Mandatory fields:
First name; Last name
Email address
Primary user ID: unique within the institution
o 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).”
o The identifier that is used for authentication must exist for all the relevant users
o The identifier that is used as the SIS match identifier must exist for all the external users in order to synchronize their information with the SIS
o Patron information loaded from SIS is considered external and will be overridden by the next synchronization with the SIS
Mandatory fields can be configured. For more context go to Ex Libris Knowledge Center, Managing Users.
Note: It was confirmed by Andrea Bainbridge (EXL) by email that a library Barcode, can be specified as primary ID. As long as the college system recognizes the barcode value as the primary ID, there should be no issues with the SIS integration. (And, there is no need to submit two fields with a duplicate value, or map the barcode field to more than one other Alma field.)
Non mandatory fields:
Additional Identifiers: code to indicate the ID from the student information system, and any social media IDs supported for your institution.
Phone Numbers, addresses, notes, blocks, statistics
Expiry date: The estimated date when the user is expected to leave the institution. See Expiration Date for more information.
Purge date: The date on which the user will be purged. See Purging Users.
Patron information – Use Cases:
Primary ID: mandatory for physical circulation: loans, bookings, holds, reserves, fines, fees, blocks
3rd party mapping: Student Information System (SIS); Authentication; Export fines/fees/blocks to Bursar system; social login, fulfillment network (consortia)
Email: Notify patrons when items available or fines owed
External authentication: Authentication & authorization for access to electronic resources via Primo VE from on and off campus; use of Primo VE to create bookings / holds / requests, etc., store search results, history & favourites;
Analytics: statistical categories 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.
·Expiry date/purge date info: useful for cleaning out patron file.