User Management
Alma User Management refers to creating, modifying, and purging user accounts in Alma. This includes basic accounts for students, faculty, and staff that allow them to check out materials, place holds, access e-resources, etc.

Managing Named Users in Alma
This section provides an overview of how user accounts are structured and managed in Alma. It outlines the different account types, role assignments, and permissions that determine access to system functions, as well as key practices for maintaining compliance with named user limits. The guidance also highlights recommended processes for reviewing, cleaning up, and managing user records to ensure accurate access control and system security across institutions. 

 Types of Alma User Accounts   

 Alma users can be  I nternal , which means completely defined in Alma, or  E xternal , which means controlled primarily on another system, such as a Student Information System (SIS).  Users have a unique ID. In  our Network Zone (NZ) , user IDs  are  unique across all institutions  because we us e  unique  prefixes to differentiate  between  schools   with similar identifiers (e.g.,  George Washington and George Mason ) .    

 Alma user accounts are assigned roles or privileges, which allow users to access and use various functions within Alma. Typically, these roles are specific to the duties of each library staff member. Based upon these roles, Alma presents different pages and options to different users.    

 Users may be  public ,  staff , or  contact  users.  Note: Contact user  records are  used for vendor contacts in the Acquisitions module and are not relevant to this document .     In our NZ, some libr aries use only public  user  record  types  and some libraries use both public and staff  user  record types.  As long as  user records have staff roles, they could be considered a named  user. Roles  Required for User Management    

 For most user management tasks, you  need the  User Administrator  and  User Manager  role.  In order to  run the Staff Login Report, you  need the  General System Administrator  role.  To run  reports  in  Analytics, you  need the  Design Analytics  role.     

 Recommendation:  Named Users    

 Every Alma customer is  allowed  a certain number of  Named Users ,  or  users  with staff roles , when they  purchase  Alma. If a library goes over their contractual allotment, it is   necessary to reduce the number of named users in the system .  Managing users  with staff roles  ensures compliance with Alma contract terms and helps  maintain   accurate  staff access and system security.   

 Review & Cleanup Process    

 At least once per year, institutions should  utilize  the Staff Login Report and  additional  Analytics reports to deactivate and remove staff roles from accounts that are no longer needed.     

 Note : There are two ways to remove a user record in Alma from the list of Named Users:   

 

 

 

 

 Deactivate the user record 

 

 

 Remove staff roles from the user record   

 

 

 

 

 

 Do Not Deactivate, Edit, Delete  or Purge:    

 

 

 

 

 Any users whose Primary Identifiers begin  exl _  or  rialto _  .   These are  Ex Libris staff accounts  that should not be touched and do not count toward the  total  of Named Users.    

 

 

 The  leganto_guest  user as that user allows guest access to Leganto and cannot be  deleted ; it does not count as a Named User.    

 

 

 Any WRLC central staff users, as they do not count toward the contractual limits   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Do Deactivate, Edit, and Purge:   

 

 

 

 

 Staff roles on s tudent  users accounts  once they are no longer needed   

 

 

 Generic or internal  accounts when no longer in use   

 

 

 User accounts created for setting up an integrated Ex Libris product such as Leganto, Rialto, Rapido, etc. ( ex : a Leganto test user may have the “Course Reserves Manager” role)   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Staff Roles Not  Count ed by Ex Libris     

 The following staff-related roles are not counted as “named users” for contractual purposes:    

 

 

 

 

 Patron    

 

 

 Trial Participant    

 

 

 Leganto-specific roles (Instructor, Leganto Course Operator, and Leganto Interface Administrator)   

 

 

 Rialto-specific roles (Selector, Selector Limited, Super Selector, Rialto Manager, and Rialto Administrator)    

 

 

 Ex Libris admin users   

 

 

 

 

 However, users who have additional  roles in addition to excluded  roles  are still considered named users.   

 Maintaining Records of Staff Roles 

 Sometimes an institution will want to  maintain  a record of staff roles associated with a specific staff position, and the user  remains  active after leaving (such as retired faculty and staff).  Institutions in this situation should  consider creating a  roles profile  as an alternative.     

 Other Named User Account Considerations: Generic Accounts 

 Ex Libris currently recommends using generic accounts  as a way to  reduce named user accounts (see their  Best Practice Toolkit ), however, they also warn that the same generic account should not be used simultaneously by 2 or more users .         

 For  additional  context on this issue:  w hen WRLC migrated to Alma in 2018 , members were asked to report their total number of full‑time staff to Ex Libris  to  determine  the  Named User counts   in  the contract . Guidance on student staff accounts was limited,  but Ex Libris strongly  discourag ed   the use of  generic shared logins for security and activity‑tracking reasons.  While s ome  WRLC  libraries  can  use shared accounts for student workers,  others  cannot  due to campus security policies.    

 Other Named User Account Considerations: Internal Accounts 

 Many institutions use internal accounts for users who cannot be added via SIS.  For example, this may include community borrowers or visiting scholars.  Some institutions may also use internal accounts for testing purposes.   Those  accounts should be deactivated when not in use.    

 One exception : Ex Libris recommends that  institutions using single sign-on  should consider having a back-up internal account that can be used to log in to Alma if your single sign-on authentication system goes down.      

 Recommendation: Deleting vs Purging User Accounts  

 W hen  user accounts are deleted , all statistical data is  deleted  too. When user accounts are purged, statistical data is kept according to the  Delete User Policy .   

 When removing user accounts of any ty pe,  always Purge them using either the  Purge User Records  function or the  Purge Users job .   

 Additional Documentation 

 

 

 

 Ex Libris Alma User Management Documentation     

 

 

 CARLI Named User FAQ   

 

 

 Ex Libris Best Practice Toolkit