by Agnes Lee
Quick Summary
An update on the Alma Resource Sharing migration for the MnPALS libraries.
Minitex along with the MnSCU libraries have been using Alma Resource Sharing for almost two months now. In preparation for the move from Aleph to Alma, Minitex staff did testing and background setup with MnPALS staff, Sonja Eilertson, and University library staff, Chris Rose, for months before going live on the system. Our IT staff member, Matt Niehoff, made adjustments to our internal request management system (Mira) to accept Alma requests. There has been a lot of collaboration to get to where we are today with Alma.
The MnSCU libraries include the Minnesota state universities, technical, community, and consolidated colleges. Last fiscal year, Minitex received 48,000 requests; and as a borrower, we submitted 28,932 requests to this group. Minitex receives requests in the system using the symbols MNU and MII. Requests sent to MNU are only searched at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus libraries. When the request is sent to MII, we exhaust our partner libraries in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin to fill a request.
There is still a lot of work ahead of us! With any new system, there's a certain amount of unknowns even with the testing completed. We are still anxiously waiting for a few functionalities that aren't available yet. In the meantime, we are processing requests with workarounds that have been time-consuming for staff. We know it will get better in a few months and by then we might have forgotten some of the bumps in the road we have had along the way.
If you have any questions about Alma, please contact Kevin Kelley (612-624-1575; 800-462-5348) or Agnes Lee (612-624-4574; 800-462-5348). We are still novices on the system, but one day soon we will be able to answer your questions with confidence.
