Configuring Search
You can configure the options available when searching and the available resources to search.
Configuring Search Indexes
To configure search indexes, you must have one of the following roles:
- Catalog Administrator
- General System Administrator
Alma lets you configure which indexes are searched when conducting Simple and Advanced searches. You can configure the order that the indexes are searched and whether an index should be included in simple searches, advanced searches, or both. The indexes are available to select when performing a search. For example, locally configured indexes for the Simple search appear in the Where drop-down list (see the Local Index Configured illustration below).
To customize the search index label that appears in the drop-down list, see Configuring Index Labels.
Each MARC tag, such as the 984, is indexed as a separate searchable field and all of its subfields are indexed and searchable when the 984 is selected as the Where option.
Administrators configure search indexes from the Search Indexes Mapping Table page (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration > Search Indexes).
Search Indexes Mapping Table Page
To edit a search index:
- On the Search Indexes Mapping Table page, under Mapping Table Rows, locate the search index that you want to edit.
- Click Customize. The Search Indexes Mapping Table page opens for editing.
Mapping Table Page Edit Search Indexes - Edit the search index as follows:
- To have Alma display/hide a search index in the Simple Search, enter true/false in the Simple Search column.
- To have Alma display/hide a search index in the Advanced Search, enter true/false in the Adv. Search column.
- Edit the Index Order as follows:
- Alma uses the numerical order of the codes when applying the search indexes that are enabled and marked as true.
- The lower the number in the Index Order column, the higher the search index priority.
- Click Save to save your changes. Click Restore to restore the initial parameter value.
The following table maps the index codes in the Search Indexes Mapping Table page to the index labels in Alma:
The following table maps the search index labels in Alma to the index codes in the Search Indexes Mapping Table page:
| Search Index Labels | Index Codes |
|---|---|
| Access Rights | iepa_tps_accessRights |
| Access Rights | portfolio_accessRights |
| Accession Number | accessionNumber |
| AR description | ar_description |
| Authentication Note | iepa_authenticationNote |
| Authentication note | portfolio_authenticationNote |
| Barcode | barcode |
| Bibliographic level | bib_level |
| Brief Level | mms_briefLevel |
| Call number suffix | callNumberSuffix |
| Collection Name | iec_label |
| Collection PID | iec_pid |
| Collection PO Line ID | iepa_POLineID |
| Copyright Note | copyrights_note |
| Corporate Name | auth_corporate_name |
| Creator Name | creatorName |
| Deposit set ID | depositSetId |
| Description | description |
| Dewey decimal class number | dewey_decimal_class_number |
| DOI - Digital Object Identifier | digital_object_identifier |
| Edition | alternate_complete_edition |
| Electronic collection Name | packageName |
| Electronic Collection PID | iepa_pid |
| External System | iec_external_system |
| External System Id | iec_external_system_id |
| File Label | file_label |
| File Note | file_note |
| File PID | file_pid |
| Fulfillment Note | fulfilment_note |
| General retention policy | general_retention_policy |
| Government Document Number | government_document_number |
| Handle ID | handleId |
| Harvest date | harvestDate |
| Holding note | holding_Note |
| Holding PID | holding_pid |
| IE PID | ied_pid |
| Interface Name | interfaceName |
| Internal Description | internalDescription |
| Internal description | portfolio_internalDescription |
| Internal note 1 | internal_note_1 |
| Inventory number | inventoryNumber |
| ISBN | isbn |
| ISNI - International Standard Name Identifier | isni_identifier |
| ISSN | issn |
| Issue year | issueYear |
| Item PID | item_pid |
| Item sequence number | itemSequenceNumber |
| Keywords | all |
| Keywords | all_authority |
| LC Call Number | lc_class_number |
| Library | iepa_Library |
| License ID | package_license_id |
| Local notes | local_notes |
| Medical Subjects (MeSH) | mesh |
| Meeting Name | auth_meeting_name |
| MMS ID | auth_mms_id |
| MMS ID | mms_id |
| MMS SIP ID (a number for a transitory set of records affected by a job ) | auth_mms_sip_id |
| MMS SIP ID (a number for a transitory set of records affected by a job ) | mms_sip_id |
| Name Title | auth_name_title |
| Names | auth_names |
| Names | name |
| National bibliography number | national_bibliography_number |
| Notes | notes |
