In this edition of From the Developer’s Toolbox, we are pleased to highlight the University of Western Australia’s idea for working more effectively with PubMed and the Alma resource management services. Our own R&D team has also been sharing some new tips on how to get the most out of Alma, such as using social networks for login, handling Dublin Core metadata records for digital resources, and generating API usage reports.

Setting Up PubMed LinkOut Tool for Alma

The University of Western Australia explains how best to set up openURL linking between PubMed, the biomedical literature citation clearinghouse, and Alma to quickly identify accessible resources. The university’s development team provides a list of the steps they took to use PubMed’s LinkOut tool, which they suggest is the more broadly useful of two available linking options. Read more here >>>

Leveraging Social Login with Alma

Ex Libris’ Josh Weisman highlights that library staff can now log in to Alma using social networks, such as Google and Facebook. This development is an integral part of Ex Libris efforts to support user-friendly methods of authentication (see our recent blog post on overcoming “password fatigue”). Weisman describes the methodology for adding this single sign-in functionality to Alma, including allowing third-party applications to leverage social login via Alma. Read more here >>>

Creating Dublin Core XML Files Using Excel

Opher Kutner, an analyst with Ex Libris, outlines a method for using Excel files for batch loading Dublin Core metadata records in Alma (for basic information about Alma digital metadata files, see here).  The post is intended for those who want to use Excel spreadsheets to create a Dublin Core XML file with minimal effort and do not have the expertise to create macros. Read more here >>>

Advanced API Usage Reports Now Available

The Alma API development dashboard has been updated to include detailed API usage reports, which allow you to track your API calls over time. A current activity report indicates if you’re close to reaching your API governance threshold in near-real time, while a historical report provides information on past activity so you can identify potentially problematic application trends. The post shows what these new reports look like and how to generate them. Read more here >>>

Find many more useful information and resources on the Ex Libris Developer Network Tech Blog.