Advanced Alma Queries

Owned by Jessica Hartwigsen
Last updated: Apr 04, 2024
5 min read

Description of Advanced Alma Queries and examples of advanced search queries in the NZ to locate shared electronic collections.  These searches can be adapted for IZ Repository Searches.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Must use Electronic Collection or Electronic Portfolio to locate e-collections in Alma, not All Titles, Electronic Titles or Collection.
  2. In the NZ, can use the Facets and Advanced Search to narrow down the search results. 
    1. Advanced Search for NZ e-collections for a specific library: Electronic Collection: Available for > Equals > LIBRARY_NAME
  3. Click on Facets section and go to the Available for in either the Electronic Collection or Portfolio search results
  4. Locate Electronic Collection
    1. Search by Electronic Collection > Electronic Collection Name > Enter in name of e-collection
      1. If searching for all of the EBSCO resources, enter in EBSCO or EBSCOhost
      2. Use Electronic Collection > Keyword search to locate a specific collection with or without the vendor name
  5. NZ Electronic Collections
    1. Search by Electronic Collection and Electronic Collection Name and then click Advanced Search and
    2. Choose Electronic Collection: Collection Available For in Electronic Collection section > equals > Choose Campus from dropdown list
      1. This will list the e-collections and databases shared by your library
      2. If you want to weed out the OA e-collections to look at only subscribed collections first, add a condition to the Advanced search the Electronic Collection search: Internal Description > Not Contains Keywords > Open Access or OA
      3. If you want to weed out the Database-only e-collections (no portfolios), choose Electronic Collection Type > Not Equals > Database
  6. Opt-in Electronic Collections in the NZ for a specific library
    1. Search by Electronic Collection and Electronic Collection Name and the click on the Advanced Search
    2. Choose Electronic Collection: Internal Description > Contains Keywords > "Opt-in"
    3. Add condition, Electronic Collection: Collection Available For in Electronic Collection section > equals > Choose Campus from dropdown list
      1. Both of these searches together will list the Opt-in collections for a specific library.
    4. If your library upgraded an ECC collection, i.e. EBSCO ACADEMIC ULTIMATE, it is notated as an Opt-in in the NZ but also as an "UPGRADE" in the NZ. 
  7. ECC Electronic Collections in the NZ for a specific library
    1. Search by Electronic Collection and Electronic Collection Name and the click on the Advanced Search
    2. Choose Electronic Collection: Internal Description > Contains Keywords > "ECC"
    3. Add condition, Electronic Collection: Collection Available For in Electronic Collection section > equals > Choose Campus from dropdown list
      1. Both of these together will list the ECC e-collections for a specific library.
    4. If your library upgraded an ECC collection, i.e. EBSCO ACADEMIC ULTIMATE, it is notated as an Opt-in in the NZ but also as an "UPGRADE" in the NZ. 
  8. Open Access Electronic Collections in the NZ
    1. Search by Electronic Collection and Electronic Collection Name and the click on the Advanced Search
    2. Choose Electronic Collection: Internal Description > Contains Keywords > "Open Access" or "OA"
  9. IZ Full Text e-collections
    1. Search for a list of full text e-collections in the IZ.  The Advanced search conditions will narrow down the results to the available full text e-collections.
      1. Choose Electronic Collection > Electronic Collection in the IZ and then choose Advanced search 
      2. Locate Electronic Collection: Service Type > equals > Full Text and the second condition is Availability > equals > Available
        1. This will weed out collections that may be in the IZ but may not be activated
        2. Use Availability > equals > Not Available to locate e-collections that are in the IZ but not active for search in Primo
  10. Electronic portfolio search
    1. Choose Electronic Portfolio > Choose search option from dropdown list > enter in search term
      1. In the NZ can narrow down results to specific library by choosing the library name under Facets
  11. Inactivate Portfolios search
    1. Choose Electronic Collection > Electronic Collection Name > Leave search box empty
    2. Click on Advanced Search
    3. Choose Electronic Portfolio > Equals > Not Available
    4. A list of collections will appear in the search results
    5. Go to the Edit Service > Portfolios tab > Status = Unavailable
      1. Either reactivate the portfolio, remove it, or link it to a CZ bib record
  12. BrowZine Query

    1. Browzine Set Query needed for Browzine.  *Can also be used for a general query of what a library is sharing for e-collections and e-portfolios in the NZ.

    2. Set Type Logical Where (Material Type equals “Journal” AND Collection available for equals “LIBRARY_NAME” AND Availability (Electronic Portfolio) equals “Available” AND Available for equals “LIBRARY_NAME”

    3. *BOTH E-collection availability and E-portfolio availability are needed in the query to account for portfolio-level sharing, not just e-collection-level sharing.  Some libraries share portfolios within an e-collection, for example, Oxford University Press. There are several libraries that have access to five portfolios in the subscription that other libraries do not subscribe to.

  13. Provider Subscription Tool (My Electronic Resources by Provider)
    1. This tool can help by creating a list of resources available by provider to determine if all of the available e-collections are active.  The Provider ID in the documentation is referring to the linking parameter for the e-collection. It is not the ID used in the vendor record or license.
  14. Use NZ CDI login to view internal notes for e-collections.
    1. The CDI login for the Network Zone allows users to view the internal notes for the collections.  Users can see when the CDI settings were last updated. Also, users can check if the collection is OA, ECC, or Opt-in.
Searching for e-collections with a local public name in the NZ

Currently in the NZ, if I’ve updated the Public Name of an e-collection in the NZ, that name does not appear in a search from the local Alma search of the NZ tab.  For example, the CZ name for EBSCO e-books is EBSCOhost Ebooks. I have local public name of NetLibrary e-Books (EBSCO e-books) because our NetLibrary e-books were migrated to EBSCO e-books several years ago.  You can search the NZ for NetLibrary and the e-collection will appear in the search results but you will not see the local name, just the CZ name, EBSCOhost Ebooks. I’ve had a case open for about a year asking to display the local public name.  Unfortunately, Ex Libris does not have plans to change the current display. The Inventory tab of the NZ license does display both names if you are not sure which e-collection is being used in the NZ.

Note from Ex Libris about searching Alma NZ:

The way it was explained to me by Ex Libris was that if it states Held By, it is coming from the IZ (if you see My Institution listed then it is available in your library’s IZ).  If it is Availability: Electronic Version, it is coming from the NZ.  All active e-collections will appear (shared and not shared) in an All Titles search.  The coverage date displayed in these records do not reflect what the CSU's date coverage is for that title.  For that, an Electronic Portfolio search would need to be done.

To see the Available For label and what electronic collections your library is sharing in the NZ, then you will need to do an Electronic Collection or Electronic Portfolio search.  The Available For label only displays for electronic portfolios and collections.