| ORCID - Open Researcher and Contributor ID | orcid_identifier |
| Originating System | auth_mms_originatingSystem |
| Originating System ID | originating_system_id |
| Other Classification Number | other_class_number |
| Other System Number | other_system_number |
| Permanent call number | PermanentCallNumber |
| Personal Name | auth_personal_name |
| PO Line | itemPOLineID |
| Portfolio License ID | portfolio_license_id |
| Portfolio PDA ID | portfolio_pdaId |
| Portfolio PID | portfolio_pid |
| Portfolio PO Line ID | portfolio_POLineID |
| Public note | general_note |
| Public note | generalNote |
| Public Note | public_note |
| Public note | publicNote |
| Publisher | publisher |
| Publisher number | publisher_number |
| Representation Label | representation_label |
| Representation PID | representation_pid |
| Series | series |
| Service Authentication Note | pps_authenticationNote |
| Standard number | standard_number |
| Subject | auth_subject |
| Subjects | subjects |
| Subjects (LC) | lcsh |
| Summary holding | summaryHolding |
| Title | title |
| Title Service PID | tps_pid |
| UDC | universal_decimal_class_number |
| Uniform Title | auth_uniform_title |
| Url There is a known issue with this condition, and it is not functioning properly in Repository Search. See the July 2016 release notes. | url |
The following table maps the Object Type column in the Search Indexes Mapping Table page to the search index types in Alma:
Object Type to Search Index Types Mapping
Search Indexes Example
If the accession number is enabled, it appears as an option when performing an advanced search:
Accession Number Enabled
Accession Number Displayed
If the accession number is disabled, it does not appear as an option when performing an advanced search:
Accession Number Disabled
Accession Number Not Displayed
In addition, when the Accession Number is disabled, it is not searched when performing a simple search.
Configuring Index Labels
To configure index labels, you must have one of the following roles:
- Catalog Administrator
- General System Administrator
You can define the names of the index labels of local fields used in simple and advanced searches and the order in which they appear.
You configure index labels from the Customize Search Labels code table (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration > Customize Indexes Labels).
Customize Search Labels Code Table Page (Search Index Labels)
Editing Index Label Details
For the fields that you enabled in Configuring Search Indexes (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration section > Search Indexes), you can customize the label that appears (in the simple and/or advanced search options) for those fields .
To edit the details of an index label:
- On the Customize Search Labels code table page, locate the index label that you want to edit.
- Use the Move Up or Move Down arrows to set the order of the index labels. The index labels appear in the defined order in drop-down lists that contain local search indexes such as the Where drop-down list in the Simple Search (see the Local Index Configured illustration).
- Modify the index label description as required. For examples, see Configuring Index Label Examples below.
- Select Default Value if the new index label is to be the default index label that appears in the drop-down list of search indexes.
- Click Save to save your changes.
Where your customized label appears (simple search, advanced search, or both) is determined by your configuration settings in Search Indexes (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration section > Search Indexes).
Configuring Index Label Examples
If the local field 900 is named Additional Information, the Additional Information field appears when performing a search:
Local Field 900 – Additional Information
Advanced Search – Additional Information
If you change the name of the local 900 field to More Information, the More Information field appears when performing a search:
Local Field 900 – More Information
Advanced Search – More Information
Configuring External Search Resources
You can add external resources you want to search and their characteristics (normalization process, merge method, and credentials, as needed). You configure external resources on the Search External Resource Setup page, (Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu from the Resource Management > Search Configuration > External Search Resources). For information on external search, see Searching External Resources.
Search External Resource Setup Page
To add an external resources to be searched:
- On the Search External Resource Setup page, click Add External Resource.
- Under Find Resources, enter one or more search criteria to be used in locating a resource.
