Donna Capelle Cook, co-team leader
Pat Vince, co-team leader
Hayden Battle, functional expert for Fulfillment
Sean Bourg, functional expert for Primo
Elizabeth Elmwood, functional expert for Electronic Resources
Gena George, functional expert for Resources
Kate Montgomery, functional expert for Acquisitions
Mike Jones, back up for functional expert for Primo
Michelle Gibeault, functional expert for instruction
Laura Wright, functional expert for Matas
Each member of the project team is a functional expert in their area. Functional experts are leaders in their respective areas and will play a major role in preparing for the migration from Voyager to Alma. They will gather a team of staff members to assist. These staff members are the data experts.
Key Milestones (*dates are firm; others are tentative):
*Implementation Phase Kick Off Call Fri, J*an 22, 2021
*Test Load Start Sun, Feb 21, 2021
*Configuration form released to TU Friday, February 19
*Test Load Delivery - Alma environment with Test Data Mon, Mar 8, 2021
*Test load review -- March 8-19, 2021
*Primo VE First Look Fri, Mar 19, 2021
Alma / Primo VE Authorization Configuration Completed Fri, Apr 2, 2021
Alma Functional Workshop (Onsite) Tue, May 4, 2021 - Thu, May 6, 2021
Alma SIS Testing Complete Mon, May 24, 2021
Priority 1 3rd Party Integration Completed Mon, May 24, 2021
Voyager Technical Freeze (Acq/Cat) for Cutover Wed, Jun 9, 2021
Alma Configuration Freeze for Cutover Fri, Jun 18, 2021
Alma Cutover Migration Starts Sun, Jun 20, 2021
*Voyager Fulfillment Cutover Freeze Fri, Jul 2, 2021
*Go Live with Alma and Primo VE!!! Thursday, July 8, 2021
As of February 19, 2021, the following trainings should be completed:
The following essentials should be completed:
Terminology and Inventory Models
User Management
Sets and Jobs
Metadata Editor
Dec.7-11: Watch Migration tutorials
Dec.11: Q&A Voyager and P2E with Ex Libris
Dec.14- Jan.8: Complete Voyager Migration Form
Dec. 18-20: Test-run Extraction of database by Ex Libris
Jan. 8: Drafts of Migration Form and P2E list are due to Ex Libris
Jan.11-18: Review of the Migration Form and P2E by Ex Libris
Jan.22: Revisions and final forms are due to Ex Libris
Jan.21-Mar.5: Voyager database extraction and conversion to Alma by Ex Libris
Jan. 25: SFX extract by Ex Libris
Mar.8: Test load ready for review
Hello Tulane Libraries, this is a brief video to introduce you to Alma which will be our next integrated library system, or ILS.
Each member of the project team represents areas or functions within Alma . Pat and Donna serve as the team’s co-chairs, and other members are referred to as functional experts. There will be bi-weekly email updates. Each update will have links to both the Ex Libris Orientation videos as well as the Essential Training modules - this way, staff who want to understand the basics will have an opportunity to view the Orientation, and those who want to develop more detailed understanding can view the Essential Trainings.
We’ve been using Voyager since 1998. Instead of separate modules that have to be downloaded, Alma has a cloud-hosted approach that is all on the web.
You might remember that in the Fall of 2018 David convened a group to choose a new iLS. Representatives from both Ex Libris’s Alma and OCLC’s WMS system were invited to campus to offer demonstrations.
Alma was selected because it integrates functions that we currently have to depend on separate systems for, like SFX, Coral for electronic licenses, and Metalib. Alma also integrates with Primo, the discovery layer that we adopted in 2014.
The project team have created a library guide which is located at libguides.Tulane.edu/alma. the guide is meant to collect the information you need to proceed with your part in the Alma implementation.
Under "Trainings and Sandboxes" is a link to the Alma sandbox. Please be aware that the sandbox does not contain Tulane data. It is however a fully functional Alma instance. It’s there for us to explore and learn and to test Alma functionality. Once you have started the Alma Essentials training, you can use the sandbox to further explore what you’ve learned.
Along with Alma comes a newly configured Primo, pronounced Primo “V”. Links to the “Primo Knowledge Center” as well as the calendar of webinar dates are offered. A link to the Primo V sandbox is also here in the guide. This sandbox also does not contain Tulane data as it’s used for testing purposes.
Ex Libris recommends Firefox, Chrome, or IE for use with Alma. To log-in to the Alma Sandbox, you will need to use one of the Alma Training Sandbox accounts.
Find these on the guide’s tab for Sandboxes, “Alma Sandbox Users Logins”.
This is a pdf with different logins that have different permissions. Choose a user name, log in and explore. Then, if you like, choose another and try again.
thanks for watching. If you have questions, please post them in our slack channel #alma_questions or email Michelle or Laura.
