Illiad NCIP Plug-in : Set Up Procedure

Background

The plug-in covers two ILL functions - borrowing and lending.

When an item is checked in ILLiad the plug-in creates an NCIP request with the borrower's ID and a brief bib record. This shows up as a request on the borrower's account in Alma (also viewable as a request via Primo). When the item is circulated in Alma it displays as a loan in the patron's account. The due date is set in ILLiad and honored in Alma. When the item is returned, it need only be returned in ILLiad. (It can be returned in Alma but it is not necessary.) At the point of return, ILLiad will send another message to Alma returning the item and removing it from the patron's account.

When an item is "Marked as Found" in ILLiad the plug-in checks the Reference Number field in ILLiad for the item barcode (this must be input by the lending librarian). When it matches, the item is then moved from the items home location to the Resource Sharing Lending location. When the item is returned and "Checked In" in ILLiad the plug-in sends a message to Alma and the item is marked as "In transit" to its home location. It will need to be scanned in Alma and re-shelved.

(https://github.com/vculibraries/alma-ncip)

Best Practice Recommendations

• In order for the ILLiad / Alma plugin to work, the ILLiad user account must contain a unique patron identifier that matches a unique Alma patron identifier (e.g Primary Identifier, University ID, Barcode, etc.)
  
  
  

Alma Setup

Setup requires the creation of a Resource Sharing Partner and a Resource Sharing Library or a temporary location within an establised library if not using the Resource Sharing Library that comes with Alma.

Resource Sharing Partner

In Alma, navigate to Fulfillment »  Resource Sharing »  Partners. Click Add Partner and complete the fields listed below under the General Information tab. Ex Libris Documentation

Complete the the following mandatory fields in the Parameters tab:

Resource Sharing Library

If you have elected to use the Resource Sharing Library then you must configure both the Open Hours and Terms of Use tables for that library.

ILLiad Setup

In order to integrate Illiad with Alma, the add-on must be installed in every Illiad client that will be processing borrowing and lending requests. The client configuration is provided by VCU on GitHub and will need to be modified to look for the lending partner setup in Alma. Our settings are as follows: 

Installing the Add-On

(These install instructions assume you already have an installation of the ILLiad Client installed on a Microsoft Windows workstation.)

Create a new folder in your local machine's ILLiad\Addons directory (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\ILLiad\Addons\) and name it Alma-NCIP

Copy the three files - Config.xml, IDS_NCIP_Client.lua, and sublibraries.txt to the newly created directory.

You should manually modify the Config.xml file with the same information used in the plug-in interface. The screenshot below identifies these fields that need to be changed:

1. Line 12 - NCIP_Responder_URL, enter 

2. acceptItem_from_uniqueAgency_value

3. ApplicationProfileType

Open

Now, modify the following settings within the ILLiad client systems plug-in interface.

Open

Then make sure the plug-in is activated in the ILLiad client. This is not automatic.

 After all edits have been made to the file, restart Illiad and register the Add-on (see the documentation on activating an Add-On).

Distributing the add-on to multiple ILLiad clients

Atlas provides documentation for configuring ILLiad so that add-on files can be shared by multiple clients:

https://prometheus.atlas-sys.com/display/ILLiadAddons/Distributing+Addons

The add-on can be distributed to all clients and de-activated for those clients that are not using it.

During testing at SLO, the NCIP plugin was deployed once from the server, with its config, and is auto-activated in the everyone's ILLiad client, but it was discovered that the ILLiad client needed to be run once as Administrator in order to write the updated add-on from server share into Program Files (x86)\ILLiad\Addons. (Thanks to Mike Price at SLO for sharing this troubleshooting tip!).

Testing

When testing borrowing, create requests in ILLiad and manually alter statuses so that they are not sent to OCLC for fulfillment.  At the time the request is received in ILLiad, you should be able to log into Primo to view the request under the user's account under 'requests'.  The item must be received, status will appear to users even before the Alma and/or ILLiad notification about the item is sent to the user.  To test lending, can use expired requests in the system (Thanks to Danny Soares at San Jose for these stips.)

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