Alma Publishing Profile (Fully Automated)

Modified on Wed, 17 Jan 2024 at 04:11 PM

Updated August 2020

This article describes the required steps in order to publish portfolios from Alma to Third Iron. Be sure and follow the correct instruction set for your setup:

Single Member institutions (IZ only) and Consortia Member institutions (IZ + NZ): follow the Single Institution/Consortia instructions below
Multicampus configuration: follow the multicampus instructions further down the page

Note that these instructions have been copied from the ExLibris Developer Blog and expanded with more detail. The original instruction set may be found here.

Email support@thirdiron.com with any questions.

Upgrading?

If you configured the original "BROWZINE_EXPORT" OAI Publishing Profile (pre-August 2020), then we recommend you upgrade to the newer "BrowZine" publishing profile at your earliest convenience.

Delete the existing "BROWZINE_EXPORT" community zone publishing profile.
Configure the new "BrowZine" community zone publishing profile
If you deleted the original, then the OAI base url and set spec should be the same as before. If you do not want to delete it then you'll need to choose a new set spec name. Note that set spec names must not contain any special characters or spaces.
Run the BrowZine publishing profile manually
Alert us at support@thirdiron.com once the above is complete to let us know you've migrated to the new OAI publishing profile, providing your institution name and (if known) your Third Iron library ID. If you changed the SetSpec name, please specify the new one in your message. We will then run some tests and make sure all is well.

* Note that the Publishing Profile was named "BrowZine" by ExLibris. Although named after our BrowZine product, this publishing profile covers LibKey customers too. Please follow these instructions regardless of which Third Iron product you are using.

Single Institution (IZ) and Consortia Members (IZ + NZ) Configuration

If you are using a multicampus configuration in Alma, scroll down to the Multicampus-specific instructions as multicampus setups require additional customization.

1) Prepare a logical set

If you have not previously defined a set to publish to BrowZine, the recommended parameters for defining this set are:

Electronic Titles where (Material Type equals “Journal” AND Tag Suppressed (Title) equals “No”)

You can create this set by going here: Admin > Manage Jobs and Sets > Manage Sets and using the Filter option on the top left of the page. Once you've added the filters as shown above, click Search. On the search results page, click the "Save Query" button on the top right. Give your set a name and save it.

If you need additional assistance in defining a set, please refer to the Ex Libris Manage Search Queries and Sets documentation, under the "Creating Logical Sets" section.

*** CONSORTIA MEMBERS ***

Use the Combined Results Filter to configure Alma to add the Network Zone (NZ) search results to the Institution tab (IZ).

First, contact Ex Libris to enable this feature for you. Once it's activated, use the option “Search scope: Combined results” in order to include in the set titles managed in the Network zone for you.

This is how it should look with that option enabled:

2) Configure OAI Integration Profile

Open the Integration Profile panel by going to Configuration Menu > General > External Systems > Integration Profiles. Check to see if you have an "OAI Repository Definition" Integration Profile configured. Each Alma instance is only allowed one Integration Profile of this type, and it is required in order to create the OAI Publishing Profile.

If you already have an "OAI Repository Definition" Integration Profile configured, simply edit it to authorize the Third Iron IP.

If you do NOT yet have an Integration Profile, you'll need to configure one by following the Setting Up OAI Integration documentation.

To add the IP:

a) On the Actions tab in the Integration Profile editing window, authorize the Third Iron IP via the “Allowed IPs” link. If you do not have this IP on hand, contact support@thirdiron.com, and request the “holdings server IP.”

b) To add the IP, click the "Allowed IPs" link and then click the "Add Row" link on the right side of the window. Use these settings:
IP Description = Third Iron IP
IP Version = IPV4
IP Match Criteria = enter the provided Third Iron holdings server IP
c) Click Add Row to save the IP and then click the Save button on the top right to save the IP

d) Click the left arrow on the top left to go back to the Mapping Table. Once you are back at the main Integration Profile editing window, then once again click the Save button on the top right.

3) Copy BrowZine publishing profile

a) Go to Alma menu > Resources > Publishing Profiles

b) Click on the Community tab

c) Search for “BrowZine”

(Note that the Publishing Profile was named "BrowZine" by ExLibris. Although named after our BrowZine product, this publishing profile covers LibKey customers too. Please follow these instructions regardless of which Third Iron product you are using.)

d) Use the action “Copy”

4) Configure the publishing profile

Set the following parameters:

Status = Active
Scheduling = Saturday morning option
Set Name = The set you just defined
Set Spec = BrowZine (if you must rename this for any reason, note that it cannot contain any spaces or special characters other than _ or -])

5) Run the job manually to fasten the integration process

Run the publishing profile manually.

There are two ways to run the profile:

You may run it from the Publishing Profile Details page, by clicking the Run button on the top right side of the window as shown below:

Or you may run it from the Publishing Profile list view. Click the menu icon to the right of the BrowZine profile and then select Run, as shown below:

Complete instructions to run the publishing profile manually may be found on the Ex Libris Publishing Profiles documentation page.

