The quickest way to obtain reports is to view the pre-made shared reports in Alma Analytics. Although reports from Alma Analytics are not live and are updated every 24 hours, they are still very useful easy to use. To access them, first log in to Alma, and then click on the Analytics button on the left menu and go to Shared With Me under My Analytics as seen below:
From here, you can access a plethora of diverse reports which you can run yourself by clicking on View Full Report:
All shared reports that you view in Alma Analytics can then be exported in a number of formats, including Excel, which you can then further tweak, filter, and sort to your liking. The export option is usually found at the very bottom of the report as seen below:
If you don't see the report you are looking for or if the data produced is not what you need, you can also Use the Persistent Search Bar to Generate Custom Reports (as demonstrated in the steps below) or you can request a special report to be created for you by emailing aherna19@mdc.edu.
In Alma, a search is often the first step in any activity. Every employee has access to search in Alma.You search for and then find a record, then begin to do work on it, whatever your task may be. Every search can also be exported and easily converted into an Excel report, which you can then narrow down and apply your own filters and sorting, which allows you to create your own, live custom reports (as opposed to Alma Analytics, where report data is delayed by 24 hours).
Knowing how and when to effectively search can help when doing a multi-step workflow.
There are three types of search in Alma:
Each type of search works in a similar way, but with different options and possibly a different scope. This guide introduces you to all three, and offers tips and tricks for each.
Navigation in Alma is when you use the menus, buttons/icons, on-screen links, and drop-down options to navigate from record to record or results list to record. The Alma interface is a website, and these all work as you'd expect them to on a website.
Regardless of where you are in Alma, there is a persistent search available near the top of the screen.
The persistent search bar has up to six parts:
Search Type (blue drop-down): This sets the kinds of records you want to find.
Criteria (white drop-down): This chooses the field you want to search in those records. This changes depending on the Search Type you choose.
Search term (blank box): Enter the search term(s). This will almost always be a keyword search, and Alma will suggest non-exact matches if possible.
Zone (icon drop-down): Choose whether you want to search the Institution Zone (house), Network Zone (hierarchy boxes), or Community Zone (people)
Search button: click this to search or hit the Enter key
Advanced search: If an advanced search is available for that search type, click here to open the Advanced Search box. Not all Search Types have advanced search.
The Search String in Basic Search
Tips on using the search string in a basic search:
Building on everything in Basic Search, Advanced search adds power, flexibility, and granularity through:
To conduct an advanced search, choose a search type and click on Advanced Search on the far right.
Not every search type has advanced search. Search types with Advanced Search are:
How Do I Perform an Advanced Search?
To perform and advanced search in Alma:
Working with Alma Search Operators
In Basic Search, the default operator on the criteria is "keywords" or "includes." One reason to use Advanced Search is to get access to additional operators.
Is Empty - One of the most useful of these additional criteria may be Is Empty. By choosing Is Empty, you can search for records in which that field is empty/contains no information. For example, empty barcodes, call numbers, order numbers, URLs, proxy information, etc. Read the Ex Libris documentation on Searching for Items Without Specific Information for more.
Starts With - To conduct a more precise Title search, use the Starts With operator.
Additional number-related operators - If you're searching by publication or other dates, Advanced Search gives you access to "greater than (>)," "less than (<)," "greater than or equal to (>=)," "less than or equal to (<<=)," "Before," "After," and more.
Date picker calendars - For some number entries (such as Activation date), you can choose from a calendar
Date ranges - Include one row with a Before date and one with an After date to search within a date range
Multiple Terms and Rows
Multiple Terms in One Row
Some criteria - such as Permanent Physical Location (Holdings) - allow you to add more than one search term to the same row, usually from a drop-down list. To do this:
Click the X next to any term to remove it from the list.
Multiple Rows of Criteria & Terms
To add another row, click on the plus at the end of the first row.
To delete a row, click on the X at the end of that row. Note that you can only delete the first row after you add a second row.
You cannot re-arrange the rows, but you can insert rows by clicking on the plus sign for the row above where you want to add one.
To duplicate a row, click the "copy page" icon at the end of that row. Do this to add multiple subjects to a search, or other criteria that don't allow you to enter multiple terms in the same row.
And/Or Operator for Rows
The default setting for Advanced Search is to link all the rows by AND. (Subject AND Item status AND Location AND Publication Year)
You can change the row operator to OR between two rows, but you need to organize the search query to make sure your OR is in the right place. If the search doesn't work, delete and re-add rows to get the OR into a better place in the query.
In these three screenshots, look closely at the search fields and then at the query logic below them.
In addition to the persistent search bar at the top of every page, many lists offer a search box or filters to narrow down the records listed on the page.
These on-page options either use a single index or a small number of indices you choose in a drop-down menu. The options will change depending on the list you're searching.
The Manage Sets page has both a search box and filters.
In the search box, you can search by the set Name or who it was created by (if you were searching Public Sets).
In the filters, you can choose from the drop-down options to limit the list by Content Type or Content Origin.
Unfortunately, Excel cannot sort call numbers by Library of Congress automatically. However, please download and use the following automatic Excel Template Sorter that allows you to do this automatically:
Do not attempt to run this from Microsoft Online in your browser. This file will only work from the Excel App on your computer. Once downloaded, simply follow the instructions through the guided steps in the file.
Please note, you need to enable/allow macros on Excel on your computer for this file to work. Learn how to do so here.
If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to aherna19@mdc.edu for assistance.