- Name – Enter the name or part of the name of the resource. For example, enter KERIS in the Name parameter to locate the following resources:
- KERIS (Korea Education and Research Information Service) – MARC 21 record format
- KERIS (KORMARC) – KORMARC record format
- Name search type – Select the way in which you want the search word or string to be matched against the resource names: Contains, Exact, or Starts with.
- Resource type – Select a type of resource to locate — for example, an e-journal or e-book.
- Publisher – Enter the name of a specific publisher from which you want to locate a resource.
For a list of possible external resources, see External Search Resources. - Name – Enter the name or part of the name of the resource.
- Click Find Resources to display the resources that meet your criteria. A list of resources that meet the criteria opens on a new page. If the search returns no results, edit your criteria and try again.
Search External Resource Setup Results - OCLC Example
Search External Resource Setup Results - KERIS Example - Locate the resource that you want to make available to your institution and select Actions > Select resource.
External Resource Details and Institution Details - KERIS ExampleIt is possible to have multiple connections to the same resource if the credentials to the resource are different for each connection.If you want to import KERIS records that are stored in the KORMARC and the MARC 21 record format, you will need to repeat these configuration steps for both of the following resources:- KERIS (KORMARC) – KORMARC record format
- KERIS (Korea Education and Research Information Service) – MARC 21 record format
- Under Institution Details, modify, enter, or select the following:
- Resource name – Modify the resource name to the name by which the institution refers to the resource.
- Normalization process – Select the appropriate normalization rules file to be used from a list of previously defined files. Normalization processes can be added from the Resource Management Configuration page, in the General section. For more information, see Working with Normalization Processes.
- Merge method – Select from one of the following merge methods predefined by Ex Libris:
- Replace 245 and 035 OCLC if exist – Replaces all MARC fields in the Alma record with fields from the external records, except for fields 001, 245, and 035 (whose “a” subfields contain OCoLC or where the first indicator is 9 and the second indicator is #). Any 001, 245, or 035 fields in the Alma record are left in place, and any 245 or 035 fields in the external record are added to them.
- Overlay all fields but local – Replaces 035 fields in the Alma record with those from the external record unless the first indicator is 9 and the second indicator is #. In addition, replaces all other MARC fields in the Alma record with fields from the external records, except for fields 001 and 9XX.
- Keep only old value – Keeps all MARC field values in the Alma records.
- Conditional subject headings – Replaces all MARC fields in the Alma record with fields from the external records, except for fields 001, 035, 9XX, 65X, and 7XX. Any 001, 035, 9XX, 65X, or 7XX fields in the Alma record are left in place, and any 6xX or 7XX fields in the external record are added to them.
- Credentials – The <username>/<password> (using this syntax, with no spaces) to be used for the external resource.
Search External Resource Setup - Institution Details
- Click Save. The resource is added to the list of available external resources.
Resources Added to the External Resource List
Configuring External Search Profiles
To configure external search profiles, you must have one of the following roles:
- Catalog Administrator
- General System Administrator
Once you configure external search resources, you create a search profile that defines the order in which the external resources are searched, as well as the search conditions. The search profiles appear in the Search cataloging profile drop-down list (see below) when searching external resources. The search profile can be configured to identify multiple external resources to be searched and define the order in which these external resources are searched. For information on external search, see Searching External Resources.
You configure external profiles from the External Search Profile List page (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration > External Search Profile).
External Search Profile List
To create a search profile for an external resources:
- On the External Search Profile List page, click Add External Search Profile. The first page of the External Search Profile Details wizard appears.
- Enter a name and description (required) for the search profile you are defining and click Next. The second page of the wizard appears.
- Under Internal Resources Pool, select Community Catalog and click Add to Selection if you want Alma to search internally (using the MetaLib search engine) before performing a search of external resources.
- Under External Resources Pool, select the external resource you want to add to the profile and click Add to Selection.
External Resources Pool - Use the Move Up and Move Down arrows to set the search order for the resources. (To delete a resource, select Actions > Delete. To view details of a resource, select Actions > View).
External Search Profile Details – Page 2 - Click Save. The profile is added to the list of external search profiles. It can now be selected from the Search cataloging profile drop-down list (Resource Management > Cataloging > Search External Resources).
