This is an Excel plugin that allows one to search Alma using data in a spreadsheet and retrieve bibliographic and holdings data for the records it finds. It can be used for simple yes/no queries (e.g. "Which ISBNs in this list can be found in the catalog?") or to generate more detailed reports (e.g. "Retrieve the titles, location codes, and MMS IDs for all the call numbers in this list"). While there is some overlap between the functionality of this tool and Alma Analytics, some users may find this tool easier to use for simple queries. The entire process runs within Excel, and the catalog data can be added to an existing spreadsheet. The full documentation can be found at the following github site:
https://github.com/pulibrary/ExcelAlmaLookup#readme
Below is a brief "Quick Start" guide. First, download the installer from the following link:
https://github.com/pulibrary/ExcelAlmaLookup/releases/latest/download/CatalogLookupInstaller.exe
Any user can install the tool; it is not necessary to have administrative access to the computer. However, be sure to quit Excel before launching the installer. (On some computers, you may receive a warning that "Windows protected your PC". If so, you can simply click "More Info" and then "Run Anyway" to complete the installation.) After running the installer, open a spreadsheet containing the data you want to search for. You will see a new tab at the top of the Excel window called "Library Tools". If you click that tab, you will see a button labeled "Look up in Local Catalog"
Highlight the column or cells containing the data you want to search for (for example, a column of ISBNs), then click the button. A dialog will appear. The first time the tool is run, the user must enter the Alma SRU Base URL at the top of the dialog:
For Princeton, use the URL https://princeton.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/sru/01PRI_INST
(Alternatively, one can search the sandbox with the URL: https://princeton-psb.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/sru/01PRI_INST)
Click "Add URL to list" to save this URL for future use. One can also add and save the URLs for other institutions, and select the desired URL from the drop-down list. This is a non-intrusive way to search the holdings of other institutions that use Alma. For most institutions, the SRU Base URL will have a similar format to ours, but with a different prefix before the ".alma" and a different institution code in place of "01PRI_INST". The following site lists the connection information for many different institutions: https://irspy.indexdata.com/
After entering the SRU Base URL, you can configure other settings for your query in the dialog:
- "Range of cells to look up" should already contain a reference to the cells containing your search data, but you can use the button to the right of this field to adjust the range if needed.
- Set "Field to Search" to indicate the kind of data in the selected cells (in this case, ISBNs). If the data type does not appear in this menu, you can choose "Keyword", or click the "Additional fields..." button to see a complete list of available search fields.
- "Leftmost result column" indicates the column where the search results will be output. If more than one result type is selected, the others will be put in consecutive columns to the right of the first.
- "Result types" indicates the type of data elements to retrieve from the catalog. "True/False" will simply put TRUE in the results column if the search key in that row was found, and FALSE if not. The drop-down menu gives other options for specific fields to retrieve, or you can specify one using the MARC field and subfield codes. The explanation in the dialog describes how to specify such fields.
- Click “OK” to begin the lookup process. You will see the tool populating the result column(s) with the retrieved values. Hidden rows will be skipped. If a record contains multiple instances of the desired result field/subfield, then all instances will be placed in the result cell, separated by “broken vertical bar” characters (¦). If multiple bibliographic records are retrieved by a single search value, the desired field from each record will be placed in the result cell, separated by solid vertical bars (|).