Alma Weekly Updates to the CKB (How-to)

1. Check the Alma Weekly Update Notes emailed out every week.

• Weekly Update Notes: Ex Libris applies the weekly update on Sundays.

  • There can be a delay in applying the update, see note below.

• Name Changes for e-collections: This is when ExL changes the name of an e-collection to match the vendor’s name of the collection.  If there are any configurations, such as Display Logic or GES, that use the name of the e-collection, the name will need to be updated.  The name of the e-collection may need to be updated in the POL. This includes Opt-in collections from the NZ.

• Deletions and e-collection replacements:This is when ExL removes an e-collection and replaces it with a new e-collection. In this case, if your library is using an e-collection that is being replaced, the new e-collection will need to be activated in the CZ, all portfolios will need to be activated again and the POL will need to be migrated to the new e-collection.  

  • When an e-collection is being deleted, export the current portfolios.  Use this file to update the new e-collection if it is a package with selective portfolios, not an aggregator package. 

  • Ex Libris may not give the name of the e-collection that is replacing the one being removed.  A query of the CZ will need to be done to locate the new e-collection.  Start with the name of the e-collection listed in the subscription information from the vendor.

  • Reminder: If an NZ collection is replaced by a new collection, the IZ POL for the NZ opt-in collection will need to be updated with the new collection name.

  • See section below:  *ExL Removes E-collections and portfolios, how to keep them in your instance.

• New collections added: This is when a library has been waiting for ExL to add an e-collection that was previously missing. The new e-collection will need to be added from the CZ.  This applies to Open Access resources too.  For example, I’ve been waiting for a new ATLA e-collection to match the subscription for one of the libraries.  That new e-collection was added to the CZ and now can be activated and made available to that library.  If a local e-collection was created while waiting for the global e-collection to be added, the POL will need to be migrated to that new CZ e-collection after it is activated.

  •  When activating a new collection, please add the RapidILL Lending Note to the collection's Internal Description field, adding either LendableInternational, LendableCountry, or LocalOnly. Use LocalOnly for Open Access collections. Also, it would help locate the Open Access collections by add a note “Open Access” in the Internal Description of the collection. The RapidILL lending note must be separated by “;” Example: Open Access ; LocalOnly. (Open Access can be found in the repository search, Electronic Collection:Internal Description > Keyword > Open Access)

2. CZ Updates Task List: These are the reports that can be found in Alma under: RESOURCES > MANAGE INVENTORY > COMMUNITY ZONE UPDATES TASK LIST. 

• Ex Libris CZ Task List documentation

• If you go to the Edit Service window in the e-collection, there is now a button that will display all of the changes made in weekly updates for that e-collection.

3. Close SalesForce Cases that were updated in latest weekly update

• If ExL Support indicates that a case will be updated in a specific weekly update, the CO checks to see if that item was fixed and then close the case in SalesForce.

• SF Cases: Cases waiting for the customer to reply:

• Open

  

  SalesForce cases awaiting customer reply

   

• CZ Updates Task List:

• In this example, the portfolio needed an updated URL.  Check the title in the CZ task list to see if the URL has been updated.  The date range here is the specific weekly update date the item was scheduled to be updated. 

• Check the URL and removed the local URL and accepted the global changes.  Then closed the SF case.

• Search for a specific title in the Task List---> 

  Open

  

  Example of searching for a portfolio change in the CZUTL

5. CDI Weekly Updates

• There are two sections to check in the CDI Weekly Update Notes

  • CDI Content Updates

  • Electronic Collection Updates

• CDI Content Updates

  • Informs changes that have been made to collections or new collections added to replace current CDI collections.  This section doesn't always have a weekly update but should be checked to see if a new CDI collection needs to be activated to replace a current CDI collection. 

• Electronic Collection Updates

  • These are the collections where the linking may have changed or linking rights may have been updated.

    • Example would be a link-in-record changing to link resolver type linking, or vice versa.

    • Another, the search rights were free but now require a subscription.

    • Both of these would require changes to CDI settings.

• The Update Notes related to these CZUTL (Community Zone Updates Task List) reports:

  • Electronic Collection 'CDI full text linking' field updated

  • Electronic Collection 'CDI full text rights' field updated

  • Electronic Collection 'CDI search activation' field updated

  • Electronic Collection 'CDI search rights' field updated

  • Electronic Collection 'CDI type' field updated

E-collection removed

E-collection Deleted

Electronic Service Deleted

Changed KB Software

Electronic Service Linking Parameter

Portfolio Linking Parameter

Electronic Service Base URL

New Collections

*No matching Task List report. Refer to list in Release notes.

Updated portfolio coverage

• Portfolio Coverage Update

Updated the portfolio URL/JKEY/BKEY

• Portfolio Linking Parameters

Deleted a portfolio from an e-collection

• Portfolio deleted from auto active collection

• Portfolio deleted from non auto-active collection

  • Check these reports to see if any subscribed portfolios from a select-title package was erroneously deleted

  • If a portfolio was removed in a weekly update, then added back in another weekly update, the portfolio will be added back to the collection but not activated

    • Periodically check activation status of portfolios is this type of collection: Search for Inactive Portfolios

Added a missing portfolio to e-collection

• Portfolio added to auto active collection

• Portfolio added to non auto-active collection

The CZ is updated and those changes are then filtered down to the IZ and NZ.  From Ex Libris: "Alma handles 50,000 changes at a time. If more than 50,000 changes are to be performed in the Community Zone, Alma launches an additional job to handle the rest of the changes."

If there are a large number of changes, the job that “synchronizes changes from the CZ” will be broken up and run over the course of several nights.  You can check on the progress of this job in the Monitor Jobs > Running tab. If you see a job, Synchronize Changes from CZ = Pending, the update has not finished. You can see the changes in the CZ but they may not have been applied locally yet. If your library has been expecting changes from a specific weekly update, wait until the update is complete to check on the changes.

When Ex Libris announces they are going to remove the e-collection from the CZ, it is possible to keep the collection in the IZ, as a local collection.  If your library does not want this e-collection to be deleted, change the Auto-Update setting (“Activate new portfolios associated with service automatically?”) in the E-collection Service from yes to no.  This will keep the collection local in the IZ until the library is ready to remove it or replace it.

Message from Ex Libris:

“The behavior for what happens in the IZ when collections and portfolios are removed from the CZ is described in the documentation.

When electronic collections are deleted in the CZ, the collection is deactivated and localized, but not deleted from the IZ. When portfolios are deleted in the CZ, what happens in the IZ depends upon whether the collection is set to auto-activation or non auto-activation. If a collection is set to auto-activation, then the portfolios are deleted automatically. If the collection is set to non auto-activation, then the portfolios are localized and deactivated, but not deleted.

You mentioned that at this point institutions have had portfolios deleted with the updates in the CZ. Depending on how many perpetual access titles institutions had, it may be possible to restore the deleted portfolios using the Manage Deleted Repository tool. If that is not realistic due to the quantity of portfolios affected, I can look into whether it is possible to restore these portfolios in another way.”