Search External Resources
External Search Resources
The following is a list of external search resources that are currently available in Alma.
- Abertswyth University Library Catalogue
- ALMACALCNX – requires credentials to access
- American Museum of Natural History Library
- AMICUS – requires credentials to access
- ArticleFirst (OCLC) – requires credentials to access
- Australian National Bibliographic Database (Test) – requires credentials to access
- Bavarian Library Network – requires credentials to access
- BDZ (BDS) – requires credentials to access
- BDZ DVD/BLURAY MARC21 Cataloguing Service (BDS) – requires credentials to access
- BDZ Music Data MARC21 Cataloguing Service (BDS) – requires credentials to access
- Biblioteca Nacional de Espana
- Bibliotheksverbund Bayern (BVB) for Berlin libraries
- Bibliothèque Nationale Suisse
- Bibliothèque On-line du Réseau de l'Académie Louvain
- BIBSYS
- BICOCCA (Università Milano Bicocca)
- BN-OPALE PLUS (BNF) – requires credentials to access
- Bond University
- British Library Integrated Catalogue
- British Library Integrated Catalogue (MARC) – requires credentials to access
- British Library Legal Deposit Shared Database – requires credentials to access
- British National Bibliography (BNB) – requires credentials to access
- CALIS (we_cat ) – requires credentials to access
- CAPITA (BDSAllM21) – requires credentials to access
- CAPITA (BLConM21) – requires credentials to access
- CAPITA (LCAllM21) – requires credentials to access
- CAPITA (NLMAllM21) – requires credentials to access
- CAPITA (UnionM21) – requires credentials to access
- Cardiff Metropolitan University
- CARM Centre (CAVAL)
- Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP Z39.50) – requires credentials to access
- Catálogo Bibliografico Trentino [CBT]
- Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico (CCPB)
- Catálogo Italiano dei Periodici ACNP
- Catalogue Collectif Suisse des Affiches CCSA
- Charles University Praga
- City University of Hong Kong – requires credentials to access
- CLICNET Catalog
- COPAC
- Copyright Agency – requires credentials to access
- Cornell University Library
- CUHKINNO
- Curtin University Library
- DanBib – requires credentials to access
- DBC (The Danish Bibliographic Centre)
- Edinburgh University Library
- FENNICA - The National Bibliography of Finland
- German National Library – MARC21 – requires credentials to access
- Global Books in Print (Bowker) – requires credentials to access
- Griffith University Library
- GVK (Gemeinsamer Verbundkatalog)
- Hebrew University
- Hellenic Academic Libraries
- Hessische Bibliothekssystem (HeBIS)
- HOLLIS Catalog – Harvard
- IMF/World Bank
- James Bennett Online
- Katalog des Bibliotheksverbunds IDS Basel Bern
- KERIS (KORMARC) – requires credentials to access
- Laval University Library
- LIBIS network
- Libraries Australia – requires credentials to access
- Libraries Australia Modified – requires credentials to access
- Library of Congress (United States Library of Congress (LOC))
- LIBRIS - Swedish Union Catalogue
- Lirias – requires credentials to access
- LNCLIB
- London School of Economics
- KERIS (Korea Education and Research Information Service) – Requires idPass authentication
- Melinda
- MnPALS
- Monash University Library Catalogue
- Monash University of Malaysia
- Monash University South Africa
- National Art Library Victoria and Albert Museum
- National Library of Australia
- National Library of China Z3950 (UNIMARC) – requires credentials to access
- National Library of China Z3950 (USMARC) – requires credentials to access
- National Library of Israel
- National Library of Korea (National Shared Cataloging)
- National Library of Malaysia
- National Library of Scotland
- National Library of Wales
- National Taiwan University Library
- National University of Singapore Library
- Netzwerk von Bibliotheken und Informationsstellen in der Schweiz (NEBIS)
- NLM LocatorPlus (z39 gateway - OPAC)
- NUKAT – Requires idPass authentication
- OCLC WorldCat (through Libraries Australia) – requires credentials to access
- Ohio Link
- Online Dakota Information Network (ODIN)
- Open Vlacc (Vlaamse Centrale Catalogus) – requires credentials to access
- Oxford University (Oxford University)
- POLYUINNO
- Purdue University Catalogue – requires credentials to access
- Queensland University of Technology
- Réseau des bibliothèques Alexandria – requires credentials to access
- Reseau des bibliotheques de Suisse occidentale (RERO)
- RLUK Research Libraries UK – requires credentials to access
- Russian State Library
- SBN (UNIMARC)
- Scuola Normale Superiore
- Scuola Normale Superiore UNIMARC
- Shanghai Library – requires credentials to access
- Smithsonian Libraries
- South Dakota Library Network (SDLN)
- State Library of Victoria
- SUDOC (Brief Records USMARC)
- SUNCAT (MARC) – requires credentials to access
- SWB Katalog (Sudwestdeutscher Bibliotheksverbund)
- Swinburne Library – Swinburne University of Technology
- Swiss National Library (NB) – requires credentials to access (idPass authentication).
