Page Comparison

Primary ID

Mandatory for physical circulation: loans, bookings, holds, reserves, fines, fees, blocks.

Mandatory. Choose an ID that is unique within your institution. According to Users in Alma: “All users in Alma have a primary identifier, which is part of the core user information. They may also have additional identifiers (for example, a student ID, barcode, and so forth.”

Email address

Notify patrons when requested items become available or if fines owed.

Mandatory

First Name

Core information

Mandatory

Last Name

Core information

Mandatory

SIS match identifier

Necessary for synchronization with SIS; keeps your patron file up-to-date

Export fines/fees/blocks to Bursar system;

This 3rd party integration allows Alma to retrieve relevant user information from the SIS, such as user names, passwords, and user identifiers.

External authentication

Example: LDAP, Single sign on. Provides access to electronic resources via Primo VE from both on and off campus;

User may use Primo VE to create bookings/holds/requests, etc., patrons store search results, history & favourites.

Must exist for all relevant users.

Email address

Notify patrons when requested items become available or if fines owed.

Mandatory

First Name

Core information

Mandatory

Last Name

Core information

Mandatory

Phone number

SMS notification

Subject to institutional privacy rules.

Address

Print mail notification

Subject to institutional privacy rules.

Statistical categories (e.g., department, school, program)

Analytics: such as programs/departments can be mapped in Alma;  Managing User Statistics allows reports to be filtered by users, by user group, category, and so forth.

No

Expiry date

Tagging records for patron file clean-up.

No

Purge date

The date on which the user will be purged. See Purging Users.

No

Social login

Provide alternate login for users, e.g., community users who are not included in your SIS integration.

No