A brief summary of what needs to be considered for the patron file. Why choose one ID over another? Consider the following:
How will your users will authenticate?
How will you update your patron data?
How, and from where, do you want your users to access the library?
How you wish to communicate with your users.
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, keeping your patron file up-to-date
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 (consider your institution’s privacy rules), 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
Email: notify patrons when requested items become available or if fines owed
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.
3rd party integrations for patron information: consider the importance of these functions as you think about IDs to include in your patron file
Student Information System (SIS): refresh patron files
External authentication: provide 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;
Export fines/fees/blocks to Bursar system;
Fulfillment network (consortia)