- Te Puna Search – requires credentials to access
- Tel Aviv University
- Temasek Polytechnic Library and Information Resources Department (Z3950)
- The English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC)
- The National and Copenhagen University Library
- The New York Botanical Garden
- Trinity College Dublin
- ULI – Israel Union List (MALMAD Israel Center for Digital Information Services)
- ULS (Israel Union List of Serials)
- UNILINC Network Zone
- United States National Agricultural Library
- Università degli Studi di Bergamo
- Università di Camerino
- Università di Genova
- Università di Padova
- Università di Pisa (UNIMARC)
- Università di Sassari
- Università di Siena (UNIMARC)
- Università di Udine
- Università di Verona
- Universiteit Gent
- University Library of Bozen/Bolzano – requires credentials to access
- University of Canberra
- University of Malaya Library
- University of Melbourne Library
- University of Ottawa Library
- University of South Wales
- University of Sydney
- University of the Arts London – Library Catalogue
- UNSW (z3950)
- USTLIB
- Weizmann Institute
- WorldCat (OCLC) – requires credentials to access
- Yale University Library
- Zeitschriftendatenbank (ZDB)
Customizing the Repository Search
To configure the repository search, you must have the following role:
- Catalog Administrator
You can customize the repository search to determine how search results appear on the Repository Search configuration page (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration section > Repository Search).
Customizing the Default Selected Results Tab for Staff Searches
You can define the default search tab (Network, Institution, Community) for some types of staff searches.
For some kinds of searches, it is likely that the user wants to view the results in the Community or Network Zones by default, rather than the Institution Zone (local repository). For example, collaborative network member staff may want all title searches to display, by default, the Network Zone search results and inventory searches to display, by default, the Institution Zone search results.
The default applies to searches from the Advanced Search page or the persistent search box. The selected tab is retained when you perform a search from the Repository Search results page.
To customize the selected tab for different search results:
On the Repository Search configuration page (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration section > Repository Search), select the default tab (Institution, Community, or Network) that will be selected for each of the following search types and click Save.
Repository Search Configuration Page
The search types that can be configured are:
- All titles
- Electronic titles This setting also affects the default tab selected when searching for a title on the New Portfolio page.
- Electronic collection
- Electronic portfolio
- Authorities
The option Network is available only for institutions within a collaborative network.
Customizing the Thumbnail Display
Alma attempts to display a thumbnail image for titles. If the title has a digital file, a thumbnail of that file appears. If the title has only physical items, Alma attempts to acquire a thumbnail image of the cover using the title’s ISSN or ISBN. If no thumbnail is available, a generic image of the material type (book, video, music, etc.) appears.
You can configure whether you want Alma to display thumbnails in the repository search results for digital resources only, or for all types of resources.
To configure the thumbnail display:
- Open the Repository Search Configuration page (Resource Management > Resource Configuration > Configuration Menu > Search Configuration > Repository Search). The following appears:
Thumbnail Configuration - Select an option:
- Show for all objects – Thumbnails appear for all types of resources.
- Show digital only – Thumbnails appear only for digital resources.
- Click Save.