Comments and questions on these steps are welcome; please email CARLI support.
updated 11/7/2024
These topics are covered below:
Thank you to Shelly McDavid of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for providing the groundwork for this how to page.
Upon login, a popup may appear asking you to choose the desk or department from which you are working. If this happens, continue to step 3. If no popup appears, skip ahead to step 6.
There are two workflows for checking in items.
If you come across a missing or illegible barcode while checking an item in or out, you will have to manually look up the item. The procedure for this is the same in both cases, though the overall screens will look slightly different.
Work orders are created when an item needs a new barcode, needs repairs, or otherwise needs attention. There are many ways to create a work order in Alma; here we list three that may be useful while working in the Circulation Department.
Follow these steps if you find an item that needs to be routed to a work department and you are not checking the item in or out.
In the event that an item shows an "Item not found" error message during the check out process, follow these steps to create a basic record.
Note: Item records must have a shelf status of "Item in place" in order to have the Missing status assigned manually.
If the item is no longer missing you can change the status back again by following the steps above, or by checking the item in.
If you attempt to check out items to a patron that is blocked, a pop up will appear when you enter their ID/name.
Depending on your permissions, you will have either two or three options.
A patron may have questions about notifications about fines and fees. To review what notifications were sent to the patron, click the "Attachments" tab of the User Details screen.
If a note is set to "User Viewable", the patron may see it through Primo VE.
The pick from shelf list, also known as the pick list, shows you the materials in your library that have been requested by patrons, other departments, or other libraries.
Moving an item in Alma allows you to update the record to reflect physical changes to an item's location. As an example, this is the process you should use when relocating an item from one library to another.
To move items from one location to another using the Request workflow:
To move an item from one location to another without using the Requests workflow:
A fulfillment note is a popup that occurs before the item is charged or returned from the patron record. When staff select "Cancel" it cancels the action charge or return action. In Alma, the fulfillment note is the closest thing to Voyager's "Charge note", "Discharge note", or the Circulation Review item status alert.
Alma has a browse count feature, though in Alma-speak a browse is an "in-house loan".
Alma gives you two ways to record in-house loans:
You can see the number of in-house uses for an item by performing a physical items search. Then on the results screen, click the Other Details link to expand the record and view the usage data.
You can also report on in-house loans in Alma Analytics in the Fulfillment Subject Area.