Customized Catalogue Pages by GL

ALMA Catalogue Software Presentation by GL to LwL 2025

Olcay Atacan (Director, Legal Information and Great Library) presented an update of their new cataloging software, Alma, at LWL 2025: Great Library System Update It includes improved searchability and libraries can customize their views including your association branding.
Please update any links you have to the NEW library catalogue. Recording of the presentation.

By partnering with the Great Library, our network gains access to Ex Libris Alma—a modern, cloud-based library system platform already used by many public, academic, and special libraries. This partnership comes at no cost to our libraries and provides each with a customized catalogue page showcasing your collection holdings. If a lawyer cannot find the material they need within their home association, they can seamlessly expand their search across the network and request an inter-library loan from another participating association library. In essence, this collaboration streamlines and unifies our library management under one efficient system, automating processes and saving significant time.

Inventory alone will become far more efficient, replacing manual labour with a faster, automated approach that drastically reduces hours spent on routine tasks.

Why set up a Customized View?

The Great Library team can provides each library with a customized catalogue page showcasing your collection holdings and include your association branding. If a lawyer cannot find the material they need within their home association, they can seamlessly expand their search across the network and request an inter-library loan from another participating association library.

The local search views allow users to search their own library’s print and electronic records, along with LIRN electronic resources, all HeinOnline titles, LSO CPD materials, and selected free websites. If users would like to expand their search beyond their own library or request materials from other locations, the union catalogue remains accessible.

Customized Library Pages by GL

As of April 2026, 22 libraries have requested the GL to create local library views. Please contact Sharon Montgomery ([email protected]) at the GL to set up your customized library webpage. These views were developed in close collaboration with the local librarians, who provided the preferred content and the style for their libraries.

PRLA is now officially the first Courthouse Library to launch a fully bilingual (English/French) customized catalogue view.

Managing Your Holdings Locally

The Great Library have also heard from libraries interested in managing parts of their holdings locally, including processing withdrawals and creating their own inventory (shelflist) reports without reporting to the Great Library.

To support this interest, Sharon and Zdravka organized training sessions on the back-office functions of the library system. So far, 15 courthouse libraries have requested training, and have already started working directly in the back office of the system.

Our cataloguing services for courthouse libraries will continue. At the same time, libraries that would like more flexibility to manage their own holdings within the system now have that option available to them.

Olcay noted that many of these improvements came directly from feedback libraries shared with us during the Voyager years. Sharon has done a wonderful job helping shape a system that works well for all of us.

Circulation

As each association library advances in phases with modules such as circulation, we will now have the flexibility to weed your own records directly, no more sending spreadsheets for removals. The Great Library will continue to manage your records and Zdravka Terzic ([email protected]) will continue to input your monographs and serials on your behalf. We will have more organized reports for check out/ins and re-shelfing. It will provide information on most used materials for better collection management.