6) IMPORTANT: Register the publishing profile with Third Iron

Fill out the form available here: https://thirdiron.com/alma with the necessary information to register your publishing profile with Third Iron.

This form provides us with the necessary details to connect the publishing profile to your BrowZine account. Once we receive the form, we will complete testing on our end to ensure the profile is setup properly and yielding accurate results. Once testing is complete, we will activate the automated updates and send you a confirmation message. This process can take up to a week (especially in cases where the Set was not manually triggered in step 9 above).

Any questions? Check out our Publishing Profile FAQ, or contact us with your questions.

Multicampus Configuration

These instructions are relevant for multicampus setups only. If you are not using a multicampus setup, use the instruction set above.

1) Prepare a logical set

If you have not previously defined a set to publish to BrowZine, the recommended parameters for defining this set are:

Electronic Titles where (Material Type equals “Journal” AND Tag Suppressed (Title) equals “No” AND Available explicitly for equals “Campus A”)

(replace "Campus A" with the correct campus name using the pick list selector)

*** Depending on how your inventory is structured, you may wish to test the parameter "Available explicitly for group" instead of "Available explicitly for"

If you need additional assistance in defining a set, please refer to the Ex Libris Manage Search Queries and Sets documentation, under the "Create Itemized Sets" section, as well as the Searching in Alma documentation under the "Search Field Descriptions" section.

*** CONSORTIA MEMBERS ***

Use the Combined Results Filter to configure Alma to add the Network Zone (NZ) search results to the Institution tab (IZ).

This is how it should look with that option enabled:

2) Configure OAI Integration Profile

If you already have an "OAI Repository Definition" Integration Profile configured, simply edit it to authorize the Third Iron IP.

If you do NOT yet have an Integration Profile, you'll need to configure one by following the Setting Up OAI Integration documentation.

To add the IP:

a) On the Actions tab in the Integration Profile editing window, authorize the Third Iron IP via the “Allowed IPs” link. If you do not have this IP on hand, contact support@thirdiron.com, and request the “holdings server IP.”

b) To add the IP, click the "Allowed IPs" link and then click the "Add Row" link on the right side of the window. Use these settings:
IP Description = Third Iron IP
IP Version = IPV4
IP Match Criteria = enter the provided Third Iron holdings server IP
c) Click Add Row to save the IP and then click the Save button on the top right to save the IP changes.

d) Click the left arrow on the top left to go back to the Mapping Table. Once you are back at the main Integration Profile editing window, then once again click the Save button on the top right.

3) Copy BrowZine publishing profile

a) Go to Alma menu > Resources > Publishing Profiles

b) Click on the Community tab

c) Search for “BrowZine”

(Note that the Publishing Profile was named "BrowZine" by ExLibris. Although named after our BrowZine product, this publishing profile covers LibKey customers too. Please follow these instructions regardless of which Third Iron product you are using.)

d) Use the action “Copy”

4) Create a unique normalization rule per publishing profile

a) Go to the Metadata Editor (Resources > Cataloging > Open Metadata Editor).

b) Locate the “BrowZine by Alma University” normalization rule (tip: use the filter/search box to filter for "BrowZine"). Click on it and select Duplicate.

c) Name the rule after the relevant campus/consortia library (for example – “BrowZine – Campus A”). You may wish to include the library name in the Description field as well.

TIP: Make a note of the Normalization Rule name you just created, as you will need that in the next step.

d) In the next window, ADD the below custom script to the normalization rule exactly above the "end" line at the bottom

In the script, you will need to replace “CAMPUS_CODE” with your relevant Campus Code established in campus definitions in Alma configuration (Configuration > General > Libraries > Define Campuses):

Here is the custom script to use:

addSubField "ITM.x.Electronic" if (exists "ITM.b.CAMPUS_CODE") removeSubField "ITM.b" changeField "ITM" to "TMP" if (not exists "ITM.i.Print") removeField "TMP" if (not exists "TMP.x.Electronic") changeField "TMP" to "ITM"

This is how the script should look, substituting the correct Campus Code as noted above:
(or download the complete normalization rule script here)

e) When you are done editing, Save your changes, using the Save and Test option if you desire.

5) Create a normalization process for this normalization rule

a) Go to Alma Configuration > Resources > Cataloging: Metadata Configuration

b) Click on MARC21 Bibliographic

c) Click on the Normalization Processes tab

d) Click the Add Process link
Give it a relevant name (“BrowZine Campus A” for example) and description. Click Next.
Add the “MarcDroolNormalization” task by checking the corresponding box and then clicking on the "Add and Close" button. Then click Next.
Drools File Key = the normalization rule you created in the previous step. Locate it by clicking in the box and then filtering for the rule by name. Once selected, click Save.

6) Configure the profile