Item: Ex Libris Alma
Rating: 8
Author: Aidan Kennedy

Overall Satisfaction with Ex Libris Alma

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Ex Libris Alma to track and manage our physical and digital collections across four WSU campuses. We also used it for analytics features like generating circulation statistics. I personally used Alma for basic circulation functions (checking books in and out, placing holds, renewals, etc.) and for doing collections research to put together reports (investigating which of our physical journals we also held digitally and under what types of contracts, etc.).

Pros and Cons

Pros

Integrates smoothly with other Ex Libris products (like Primo for patron-facing searching and Esploro for a research repository) and Springshare
Works well across multiple connected library locations
You can set many different levels of permissions for different users
Easy to create and save fairly complicated advanced searches

Cons

When you conduct an advanced search, there are some of the data points that simply won't export to a .csv, making external analytic work tedious or impossible
UI is not the friendliest - there is a lot of clicking on subtabs to get the information you want

Most Important Features

Advanced search with results you can save and/or export
Integration with other Ex Libris products
Management for physical and digital collection

Return on Investment

Ex Libris Alma was in use before I started working at the library, so I can't say for sure

Key Insights

Do you think Ex Libris Alma delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

Are you happy with Ex Libris Alma's feature set?

Yes

Did Ex Libris Alma live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Ex Libris Alma go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Ex Libris Alma again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Springshare, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Teams

Likelihood to Recommend

I think Ex Libris Alma is well suited to any library, including those with multiple locations, that is looking for a back-end collections management solution and a front-end discovery website for patrons (Ex Libris Primo) that will play together seamlessly and require little work to synchronize. It might not be the best fit for libraries that regularly evaluate their collections in depth using digital information that is not provided in Alma's own analytics package. I would recommend carefully evaluating what Alma's analytics can do vs. your library's needs before committing, but otherwise it does the job well!

Comments

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Ex Libris Alma is great for the basics and for integration