A PDF of these instructions is available along with a 12 minute recording.
1. First, make sure that your location in Alma is set to the correct Acquisitions Desk. On the right-hand side of the screen, click the down arrow which will bring up the Location drop-down menu. If you need to switch your location, click the down arrow next to the current location and scroll through the resulting list.
The reason why it is critical for your location to be set first is because that will set the funds for your location’s acquisition department.
2. When adding orders for books, use an All Titles search and use the ISBN number to see if a record exists. If the book does not have an ISBN number, search via the title, keyword, or UPC number. For non-book items, use an All Titles and search via the item’s title or UPC number.
3. When viewing the results, you will be switching between two tabs (circled below). First, you will check if any results display in the Institution (items that FSCJ owns) tab. If there are no results in this tab, click on the Network (statewide college and university items) tab. Since this particular result already has an item at another FSCJ location, it is in the Institution tab and we can attach the order to it. If there is not a record in our Institution zone but there is one in the Network zone, the following steps will apply for adding an order in either tab. If there is not a record for the item in either the Institution or Network zone, skip to step # 20 of this page.
Sometimes your search will have multiple results. In deciding to choose which record to add the order to, click on the title of the item which will bring you to the Bibliographic Record view of the record (displayed on the right side of the screen). Double check the fields highlighted below match the item in your possession. If they don’t match, check another result and if no results match, skip to step # 20 of this document to add a new record in Alma.
4. Once you have selected the best result, there are two ways to begin the ordering process. The first is to click on the three dots on the right-hand side of the screen and click on Order.
If you had already clicked on the title of the result, you will see the option to Order.
5. On the next screen, click the drop-down menus for PO line type and PO line owner. For the PO line type, use Print Book - One Time for physical books and Physical - One Time for any other item, including AV materials and board games. Leave Load from template blank and keep fscj in the drop-down menu for Generate barcode using sequence.
6. On the right-hand side of the screen, you will see a message that a new PO line was created.
7. You will be taken to this Summary page. On the left-hand side of the screen, you can click on the four required parts of adding an order: General Information, Ordered Items, Vendor Information, and Pricing and Funding. Or, you can scroll down on the main screen to access these four sections.
8. In the General Information section, leave everything as it is below. You can change the Material type if it’s an AV item:
9. In the Ordered Items section, click on the three dots on the right-hand side of the screen and then click on Edit.
10. In the Physical Item Editor screen, leave the barcode number as it is, update the drop down menus for Material type and Item policy, enter an amount in the Replacement cost and Inventory price fields, and, if necessary, change the Permanent location if the item will not be in the Circulation collection.
If there are any notes you want to add for this item, click on the Notes tab to add there. Once all information has been updated, click on the Save button at the top right of the screen.
11. You are now back on the main Purchase Order Line screen. We will now update the Vendor Information section. Click on the selection icon in the Material supplier field.
12. In the Select Vendor Accounts screen that displays, type in AMAZON in the Vendor Code search bar and then click on the magnifying glass icon next to it. You will have two results. Select the second result by clicking on the circle on the far left of the row and then click on Select on the right-hand side of the screen.
13. In the Pricing and Funding section, enter in the List price and make sure it matched what you entered in the Replacement cost and Inventory price fields in step #10. If you are adding more than one copy of this item, uncheck the box that says Update “Net Price” according to item quantity and then you can change the Quantity for pricing from the default number of 1.
14. After you enter the price, you will then have the option to add the fund. Click on the Click here to add a fund at the bottom of the section:
15. In the drop-down menu that displays, click on the down arrow in the Fund name drop-down menu:
16. You may have to scroll down the list to find the appropriate fund for your location. If you do not see your fund listed, you will need to allocate money in the budget first.
17. Next, you will click on the Save button:
18. In the Reporting Codes section, click the drop-down menu in the 1st reporting code field and choose the appropriate material type.
19. Finally, click on Order Now at the top of the screen. Do not click on Save or Save and Continue.
20. If there were no records found when searching for the item in step #2, you will need to add a brief record into Alma. To do so, click on the Resources tab and then click on the Open Metadata Editor option in the Cataloging section.
21. On the next screen, click on the New tab and then select Brief Record (FSCJ) (Default) option.
22. Delete the information in the highlighted fields below and add the information you can for the item. Please enter all information in capital letters. Do not worry about misspellings or incomplete information. This record will eventually be replaced with a more complete catalog record.
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23. Click on the arrow next to Save and then select Save and Release Record. You will now run a search as described in step #2 and proceed from there to add the order, following steps #2 - #19.
24. After adding the order, follow the instructions for How to Complete Cataloging Tickets and send the items to LTS for full processing and cataloging.