Knowledge Base

Search Indexes in Alma

• All bibliographic fields in Alma are indexed by Ex Libris, but only some of those fields are searchable out of the box.
  • Here is the list of MARC21 bibliographic fields that are enabled by default for Alma searching.
  • Searches in Alma are not always a one-to-one match for MARC tags. Consider, for example, the 690 field:
    • “Subjects (LC)” returns information from 690 a-e, v, x-z (if indicator 2 = 0)
    • “Subjects” returns information from 690 a-e, v, x-z, 2 (regardless of indicator)
    • “Genre Form” returns information from 690 v (regardless of indicator)
• Additional bibliographic fields can be enabled for search.
  • OLS enabled additional fields during migration and has added more since.
  • See Which search fields are custom indexed in Alma? for a complete list of additional searches configured for all IZs beyond the default settings.

Analytics Reports

• Only some of the bibliographic fields in Alma are indexed for Analytics reports out of the box.
  • Here is the list of MARC21 bibliographic fields that are enabled by default for Analytics reports.
  • The fields displayed in Analytics are not always a one-to-one match for MARC tags. For example, the 690 field is not indexed in Analytics and therefore cannot be included in a report.
• Additional bibliographic fields can be enabled for Analytics.
  • See Which bibliographic and holdings fields are custom indexed in Alma Analytics? for a full list of the custom indexed fields in Alma Analytics.
  • Note that there is a limit to the number of bibliographic fields that can be indexed for Analytics.

Primo VE aka OneSearch

Only some of the bibliographic fields in Alma are indexed for OneSearch out of the box. Furthermore, the bibliographic fields are only indexed for certain areas.

A future review of indexed fields in OneSearch may be beneficial.

• A survey on 5XX fields was conducted, but the results were inconclusive.
• The Orbis Cascade consortium has customized many out-of-the-box (OTB) display fields and created local fields for Primo VE. The consortium’s documentation provides an overview and recommendations for field configuration, normalization rules, and hyperlinking.

Resource Type

• Values in the LDR, 006, and 008 fields are used to assign resource types like books, journals, and articles.
• See section 2.1.1 of Mapping to the Display, Facets, and Search Sections in the Primo VE Record for the mapping of fixed fields to resource types in OneSearch.

Display

• Just as with Alma search indexes and Analytics reportable fields, not all bibliographic fields are displayed in Alma out of the box.
• See section 2.1.2 of Mapping to the Display, Facets, and Search Sections in the Primo VE Record for the mapping of bibliographic fields to resource types in OneSearch.
• Additional fields can be enabled for display in OneSearch. OLS has configured these fields for display:
  • 508 displays as “Creation/Production”
  • 511 displays as “Performer”
  • 521 displays as “Audience”
  • 586 displays as “Awards”
  • 590 displays as “Local Notes”
• Some fields have been customized to display differently.
  • The 505 field has bullet points and other formatting to be more readable.
  • The 650 field only displays LCSH and LC CYAC subjects.

Facets

• See section 2.1.3 of Mapping to the Display, Facets, and Search Sections in the Primo VE Record for the mapping of bibliographic and other fields to facets in OneSearch.

Search

• See section 2.1.4 of Mapping to the Display, Facets, and Search Sections in the Primo VE Record for which bibliographic fields are searchable in OneSearch. Please note that the searchable fields in OneSearch differ from the searchable fields in Alma.