window.
2. Choose “Resources” in  in the left panel.
3. Under the “General” section General section on the right side of the screen, click on “Physical Material Type Descriptions”. This will bring you into the “Code Table” Code Table for Physical Material Type.
4. From this screen you can Enable enable or Disabledisable, Change change the Orderorder, and Change change the Description description (i.e. Label) of the Item Material Types. You can also choose a Default type.
5. Alma tracks when and who last Updated each type.

Enabling or Disabling the Item Material Type

There are a lot of Item Material Types that you will most likely never need, and this is where you . You can disable them these from appearing in the drop-down menu. They will still be in the list, if you ever need to use them in the future you can just enable them again.

1. Under the “Enabled” column Enabled column notice that there is a toggle switch for each type. If the white button is to the right and blue, the type is enabled and it will show on the drop-down menu. If the white button is to the left and is grayed out, the type is disabled and will not show on the drop-down menu.
2. To toggle between Enabled and Disabled, simply click on the toggle switch for the type you wish to enable or disable. If you are not sure what the Code represents, take a look at the corresponding “Description” Description column to verify.
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   (note that some Item Material Types are Enabled and some are Disabled)
   

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1. Once you have determined the order you would like the Item Material Types to show in the drop-down menu, you can manipulate the order by clicking on the arrows in the “ Move Up” or “Move Down” columns. 
2. Sorry, there Up or Move Down columns. (There is a lot of clicking since the list is long and in a seemingly random order with newly added Item Material Types at the bottom).
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3. Click the Save button in the upper right corner to save the modified configuration.

Changing the Description of the Item Material Type

The Description (i.e. Label) is what shows in the Item record drop-down menu. It is also what shows to the patrons in Primo at the item level.

Network Zone (NZ) Analytics uses the Item Material Type Label when creating It analyses and reports, so be careful not to change the Description willy-nilly Description haphazardly as it will disrupt the NZ Analytics reports by separating categories that are really the same.

If a new Item Material Type is needed, it is recommended that you open a SalesForce case to have them add a new Item Material Type. This approach will make the new type available for everyone to use, for example the recently added types (Archival Material, Broadside, Poster). However, you are able to change the Label of an existing (hopefully obsolete or very unusual) Item Material Type to meet your local needs.

One word of caution, Please note that when you are configuring the Labels of the Item Material Types, Primo changes will be able to see live what you are doinglive in Primo. So, it is recommended that you prepare your list of changes and be ready to go when you reconfigure the Labels.

1. In the “Description” columnDescription column, simply type the new Label over the old one.
2. This field accepts a surprisingly long Label, including punctuation marks and spaces. But keep in mind that the patrons will see this Label in Primo.
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3. Click the Save button in the upper right corner to save the modified configuration.

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The Default Value selection determines which Item Material Type will default when you are creating a new item. There can be only one default value selected, many libraries choose Book. See the above example screenshot to see the “Default Value” Default Value column.

1. In the “ Default Value” columnValue column, click the radio button next to the Item Material Type that you would like to be your default type for when you create new items. Since there are so many in the list, and it can be difficult to see left-to-right which line you are on, it is recommended to get the Item Material Type you want to select at the TOP of the screen so you don’t accidentally select the wrong one.
2. Click the Save button in the upper right corner to save the modified configuration.