The resources below support common ways that library workers across the Alliance perform tasks related to the Shared Content & Technical Services (SCTS) program. Cooperative collection development and resource management, including cataloguing, acquisitions, collection development, electronic resources, and open access content.
On This Page
General
- SCTS Community Calls (requires password)
- Join monthly calls on Zoom for discussions and updates from SCTS groups and program staff.
- Agendas and login information are disseminated via the Alliance-ER and Tech Services email lists.
- SCTS email lists – contact Elizabeth Duell to be added to any list
- Alliance-ER (alliance-er): community building, questions specific to e-resources, troubleshooting
- Tech Services Discussion (ts-discussion): community building, questions specific to technical services work, especially issues regarding metadata or acquisitions issues in Alma
- Norm Rules Discussion (normrules): community building, questions specific to normalization rules in Alma
- Centralized support for recurring calendar links – contact Elizabeth Duell
- Anonymous Ask Form
- Ask a questions or share issues you’d like help with but are not yet fully comfortable putting it out in front of the community.
- Please don’t expect individual replies as the form is completely anonymous.
- In most cases, the SCTS program managers will add the question and response to the next community call agenda, or they may email about it on the Alliance-ER and Tech Services discussion lists.
Cataloguing
National/International Organization Alliance Participation
- Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC)
- Alliance participation
Standards
- RDA
- Official RDA is replacing Original RDA. The PCC is planning for a rolling implementation from May 1, 2024 to April 30, 2027. See the Library of Congress FAQ page for more information.
- DCRM
- Pre RDA standards
- Others
Record creation/maintenance
- 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)
- The Alliance Metadata Mandates (Google Doc) provides a one-page “cheat sheet” of the seven 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
- Other Alliance cataloging work/policies
- MARC
- BIBFRAME
- Authority work (NARs, SARs)
- OCLC
- WorldShare Record Manager
- Connexion
- Searching in Connexion
- Retaining and Deleting MARC Fields in OCLC Records
- See “Import/export/matching” section for export set up
- Duplicate records
- Adding missing ISBNs to existing WorldCat records
- Use of OCLC and Record Identifiers
- By format/material type (coming in the near future)
- Monographs
- Serials/Integrated resources
- Media
- Electronic resources
- Collections
- Maps/cartographic
- Music
- Non English language materials
Classification/subject analysis
- Library of Congress Classification (LCC)
- Dewey Decimal (DDC)
- National Library of Medicine classification (NLM)
- Controlled vocabularies
- Library of Congress vocabs
- Homosaurus Training Resources and FAQ
- Use of Faceted Terms in Cataloging
- Faceted Terms
Alma work
- Navigation, personalization, accessibility
- Suppression of Records in Alma
- Restoring Records with the Manage Deleted Repository Function in Alma
- Import/export/matching
- Alma Merge Rules in the NZ Account
- Importing Records to the Network Zone Without Consistent OCLC Numbers
- Policy: Overlay in Alma
- Procedures: Overlay in Alma
- Overlaying Brief Bibs in the Network Zone
- Import profiles in Alma
- Setup for Exporting from Connexion/Record Manager to the NZ
- Bibliographic Records with Multiple OCLC Numbers – Summary and Cleanup
- Alma OCA Normalize Process
- Policy: Network Zone Record Deletion – Import Profiles
- Alma Daily Bib Record Updates & OCLC WorldShare Collection Manager
- CZ, NZ, IZ
- Non-serial E-Resources in Alma: Best Practices for Local Collections
- Alma Merge Rules in the NZ Account
- Alma Network Zone
- Working in Alma and the Network Zone
- Contributing Collections to the CZ
- Identifying IZ Records Linked to Deleted NZ Records
- FAQ: Non-serial E-Resources – CZ vs. NZ
- Linking IZ Bib Records to the Network Zone
- Setup for Exporting from Connexion/Record Manager to the NZ
- Deleting bare Network Zone Records from an IZ
- Sharing Import Profiles to the Community Zone
- Metadata editor
- Brief bibs
- Holdings
- Corrupted holdings record Leader and 008 clean up project
- See ex libris guidance: Working with holdings
- Bound-withs
FAQs
- Cataloging for non cataloguers (coming in the near future)
- Free trainings outside alliance
- Catalogers Learning Workshop
- Niche Academy
- Washington State Library: Training and Certification Resources
- State Library of Oregon: Continuing Education Resources for Library Staff
- Idaho Commission for Libraries: Continuing Education
Acquisitions
The Alliance currently does not provide documentation for Acquisitions, since Ex Libris provides documentation on Alma acquisitions. Vendor agents like GOBI provide documentation/training on how to set up connections between their systems and Alma.
Collection Development
- Vendor Information: Working with the Alliance
- Withdrawing materials:
- Withdrawal Workflow Best Practices (Google Doc)
- Last Copy Guidelines (PDF)
- Last Copy Checker
- Distributed Print Repository (DPR) program: Alma Instructions for Alliance Distributed Print Repository (DPR) Titles
Electronic Resources
- Consortia Manager (CM) login required
- Documentation is available inside CM (video “walk-through”, FAQ, and User Manual).
- Click on the “?” on the right side of the navigation bar to access these resources.
- Electronic Resources Program Review; an introduction to Alliance electronic resources
- Alliance Journal Packages: Overview; shared Alliance packages
- Orbis Cascade E-Resource Licensing
- Alliance ER Licenses ; licenses can also be found in Consortia Manager
- Ebook Standing Group (ESG)
- Ebooks and AVON (requires password) ; ebook collections (Oxford, ProQuest, Wiley, etc.) and AVON (Academic Video ONline).
- Alliance Ebook Program Summary 2025
- Shared Content Webinar Recordings (requires password). Provider-based webinars
- Loading records from vendors via Embedded Order Data (EOD) imports
Open Access Content
- OAPEN is our only open access ebook collection. The Alliance pays a fee for OAPEN each year, all libraries are included and cannot opt out.
- Other OA (Open Access) collections are managed locally. The shared NZ collections listed under Ebooks and AVON (requires password) are not OA. There is no Alliance documentation relating to open access resources.
- This section will be updated as the OA environment continues to change.