Policies
The Shared Content and Technical Services Team reviews and maintains policies on this page. Any requests for revisions or exceptions should be submitted in writing to the SC/TS Team for review.
Bibliographic Record Policies
The Alliance Council first adopted bibliographic record mandates in November 2011, to facilitate the implementation of a shared library system. The policies below have been revised for the Alma/Primo environment. They are designed to meet national standards and best practices while facilitating work in a shared system. The policies are intended for use in the Alma Network Zone (NZ) and Primo; they do not apply to metadata in systems that do not interact with Alma or Primo. The policies are meant to be used with approved and published operational policies.The policies are presented starting with the most broad (foundational) and moving logically through to those with a more narrow scope:
- Use of OCLC and Record Identifiers (November 2020)
- Cataloging at the WorldCat Level (April 2021)
- Alma Network Zone (February 2021)
- Floor Bibliographic Standards (August 2020)
- Single v. Separate Records (March 2021)
- Provider-Neutral Records (January 2020)
- Level of PCC Contribution (May 2021)
A one-page “cheat sheet” of the seven policies above is available here.
Alma Operational Policies
The Alma Operational policies serve to protect Alma’s database integrity and consistency.
- Bound-withs (October 2021)
- Cataloging of Titles on Electronic Readers (January 2017)
- Contributing Collections to the CZ (April 2017)
- CZ Activation for Ebrary Academic Complete Subscription (October 2016)
- Language of Cataloging (October 2016)
- Use of the “Do not override/merge a non-brief record with a brief version” Flag in Alma Import Profiles (August 2016)
- Numeric Character References (October 2016)
- Minimum Acquisitions Data (February 2021)
- Suppression of Records in Alma (March 2023)
- Retaining and Deleting MARC Fields in OCLC Records (October 2016)
- Finding Aid Links in MARC Records (March 2017)
Network Zone:
- Importing Records to the Network Zone Without Consistent OCLC Numbers (December 2020)
- Overlay in Alma (December 2021)
- Overlaying Brief Bibs in the Network Zone (December 2021)
- Network Zone Record Deletion – Import profiles (December 2021)
- Deleting bare Network Zone Records from an IZ (June 2022)
- Sharing Import Profiles (December 2021)
- Working in Alma and the Network Zone (December 2021)
Best Practices
- Homosaurus Training Resources and FAQs (May 2023)
- Syncing IZ & NZ Brief Levels for Bibliographic Records (February 2022)
- Import Profiles in Alma (December 2021)
- Adding missing ISBNs to existing WorldCat Records (August 2021)
- Use of Faceted Terms in Cataloging (December 2020)
- Reporting Duplicate Bibliographic Records (May 2020)
- Best Practices for Ex Libris Salesforce Case Management (September 2019, PDF)
- Local Fields (February 2017)
- Authority Control Group Status Update (October 2016)
- Non-Serial Electronic Resources in Alma: Best Practices for Local Collections (November 2022)
- Marcive Record Loads (December 2022, Google Doc)
Procedures, Workflows, & FAQs
- Setup for Exporting from Connexion/Record Manager to the NZ (PDF, rev. May 2023)
- Identifying IZ Records Linked to a Deleted NZ Record (April 2024)
- Restoring Records with the Manage Deleted Repository Function in Alma (April 2024)
- Instructions for marking Alliance Distributed Print Repository records in Alma (December 2023)
- Non-serial E-Resources – CZ vs. NZ (November 2022)
- Bibliographic Records with Multiple OCLC Numbers (April 2023)
- Alma Indication Rules Tips and Tricks for Alliance Members (May 2024)
- Automatic loading of WorldShare Collection (September 2016)
- Creating a Set of Boundwith Records (September 2021)
- Identifying and Marking Boundwith Records for Protection in the Network Zone (Updated May 2024)
- Guidelines for Editing PCC (Program for Cooperative Cataloging) Bibs in WorldCat (September 2016)
- Linking IZ Bib Records to the Network Zone (October 2021)
- Overlay in Alma Procedures (December 2021)
- Using Record Templates in the Alma Metadata Editor (October 2021)
- YBP workflows
- Loading Approval Records into NZ (PDF, September 2016)
- Loading Brief Order Records into NZ: Creating Import Profiles to Load Vendor Order Records (PDF, September 2016)
- Loading WCP Records into Network Zone, including Shelf Ready (PDF, September 2016)
Institutional Workflows
- Corrupted Holdings Record LDR and 008 Cleanup (PDF) – University of Washington (April 2023)
- BoundWith Bibliographic Template (DOC) – University of Oregon (February 2017)
- Creating BoundWiths in Alma (DOC) – University of Oregon (February 2017)
- Fixing broken boundwith links in migrated records (DOC) – Eastern Washington University (April 2016)
- When to create a new bibliographic record (DOC) – Western Washington University (June 2016)
- Publishing Bibs to OCLC (PDF) – Western Washington University (September 2015)
NZ Account Configuration & Procedures
- Alma Brief Record Level Configuration (February 2021)
- Alma Daily Bib Record Updates & OCLC WorldShare Collection Manager (February 2021)
- Alma Merge Rules in the NZ Account (February 2021)
- Alma OCA Normalize Process (February 2021)
Related Links
- Technical Services Training Outlines
- Primo Normalization Rules Standing Group
- Cataloging Standing Group
- Problems and Questions
- For deletions and incorrectly merged bibliographic records contact Technical Services Program Manager Lesley Lowery.
- For questions regarding technical services policies, contact Technical Services Program Manager Lesley Lowery.
- Contacts